Thursday’s proposal – in an open letter signed by politicians, internet activists, network experts, security researchers and others – opposes attempts to shut down all Russian websites on the grounds that they are dangerously large and could hinder the ability of ordinary Russians to surf the Web. Signatories are particularly shocked by the capture of news and information for Russians at a time when the government of President Vladimir Putin has almost completely suppressed the country’s freedom of the press.
“Our main concern is not to use the Internet as a weapon against civilians,” said Bill Woodcock, CEO of Package Cleaning House and organizer of Thursday’s open letter.
A new Iron Curtain is working on the Russian Internet
The letter recommends technical approaches to quarantine some Russian sites from simple online access, but it will not affect most corporate websites and routine government services such as schools and hospitals.
In the letter, he said the most promising idea would be to create a list of sites that major online networks could choose to avoid, as they already reject links to sites known to carry malware or spam. As a first step, however, the signatories offered to set up a new volunteer committee that would meet soon to discuss possible sanctions against Russian websites and how to implement them.
The letter clearly shows that the group is opposed to last month’s request by Ukrainian authorities to ask ICANN, a non-profit group that oversees internet access in California, to suspend the use of Russian-made domains. including “.ru” and two other domains.
Signatories of Thursday’s letter called the move, which ICANN rejected last week, as “disproportionate and disproportionate” to the impact on Russian civilians trying to use the internet for routine purposes.
“The sanctions must be targeted and precise”, the letter reads. “They need to minimize the possibility of unintended consequences or collateral damage. “Disproportionate or excessively large sanctions threaten to alienate the population.”
However, the letter stated that “military and propaganda agencies and information infrastructures are potential targets for sanctions.”
Russian propaganda sources such as RT are already blocked in some parts of the world.
Lumen, the second largest Internet operator in the United States, is leaving Russia
Attempts to isolate Russia from the internet have raised concerns among digital rights activists who want Russians to be able to operate online at a time when reliable sources of independent information are quickly in short supply.
Even a deliberate approach has defected some internet rights activists.
“Building a global blockchain roster will raise the darkest fears for those who are already skeptical of internet governance,” said Peter Mitchek, principal advisor to digital rights group Access Now. “Legitimacy will be questioned from the outset and such human rights standards can only be presented, verified, appealed and applied through a closed, inclusive and open process.” Such a process would take “years of design and testing,” he said. “I strongly suspect that such a blacklist could face an established and rigorous test for interference with freedom of expression in the short term.”
Thursday’s proposal includes what it calls a “multi-stakeholder mechanism” to assess whether sanctions have been imposed. This mechanism creates a list of IP addresses and web domains that are transmitted and updated using the Border Gate protocol, which networks use to route traffic to multiple Internet ports. Individual networks can choose to deny access to the list of target IP addresses and web domains. The multi-pronged approach has been prevalent in the world of internet governance, especially after the US government relinquished control of the internet incubated in the Pentagon program in the 1960s.
Source: Washington Post
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