Anew bill has beenproposedin the Russian legislature that could grant the permission toisolate Russia’s internetfrom the rest of the world.
There is a “Sovereign Internet” bill which seeks to tighten its grip on how information flows in and out of the country. Under this bill,new centralized hubswill be set up to manage (read manipulate) the flow of information or even halt it.
The bill also proposes anational domain name systemthat would allow a local intranet to continue its operation even if Russia is cut off from the global internet.
Advocated by President Vladimir Putin and other Moscow lawmakers, this bill is currently being pushed through the parliament.
“They sit there, it’s their invention, and everyone listens, sees and reads what you say,”says Putin.“The more sovereignty we have, including in the digital field, the better. This is a very important area.”
The Sovereign Internet bill is being deemed asPutin’s defensive responseto the Trump Administration’s new cyber strategy — which permits the U.S. to take offensive measures against Russia and any other country known for committing malicious activities online.
However, the Bloomberg report also mentions that thelaw isn’t just aimed at foreign threatsor banning Facebook and Google, which the country can already do legally.
Authorities in Russia are advocating this bill as they see centralized controls as a way tocontrol informationduring times ofcivil unrestwithin Russian borders.
