Hey.
I caught myself thinking that I do not like whiners, they constantly find a reason to whine even from events that are purely positive and do not imply a double interpretation. All right, whiners at the rate, they are supposed to whine on the set topics due to their official duties and not deviate aside. But when black is called white, and people who understand, in theory, how the world works and how technologies work, I have no doubt that their opinion is biased. Voluntarily or involuntarily, this is not the question that interests me in this aspect. The plot of this plot is infinitely simple, Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia, gave a detailed interview about the current situation in the world. In particular, about the Internet and the potential for disconnecting Russia from the world wide web, here is his quote: “Potentially, if something extraordinary happens, if someone’s head is completely blown off, this can happen.” The simple conclusion from the interview is that Russia is preparing for any scenario and, in particular, because of these risks, a law on the Russian Internet has been adopted so that our segment of the network can exist autonomously. Medvedev and other officials have already talked about this many times, there is no new information in the current speech. But I am struck by another moment, how you can turn everything upside down, pervert simple things. We have formed a whole stratum of people in different areas of life, who sincerely consider the goal of their lives to fight the government of the state in which they live, for example, the executive branch is called no less occupants. Let me leave aside what awaits such a citizen in America after the only speech in which he declares that power is usurped and illegal. On the other hand, we have all seen these acts of censorship live, there is no point in repeating it.
The main set of statements about why building a sovereign Internet is taken as if from one source – they want to drive everyone into one digital enclosure, ban foreign social networks, and prevent people from freely expressing their thoughts. Forbid and do not let go! Perhaps in the heat of the struggle, adequacy and understanding of how the world works and why Russia really needs it disappear. In the paradigm, the government is always bad, always comes up with something like that, and we are surrounded by exceptionally good states that want the best for us. Perhaps this is true. But reality, as always, is much more interesting and multifaceted.
What did Russia stake on in the previous decades? For the development of digital services for the population, the construction of communication systems and the development of a telecom. The explanation for this rate is that the more powerful the telecom in the country, the more developed the communication, the higher the economic indicators for the country as a whole, the better the new business areas are developing. An example that has set my teeth on edge that perfectly illustrates this statement is taxi aggregators. I remember what taxi services looked like twenty years ago, cars were ordered by phone, they were waited for for 20-30 minutes. In Moscow, the time of car delivery is often a couple of minutes at any time of the day. This time is enough to get dressed, go down and realize that the car is already waiting for you. Was such a taxi aggregator possible without cheap mobile Internet, inexpensive devices, total coverage of the main settlements with communications? Not!
And examples of commercial companies that do not pay absolutely nothing for the availability of telecom services, but build their businesses on their cheapness, can be cited many – transportation of goods and tracking them in real time, security, call centers and much more. In Russia, everyone, including officials, eager for new opportunities, wants to do certain things on their phone. Comparing banking applications in Russia and Europe, and even more so in the United States, I understand that we have gone into some kind of endless separation, this is just a different level of comfort and opportunities.
Business and the state annually drive billions of rubles into the Internet, and at all levels – from optics to base stations, from devices for buyers to software that runs on these devices. From this investment flow, examples of both good and bad can be discerned. The law on the pre-installation of Russian applications will clearly fall into the category of bad.
But you need to realize a simple thing – everyone needs the Internet, from large and small businesses to the state. We also need it. The state annually builds information systems, improves and expands them. As an example, we can cite the same MFCs that changed our understanding of how you can receive services from the state. From time to time I go to get this or that service, I remember what pain it was twenty years ago. But you know what? Even retirees who come to the MFC have already forgotten that pain, they think ten minutes of waiting is something unacceptable, they are used to instant services and do not want to wait! You get used to good things instantly.
Now let’s talk about logic at the level of an ordinary high school student, it is not very difficult. You invest in the Internet, in the creation of services, in the purchase of hardware, you are investing in the future. At the same time, examples from the outside world show that other countries can spit on any laws, impose sanctions at their discretion. For example, as it happens in the US trade war against China, in which they are trying to kill the largest Chinese companies, and the same Huawei. To kill for no reason, without much explanation, and in the absence of evidence of guilt. It is impossible to call this adequate behavior. But this is the right of the strong, the right that dominates the United States today.
Will there be a massacre over China in the coming years or it will not be so bloody, the tenth thing. The fact is that America uses all resources to achieve its goals (sounds like propaganda from the times of the USSR, but life proves it – far-fetched pretexts and an attempt to destroy companies simply out of desire). And in such conditions it is impossible to ignore this threat, the fact that one turn of the switch can turn off the Internet in an independent country, for example, in Russia.
What happens if America turns off certain services for Russia? The average person thinks simply: I will survive without YouTube and Facebook, the loss is not great. But they will not be touched, they will turn off the Internet as such, disrupt the connectivity of the network, create conditions under which the very infrastructure and software in which they have invested all these years will not work. And these investments of the state and private companies will turn into zilch, nothing will simply work, in any way. Would you like to visit the MFC and get a certificate in a couple of minutes? But it will not work, because they will turn off the Internet, strike a blow on the infrastructure, which will simply throw the country back for many years. And here we can only hope that the destruction from the loss of digital services will not be critical, will not affect the life support system of cities and other important services.
