A few months ago, Russia planned to isolate itself from the rest of the internet world and create its own sovereign internet. And now, the country has officially implemented the plan in the form of a new law- sovereign internet law.
More About the Sovereign Internet Law
Vladimir Putin, President of Russia proposed the bill along with a couple of lawmakers. And the sovereign internet law has finally gone official. The law came into effect on Friday.
According to the law, Russia will build its own internet infrastructure, which will help the country in the event of an emergency or to protect it from cyberattacks.
In simple words, Russia will now control the use of the internet in the country and the law states that Moscow will full access to control and manage the internet infrastructure. Russia will have its own national system of domain names and the web traffic will be routed through internet infrastructure.
However, thousands of Russian went to the street to protest against the proposed law. The country’s full control over the internet will restrict the usage of the internet, thus depriving its citizens of freedom of speech and expression. In addition to this, some experts suggest that this move may lead to censorship of online content like banning some apps, sites, web services etc. China is the most suitable example of the country who has censored many apps, sites or other online services of other countries.
In a blog post, Human Rights Watch said, “The ‘sovereign internet’ law purports to provide a legal basis for mass surveillance and allows the government to effectively enforce online existing legislation that undermines freedom of expression and privacy’.
Though the law has been made official, a proper framework still needs to be created to make everything work stable.
