DIGITAL LIFE

The 'Stalinist' paranoia of Vladimir Putin

Russian lawmakers on Thursday approved a controversial law providing for the creation of a "sovereign internet" of Russia isolated from the world's great servants and which the opposition considers a form of control. The second wording of the text of the law was approved by a majority of 320 votes in favor and only 15 parliamentarians voted against. The text will now be put to the vote of the senators, a formality that occurs before a law is enacted by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The new legislation has been drafted in the context of "computer security" and provides for Russian sites to function outside the Internet system that has hitherto been linked to foreign servers. The opposition criticizes the "attempt to control content that also aims to gradually isolate the use of the Internet in Russia" at a time of constant pressure against freedoms of expression and opinion.
Specifically, the law proposes the creation of an infrastructure capable of running the Russian internet without connections to foreign servers. Thus, Russian Internet providers must ensure "technical means" that allow "centralized control of the traffic" of information to "stop any threats". In March, thousands of people demonstrated in Russia against the bill they consider to be "censorship" and an attempt to "isolate" the country from the rest of the world.In recent years, Russian authorities have begun to interfere directly with the internet, inter alia by blocking content from opposition websites and organizations that refuse to cooperate, such as the Dailymotion video platform, the LinkedIn social network and the Telegram message exchange application. Mundophone