US and its allies are all set to corner RUSSIA over the issues of Russia’s attack on Ukraine. The proposed Proposals under consideration by governments, service providers and other organizations would mostly harm Russian civilians with the dedicated stance of Internet Sanction over the use of various infrastructures, resources and services.
According to Andrew Sullivan, President and CEO of Internet Society, “Internet connectivity means anyone with access can use the Internet to communicate. This means aggressors and opponents alike. Unlike most historical communication methods, the Internet is astonishingly resilient when conditions for connection are bad. It’s not magic. It won’t end wars or invasions. But it is a great tool for humans to use against their oppressors. The Internet allows people who otherwise would be silenced to speak, so it should be no surprise that there are people the world over trying to undermine the Internet.”
On March 10, 2022, the internet community issued a paper titled “Multistakeholder Imposition of Internet Sanctions.” This “conversation document,” signed by a plethora of individuals from companies and organizations, posited seven principles:
- Disconnecting the population of a country from the internet is viewed as a disproportionate and inappropriate sanction.
- Ineffective sanctions waste time; evaluation of the efficacy of sanctions must be made.
- Sanctions must be focused and precise with unintended consequences minimized.
- Military and propaganda agencies and their information infrastructure are potential targets of sanctions
- The internet does not lend itself to the imposition of sanctions in national conflicts.
- Challenges the appropriateness of governments to attempt to compel Internet governance mechanisms as a tool in the imposition of sanctions outside of the multistakeholder decision-making process
- There are appropriate, effective, and specific sanctions that the organization may wish to consider in its deliberative process
Multistakeholder Imposition of Internet Sanctions : https://www.pch.net/resources/Papers/Multistakeholder-Imposition-of-Internet-Sanctions.pdf
A Campaign of open letter has been signed by politicians, Internet activists, networking experts, security researchers and others — opposes disconnecting all Russian websites as dangerously broad and likely to impede the ability of ordinary Russians to navigate the Internet. The signatories particularly worry about depriving Russians of news and information at a time when the government of President Vladimir Putin has almost totally choked off the nation’s free press.
