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posted by Fnord666 on Monday November 04 2019, @12:41PM   Printer-friendly
from the predatorski-cometh dept.

A new, and controversial, law went into effect this week in Russia. 'The National Digital Economy Program" was

signed by President Vladimir Putin in May, it requires Russian[sic] to route traffic through nodes under the control of the Russian Government. ISPs are obliged to install technical devices provided by the authorities to allow traffic inspection.

Of course, the concentration of the traffic through nodes controlled by Moscow and the deployment of technical hardware provided by the government could open the door to a massive surveillance

Russian authorities will be able to censor online content and to spy on persons of interest.

According to the Russian government, the law aims at ensuring that Russian sites will be reachable even if disconnected to the global internet, a scenario that could result from a cyber attack or an outage caused by an incident.

Russia also recently announced annual tests disconnecting from the global internet to assess the impacts of such a move.

Currently none of the twelve top level DNS providers are located in Russia, making the effort interesting to be sure.

Human Rights Watch and activists fear Russia aims to build a system like the Chinese Great Firewall that could be used to apply strict censorship.

The government however immediately laid such fears to rest when it "denied any intent of disconnecting Russian netizens from the Internet."


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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by ledow on Monday November 04 2019, @01:04PM (21 children)

    by ledow (5567) on Monday November 04 2019, @01:04PM (#915692) Homepage

    1) They don't need one of the top level DNS providers to be in Russia. They just need a copy of the latest zones, and they're good.

    2) Tests like this show you dependence on foreign Internet. It's a sensible and rational idea... and one the US and others should be doing too. At least for their own internal systems if not for the country at large. What goes off if you just cut the fibre? Who knows? I wouldn't be surprised to hear that there are things like industrial controls on power stations managed from some cloud platform that becomes inaccessible if the cables are cut.

    3) If the Russians are preparing for this, and ready for this, and confident they'll survive it... everyone else should really be doing to same. Because, if not, then they have an advantage in being able to operate entirely independently.

    The fact that they put blackboxes into ISPs along the way.... well, that's just playing catchup with the US, UK and everyone else who already do the same.

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  • (Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Monday November 04 2019, @01:14PM (6 children)

    by PiMuNu (3823) on Monday November 04 2019, @01:14PM (#915695)

    > I wouldn't be surprised to hear that there are things like industrial controls on power stations managed from some cloud platform

    Then you have a very low estimation of human ability.

    • (Score: 2) by exaeta on Monday November 04 2019, @03:02PM

      by exaeta (6957) on Monday November 04 2019, @03:02PM (#915724) Homepage Journal
      I think this is a good estimate of real life. Never underestimate human stupidity.
      --
      The Government is a Bird
    • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Monday November 04 2019, @04:01PM

      by tangomargarine (667) on Monday November 04 2019, @04:01PM (#915748)

      ...and?

      When you have low expectations you're seldom disappointed

      --
      "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 04 2019, @05:37PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 04 2019, @05:37PM (#915794)

      some controls systems definitely allow remote access via some (likely shitty) proprietary VPNs. the VPN listening on the interwebs for all to try to login.

    • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Monday November 04 2019, @06:28PM

      by MostCynical (2589) on Monday November 04 2019, @06:28PM (#915826) Journal

      Your optimism is sweet; delusional, but sweet.

      --
      "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
    • (Score: 2) by ledow on Tuesday November 05 2019, @08:21AM (1 child)

      by ledow (5567) on Tuesday November 05 2019, @08:21AM (#916176) Homepage

      Honestly?

      https://www.controleng.com/articles/cloud-based-software-solutions-for-industrial-applications/ [controleng.com]

      The reason the Iraqi nuclear program was shut down was Windows machines getting viruses.

      We have battleships running Windows nowadays.

      This kind of thing is very commonplace.

      • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday November 06 2019, @10:54AM

        by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday November 06 2019, @10:54AM (#916758) Journal

        Then it's even better (for the Russian govt).
        Detecting critical infrastructure depending on resources that may not be available in case of a conflict should happen on a regular basis, so why forfeit the chance to do it?

        --
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 04 2019, @01:23PM (9 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 04 2019, @01:23PM (#915697)

    in the so-called "free world" it is arguably illegal for governments to track people's activities on the internet.
    the russian government made it explicitly legal for itself to do so.

    i see a difference.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 04 2019, @03:19PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 04 2019, @03:19PM (#915731)
      Show me the difference. Show me AT&T and NSA bosses convicted for their role in spying.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 04 2019, @04:08PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 04 2019, @04:08PM (#915753)

        Exactly.

    • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 04 2019, @04:26PM (6 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 04 2019, @04:26PM (#915758)

      It seems ever more that in the "free world" the difference is increasingly coming down to the fact that we hide our bad behavior, while 'non-free' (I suppose?) countries are quite open about it. Check out PRISM [wikipedia.org] which is just one of many government programs, and one of the few we actually know anything about thanks to Snowden in particular - who now resides freely in Russia with his "partner." Assange, by contrast, will probably spend the rest of his life in dehumanizing conditions after extensive "enhanced interrogation" for the vile crime of making information freely available to voters. That's unacceptable in the free world. So he will now spend the rest of his life in prison in the free world, which interestingly enough also has the highest incarceration rate in the world. 1984 in so many ways does seem to have been a how-to manual. How far, really, are we from War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength?

