What it means to disconnect Russia from the Internet
There are many companies that are breaking ties with Russia. And here we must also include quite a few related to technology. There are even countries that have announced that they will not export microchips and other components. Undoubtedly a hard stick for a globalized society in which technology is part of our daily lives. Now Ukraine is going a little further and has asked the I CAN disconnect Russia from the Internet.
ICANN stands for Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. Basically it is an international organization that is in charge of assign IP protocol addresses. It will coordinate the administration of the DNS, which are essential for a person to enter the browser, enter a domain name such as RedesZone and reach the specific website.
Disconnecting Russia from the Internet means revoke issued domains in this country and shut down the DNS servers. We are talking about, for example, revoking .ru domains. They also request take root DNS servers offline that are located in Russia. However, this could have worse consequences.
why is it a bad idea
A first reason is that Russia partly wants this. Wants isolate their citizens so that they do not receive information from the outside. In fact, we have seen that these days they have blocked the use of social networks like Facebook in this country. If you disconnect Russia from the Internet, you are automatically preventing its citizens from having access to the outside world and the only reality they would see is what their own government tells them. Of course, you can always use a good VPN to avoid this block.
Another important point is that punish russian citizens. Russia is a country of more than 140 million inhabitants. We have seen large demonstrations these days in cities like Saint Petersburg or Moscow against the war and against the decisions of their country. This decision would disconnect millions of people from the network, with what that entails.
This, in addition, would cut off the possibility that these same citizens who are protesting and looking for ways to put a stop to the war, can meet or inform each other. It would even affect organizations and activists whose purpose is to carry out protests against the government and collaborate, as far as possible, in stopping this nonsense.
But beyond the citizens themselves who live in Russia, also would affect the rest of the world. And here we must differentiate between Russians who live in other parts of the world and who want to be informed of what is happening with their relatives, but also people from any nation who want to be informed of anything that may happen in Russia. Basically it would mean that the only thing that would reach us is what they broadcast from official media, information that may be far from reality.
Therefore, although Ukraine’s request is legitimate and may seem understandable, even more so if we take into account what they are experiencing on their territory, the truth is that if we look at the matter of disconnecting Russia from a more global perspective, looking at the picture more broadly, we see that would bring more problems than benefits and that this would affect even the Ukrainians themselves, to some extent.
Another point to keep in mind is that this could create a very dangerous precedent. Do we disconnect from the Internet countries that are dictatorships and that do not comply with human rights or do we allow people within that territory to be in communication with the rest of the world? It would be a very dangerous line to cross.
What do you think of all this? Do you think they should disconnect Russia from the Internet?
