{"id":348565,"date":"2021-10-05T13:31:10","date_gmt":"2021-10-05T10:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/russias-trying-to-control-the-internet-and-google-and-apple-are-helping\/"},"modified":"2021-10-05T13:31:10","modified_gmt":"2021-10-05T10:31:10","slug":"russias-trying-to-control-the-internet-and-google-and-apple-are-helping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/russias-trying-to-control-the-internet-and-google-and-apple-are-helping\/","title":{"rendered":"#Russia\u2019s trying to control the internet, and Google and Apple are helping"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a4071063b3b0\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a4071063b3b0\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/russias-trying-to-control-the-internet-and-google-and-apple-are-helping\/#Is_digital_democracy_a_delusion\" >Is digital democracy a delusion?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/russias-trying-to-control-the-internet-and-google-and-apple-are-helping\/#Battleground_Russia\" >Battleground Russia<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/russias-trying-to-control-the-internet-and-google-and-apple-are-helping\/#Russias_September_parliamentary_election\" >Russia\u2019s September parliamentary election<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/russias-trying-to-control-the-internet-and-google-and-apple-are-helping\/#A_new_model_of_the_sovereign_internet\" >A new model of the sovereign internet?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>#Russia\u2019s trying to control the internet, and Google and <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">App<\/a>le are helping<\/strong>&#8221;<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img-cdn.tnwcdn.com\/image?fit=796%2C417&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn0.tnwcdn.com%2Fwp-content%2Fblogs.dir%2F1%2Ffiles%2F2021%2F10%2Frussia-internet.jpg&amp;signature=8079d5e4d4f946f7ea3fe73789c3511f\" \/><\/p>\n<div>On September 17, the first day of Russia\u2019s parliamentary elections, Apple and Google agreed to demands from the Russian government to <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/09\/17\/world\/europe\/russia-navalny-app-election.html\">remove a strategic voting app<\/a> developed by opposition leader Alexei Navalny from the iOS and Android app stores.<\/p>\n<p>Apple then disabled its Private Relay feature (which enhances web browsing privacy) for users in Russia. Google also removed <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">YouTube<\/a> videos giving advice on how to vote strategically in the elections.<\/p>\n<p>In the past, large tech companies have <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a>ly <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/meduza.io\/en\/feature\/2021\/09\/17\/we-know-this-stuff-is-complicated-but\">ignored censorship requests<\/a> from the Russian government. So why did the US tech giants finally cave in to pressure?<\/p>\n<p>The answer provides a glimpse into how Russia, a sophisticated cyber superpower, is building its sovereign internet. It is preserving control, but without isolating itself from the broader internet.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Is_digital_democracy_a_delusion\"><\/span>Is digital democracy a delusion?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Apple and Google have both placed democratic values at the center of their sales pitch.<\/p>\n<p>Google used to have \u201cdon\u2019t be evil\u201d as its <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/google-removes-nearly-all-mentions-of-dont-be-evil-from-1826153393\">unofficial motto<\/a> and within its code of conduct. It now proclaims <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search\/howsearchworks\/mission\/\">its mission<\/a> is to \u201corganize the world\u2019s information and make it universally accessible and useful\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Apple\u2019s <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/s2.q4cdn.com\/470004039\/files\/doc_downloads\/gov_docs\/Apple-Human-Rights-Policy.pdf\">official policy<\/a> is that \u201cwhere national law and international human rights standards differ, we follow the higher standard\u201d. Such marketing claims draw on the language of cyber-utopianism, a concept that sees the internet as <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/wired25-louis-rossetto-tech-militant-optimism\/\">a force for democracy<\/a> in the world.<\/p>\n<p>But many experts have been skeptical; US researcher Evgeny Morozov famously called cyber-utopianism a \u201c<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/books\/2011\/jan\/09\/net-delusion-morozov-review\">delusion<\/a>\u201d. This skepticism has increased in recent years, with mounting evidence of a conflict between democratic values and the core business model of for-profit tech companies.<\/p>\n<p>Adding to this, authoritarian governments have begun to develop ways to avoid the democratizing effects of the internet. One key strategy is to construct a \u201csovereign\u201d internet that isolates itself from the rest of the web.<\/p>\n<p>The leading model comes from China, which has built an almost parallel internet infrastructure behind its \u201cgreat firewall\u201d. <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/news\/2020\/06\/18\/russia-growing-internet-isolation-control-censorship\">Human Rights Watch has warned<\/a> Russia\u2019s approach rests on the same principle of \u201cincreasing isolation from the World Wide Web\u201d.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Battleground_Russia\"><\/span>Battleground Russia<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>For many years, the internet had been a relatively democratic force in Russia, which has the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/countries-most-people-twitter-social-media-us-japan-uk-1631479\">most internet users<\/a> in Europe.<\/p>\n<p>The internet is increasingly important in Russian politics, as younger generations ignore state-sponsored media and engage through western tech platforms. Navalny has relied heavily on this to build his political movement.<\/p>\n<p>Until recently, the Russian state struggled to regulate this activity, allowing Navalny to amass a large following. In fact, efforts to regulate tech platforms have seemed ineffective.