Moving ahead towards 'sovereign' Internet bill, Russian lawmakers approve second reading
Moscow, April 11: The Russian lawmaker on Thursday approved the second reading of a bill which would allow the country to cut off the foreign internet traffic. Russia has introduced tougher Internet laws in the last five years, requiring search engines to delete some search results, messaging services to share encryption keys with security services.
The proposed measures would create technology to monitor internet routing and steer Russian internet traffic away from foreign servers, ostensibly to prevent a foreign country from shutting it down. If the measures are passed in a final third reading by parliament and approved by the upper house and signed by President Vladimir Putin, they will become law and enter force on November 1.
The legislation aims to route Russian web traffic and data through points controlled by state authorities and to build a national Domain Name System to allow the Internet to continue working even if Russia is cut off from foreign infrastructure.
Authors of the initiative say Russia must ensure the security of its networks after US President Donald Trump unveiled a new American cybersecurity strategy last year that said Russia had carried out cyber attacks with impunity.
The legislation has been dubbed a "sovereign internet" bill by Russian media.
The legislation also proposes installing network equipment that would be able to identify the source of web traffic and also block banned content. It is expected to make the authorities more effective at blocking sites.