Russia’s Dilemma – How The Open Internet Challenges Governmental Control

 

We often hear about China’s ability to censor the Internet and in effect put up the “Great Digital Wall” around the country. But what about Russia? Surely they are wont to close their information borders to shield their autocratic government from criticism.

 

The NY Times February 21, 2021 ran the same article with two different titles. The online version which you can see at http://nyti.ms/37QjyRc and is a photo source ran “China Censors the Internet. So Why Doesn’t Russia?” and the print version had “Russia Fears But Can’t Quit Open Internet”.

 

Russia has set the stage for the internet challenge by providing “cheap high-speed internet access reaching into the remote corners of the vast country while angering a populace that has fallen in love with Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and TikTok” according to the article.

 

Mr. Putin’s leading adversary, Alexi Navalny, has been particularly adept at employ YouTube, Instagram and Twitter as vehicles to express his opinions.

 

State media and media regulators find themselves increasingly challenged. In the words of Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of the Russian English language television news network RT “To quit using these platforms while everyone else is using them is to capitulate to the adversary,” she said in a statement to The New York Times. “To ban them for everyone is to vanquish said adversary.”

 

it’s not like the Russian government doesn’t have new laws to control the internet. According to Reuters (see: http://reut.rs/3bHUEEr, which is another photo source) “laws enables Russia to block or restrict access to sites that “discriminate” against its media, part of a campaign under Putin to increase Russia’s internet “sovereignty” that has fueled fears of creeping China-style controls.” Another law authorizes fines of up to 20% of the Russia-based revenue from sites that repeatedly fail to remove banned content. Russian lawmakers have repeatedly accused YouTube and FaceBook of these practices. While a third prohibits the disclosure of personal data of Russian security officials which leads me to another NY Times article.

 

The next day, February 21, 2021, The NY Times published a print article “Investigative Journalism Is Flourishing in Russia” while the online version touted “How Investigative Journalism Flourished in Hostile Russia” (see: http://nyti.ms/3aX2U4r, another photo source).

 

While conjuring up visions of Lubyanka Prison, Russia cyber practices are actually more porous. For example, anyone can by call records, cellphone geolocation or air travel records of other citizens for a couple of dollars through the social media app Telegram on a dark web marketplace. The Russians call int “Probiv” meaning to pierce. Here are a couple of tidbits that have been revealed:

 

• ·       The investigative nonprofit outlet Proekt identified Mr. Putin’s “secret family,” and found that the woman it linked to the president had acquired some $100 million in wealth from sources tied to the Russian state.
• ·       IStories used a trove of hacked emails to document how Mr. Putin’s former son-in-law built a huge fortune out of state connections.
• ·       Bellingcat, which was founded in London, and the Russia-based Insider identified, by name and photograph, the Russian agents who poisoned the defector Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England in 2018.

If you’re interested in Russian independent journalism take a look at Proekt Media - http://bit.ly/3utMVlY, another photo source.

 

The bottom line is that Russia is likely to be dealing with the two-edged sword known as the internet for quite some time. Psyopers and influencers of all stripes need to be aware of the environment so that they can mine it and employ it!