The desire to protect your investments is absolutely normal, there is nothing wrong with it. But when the whoopers start yelling that this is another attack on freedom of speech, I cringe. These people use the Internet unrestrictedly, shout their views at every corner and feel completely unpunished. I was especially struck by the compilation of blacklists of politicians who “harm” the Internet, and transferring it to other countries so that these people would be restricted in their rights. It looks like an uncomplicated betrayal of the interests of one’s own country, it cannot be called anything else.
The sovereign Internet is not at all an attempt to fence off the world with an iron curtain. The entire policy of Russia over the past twenty years has been directed exactly the opposite – to become a part of the global world. On the Internet, exactly the same, no one is going to lock themselves in a shell and cook in their own juice, there is not a single prerequisite for this. And, perhaps, that is why it is so boldly prophesied by those who understand that the course is completely different. The task of Russia is to secure its investments in Runet, in communication systems and services for the population. Making someone crazy enough to commit such an act of aggression won’t get them anywhere. The very understanding that aggression in this form will not give a result makes it meaningless.
We do not attack, we defend what is worth billions and trillions of rubles. This is the protection of your property and nothing more. But today they reproach us for this and say that we do not need to do this, because there is no reason! I wonder if those who claim this never close the doors to their homes and keep them open? There is no reason to believe that something bad will happen.
I will give you a quote from Mikhail Klimarev, who talks about the sovereign Internet in the usual manner of clicking: “It seems to me that Dmitry Anatolyevich just forgot to take the pills, I have no other explanation. Disconnecting Russia from the Internet, the so-called “pupation” means the severing of all economic ties with the outside world. And not only economic, but also cultural. If you turn off YouTube, then not only turn off Navalny, but also RT, for example. ” And he adds: “Any system they make will be easy to get around. The qualifications of people who figure out how to get around are much higher than the qualifications of those who impose bans. ” Quote for this edition.
The problem is that no one makes a system to close the country, they make a system protected from external interference, from aggression. But everyone is turned upside down and claims exactly the opposite. What for? It’s simple, it’s easier to scare people with horror stories, to explain that officials are stupid and encroach on their freedoms. When Mikhail once again says “invaders” to the current government, he will not think that he will get anything for it. After all, the de facto “bloody regime” approaches what is happening on the Internet as liberal as possible, and allows different people to express their points of view, including such radical ones, to say the least. But at the same time freedom of speech suffers in our country, so what needs to be done to make it feel differently? The question is probably rhetorical.
What we have done and what we are ready for
Russia, as a country, has at the moment ensured the security of its own communication networks. State policy is not only about responding to immediate threats, but also about preventing potential threats. Complex communication networks have been built inside Russia, we have excellent operators (both wired and mobile). Equipment that could potentially create problems is gradually being abandoned, and mixed systems with an increased margin of safety are being created. It’s so expensive, but it’s safer, because otherwise we could lose everything, even the country itself. Russian companies are buying out communication lines abroad in order to create buffers, to make the disconnection affect not only Russia, but also to many other countries, to make it unacceptable for the attacking side.
The tasks facing us are daunting, but solvable. We need to build a new paradigm of systems, develop open and at the same time secure standards, reduce dependence on equipment from individual countries and create our own. This is problematic, but this is the road we are walking on. Somewhere fast, somewhere barely. But this work is going on, it is often not visible, and this is a race against time. It really pisses me off when bawlers try to devalue the work of people who work for wear and tear in order to postpone the prospect that someone might decide that Russia can be deprived of the Internet by another step. Russia is a part of the world, which means that no one in their right mind even considers the possibility of closing themselves off from this world, as Japan once did. We know history well, and Russia should be open to trade, friendship and communication.
Five years ago, with external aggression, the Internet in Russia would have been destroyed, and the recovery time would have fluctuated from a month to infinity. A year ago we talked about several days, but at the same time a number of services were reliably protected. Today we can say that during the day the operability of the main state services will be restored, we will not be left without communication and without what constitutes the basis of modern life. Until we are ready to close the commercial services with an umbrella, something will be done for this. The Sovereign Internet is not China’s great firewall that shuts off the outside world to the Chinese, it is our defense against external aggression. And when they begin to openly lie and claim that this is something completely different, I simply have no words. We protect our investments, our country and what we use on a daily basis. And it is our right to protect our investments, and not do everything so that someone can destroy all this with one turn of the switch.
For those who do not understand what is happening in the world, it is enough to read the news of the past few months. The intensity of the struggle in the United States, censorship, which is no longer hidden in most countries, riots that have swept across the world. In such a turbulent environment, we must have the means of defense against any kind of aggression, and those who argue that we do not have such a right, to put it mildly, are not fighting for us, but are playing in another team.
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