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, in 2018, the government\u2019s <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2021\/04\/30\/russia-block-twitter-telegram-online-censorship\/\">attempt to ban<\/a> the messaging app Telegram collapsed into a farce. As it turned out, the Russians not only lacked the technical capacity to block the app, it was also frequently used by Russian security services.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Russias_September_parliamentary_election\"><\/span>Russia\u2019s September parliamentary election<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The parliamentary election held <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-europe-58614227\">last month<\/a>, however, has some disturbing implications for the democratic use of the internet in Russia.<\/p>\n<p>For a regime that relies heavily on image, the results of this election were crucial in <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/papers.ssrn.com\/sol3\/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3625390\">demonstrating<\/a> to both Russians and international audiences that Vladimir Putin and his ruling party were still popular.<\/p>\n<p>It had been a difficult two years for the Russian regime. The pandemic exposed serious deficiencies in governance, and polls showed weakening support for the ruling party. The current regime had to show it was in control, and it needed to control the internet to do so.<\/p>\n<p>The ruling party first responded with a vicious crackdown on the political opposition. In February, Navalny was sent to prison. Later, his entire organization was declared \u201cextremist\u201d \u2014 leading to the blocking of its websites, and the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/08\/30\/world\/europe\/russian-opposition-leaders-exile.html\">imprisonment or exile<\/a> of several of its members.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, the Russian state <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cnet.com\/features\/how-russia-has-spent-a-decade-crumbling-online-freedoms\">sharpened its tools<\/a> for internet censorship. Among other provisions, a law introduced in July required foreign social media companies with more than 500,000 daily Russian visitors to <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/tech\/tech-news\/big-tech-grapples-russian-internet-crackdown-election-rcna2077\">have employees<\/a> in Russia.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, sophisticated techniques were developed to <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-europe-56344304\">slow down<\/a> internet access to targeted platforms.<\/p>\n<p>Operating largely from exile, Navalny\u2019s team continued to rely on the internet to influence the Russian parliamentary election. At the center of this effort was the team\u2019s Smart Voting app \u2014 <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/09\/15\/world\/europe\/navalny-smart-voting-russia-election.html\">designed to undermine<\/a> the monopoly of the ruling party by uniting the opposition.<\/p>\n<p>The app was initially made available through Apple\u2019s and Google\u2019s app stores. But the Russian state pressured the tech giants to remove it in the days leading up to the election \u2014 threatening two key actions if they failed to comply.<\/p>\n<p>First, the state would <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/09\/17\/world\/europe\/russia-navalny-app-election.html\">prosecute<\/a> Russia-based employees of Google and Apple. Second, it <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/meduza.io\/en\/feature\/2021\/09\/17\/corporate-de-escalation\">promised<\/a> to slow down internet traffic to Apple and Google platforms in Russia, and shut down the Apple Pay and Google Pay services.<\/p>\n<p>Facing an escalating <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/watch-movies-tv-seriess\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Watch Movies &amp; TV Series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">series<\/a> of threats, the tech giants eventually backed down and removed the app.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"A_new_model_of_the_sovereign_internet\"><\/span>A new model of the sovereign internet?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The Russian regime secured a key win in its attempt to build a sovereign internet. On one hand, the state now has a technique for ensuring the deletion of sensitive online material that threatens its power.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, it still has connections to the mainstream internet (including Google and Apple) that it can manipulate for its own goals. These cyber black-ops \u2014 most famously on show in the 2016 US presidential election \u2014 are a central part of Russia\u2019s foreign policy.<\/p>\n<p>To build this sovereign internet, Russia is exploiting a simple, unavoidable truth: tech giants are ultimately for-profit corporations, with a priority to maximize profits and shareholder value.<\/p>\n<p>And this poses two worrying questions. Will other authoritarian countries follow Russia\u2019s lead? And how can opposition movements that rely on big tech for their democratic organization respond?<\/p>\n<p><em>Article by <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/william-partlett-708330\">William Partlett<\/a>, Associate Professor, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/the-university-of-melbourne-722\">The University of Melbourne<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>This article is republished from <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\">The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/russia-is-building-its-own-kind-of-sovereign-internet-with-help-from-apple-and-google-169115\">original article<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/russia-control-internet-google-and-apple-syndication\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#Russia\u2019s trying to control the internet, and Google and Apple are helping&#8221; On September 17, the first day of Russia\u2019s parliamentary elections, Apple and Google agreed to demands from the Russian government to remove a strategic voting app developed by opposition leader Alexei Navalny from the iOS and Android app stores. Apple then disabled its&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":348566,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img-cdn.tnwcdn.com\/image\/tnw?filter_last=1&fit=1280,640&url=https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/10\/russia-internet.jpg&signature=0adb9039d2bfbdf61345dc408c725391","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-348565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}