      To be clear I love the United States. The only reason I tend to be so pessimistic is because it increasingly seems that many other Americans are just living in a world that doesn't actually exist anywhere except in their head. How is a democracy supposed to function when people don't even understand what's happening our country itself, let alone what's happening across the world? It's been said that dissent is the highest form of patriotism. I'll settle for simply speaking inconvenient truths, which at times feels quite like dissent in today's world.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 04 2019, @05:40PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 04 2019, @05:40PM (#915798)

        we are already at the Freedom is slavery stage. i have intelligent family members that are so brainwashed they actually revel in their servitude and defend their masters when questioned.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 05 2019, @01:35AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 05 2019, @01:35AM (#916072)

          I'd just like to say Hello and Welcome to khallow's relatives.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 05 2019, @03:43AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 05 2019, @03:43AM (#916110)

          i have intelligent family members that are so brainwashed they actually revel in their servitude and defend their masters when questioned.

          Examples please.

          You mean those commie pigs who throttle business and innovation with their destructive rules [wikipedia.org] and and ridiculous regulations [wikipedia.org]?

          I know. People who defend such dreck and those who support it should be sentenced to long prison terms. amirite? And that would save money on food for Thanksgiving, right? It's a win/win!

          #MAGA

      • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday November 04 2019, @09:51PM

        by Phoenix666 (552) on Monday November 04 2019, @09:51PM (#915959) Journal

        I agree, and I applaud you for saying it.

        People do cling to what they've been told. It takes time for that attachment to delaminate. But it will, because in the end reality trumps fantasy, even intricately constructed and massively executed fantasy.

        --
        Washington DC delenda est.
      • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 04 2019, @11:37PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 04 2019, @11:37PM (#916027)

        Assange, by contrast, will probably spend 3-5 years in a dull, but comfortable Federal prison and then be released

        .

        There. FTFY.

        Argue if you like, but you'll be eating crow in a few years. You heard it hear first, folks! AC will eat crow!

      • (Score: 3, Informative) by Common Joe on Tuesday November 05 2019, @04:42AM

        by Common Joe (33) <{common.joe.0101} {at} {gmail.com}> on Tuesday November 05 2019, @04:42AM (#916130) Journal

        War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength?

        We're already there. The US goes to war in other countries in the name of peace. Specifically, we've been targeting the Middle East for a while, but it's always in the name of preserving peace. Most Americans value ignorance and think it's a wonderful thing. The classic debate here on Soylent News about climate change is proof of that -- we can't have a rational discussion about it. And the hardest to see is "Freedom is Slavery", but it's there. It's not traditional slavery, but the new form of it -- financial slavery. Our economy is doing excellent according to all the metrics that are being rolled out by the government and big wigs. And yet... more people are in financial peril than ever before. Adjusted for proper inflation (not the inflationary numbers they keep rolling out year after year), people in their 20's, 30's and 40's are earning less than their parents. Oh, sure, we have computers and cell phones and indoor plumbing, but how many of us can afford a house and to raise a family on a single income? Yeah, I'm purposely avoiding the racial and gender inequality history, but for a lot of people, it was possible in the past to do the house and family thing.

        My friend, we've been in 1984 for a while. The fact that you (and nearly everyone else I personally know) hasn't seen it speaks volumes about how well it's been accomplished.

  • (Score: 2) by legont on Monday November 04 2019, @05:11PM

    by legont (4179) on Monday November 04 2019, @05:11PM (#915777)

    I wouldn't be surprised to hear that there are things like industrial controls on power stations managed from some cloud platform that becomes inaccessible if the cables are cut.

    This is exactly the case and the biggest fear of the Russian government. When they tried to block telegram (for refusing to provide keys to law enforcement) the critical infrastructure of the internal ministry itself was affected as well as banking down to ATM's on the streets because the services were dependent on American infrastructure such as AWS. They can't allow it, can they?

    --
    "Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 04 2019, @09:27PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 04 2019, @09:27PM (#915944)

    I think Russia just made it easy for The Rest Of The World to perpetually keep Russia offline. just keep sending Russia packets that trigger their tripwires, because that part of the equation is now a single point of control.

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by coolgopher on Monday November 04 2019, @11:13PM

    by coolgopher (1157) on Monday November 04 2019, @11:13PM (#916013)

    The fact that they put blackboxes into ISPs along the way.... well, that's just playing catchup with the US, UK and everyone else who already do the same.

    Indeed. This sounds like the regular "LI" (Lawful Intercept) units that are deployed in most communications networks. Remotely operated and with the ability to tap any traffic stream at will. It's been nearly two decades since I last had to install one, so I imagine they've gotten quite a bit fancier since then.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 08 2019, @06:44PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 08 2019, @06:44PM (#917966)

    They don't need one of the top level DNS providers to be in Russia. They just need a copy of the latest zones, and they're good.

    No problem I'm sure the root nameservers allow zone transfers! Good one! Made me laugh.

    Tests like this show you dependence on foreign Internet. It's a sensible and rational idea... and one the US and others should be doing too. At least for their own internal systems if not for the country at large. What goes off if you just cut the fibre? Who knows? I wouldn't be surprised to hear that there are things like industrial controls on power stations managed from some cloud platform that becomes inaccessible if the cables are cut.

    Because the US knows this isn't to actually protect the Russian people from cyberattack. It's to make sure the internet isn't used to overthrow the government. The US knows you cannot keep out foreign actors, it's not possible. They operate inside the country already.

    If the Russians are preparing for this, and ready for this, and confident they'll survive it... everyone else should really be doing to same. Because, if not, then they have an advantage in being able to operate entirely independently.

    Again, totally different goals. The stated goals and the actual goals are very different.