“Sovereign Internet”: will Russians be deprived of YouTube and when

Completely copying the Chinese version is not yet possible

“In Russia, by the end of the year, a pilot project of a secure Internet will be launched, one hundred percent “sovereign”, entry – only by personal identifier, inside – only proven and safe services that comply with Russian laws … ”This is with reference to the deputy head of the Duma Committee on Information politics, information technology and communications Andrei Svintsov (LDPR) reported news agencies.

“MK” spoke with the deputy to understand whether the Russians will soon lose the opportunity to use YouTube, Telegram and other familiar platforms. In short – no, they will not lose, at least not yet. This pilot project is commercial and will be tested within the framework of one large company.

– How will all this look – in your view?

– The final design itself has not been worked out, but the general meaning is that it should be some kind of analogue of the Chinese Internet, and in Russia – an analogue of some ordinary internal network, when there are registered and 100% identified users (for example, identified through the State Services), and the operator does not secure each individual device, smartphone or computer, but the circuit itself. Inside this circuit, everything is completely transparent. That is, we are talking about a different format for using our familiar Internet in order to reduce the volume of various kinds of fraud, theft and spam.

– And what about the Russians who are used to YouTube, Telegram? Will access to various popular foreign platforms and social networks be possible under such a scheme?

– Yes, sure. A mechanism is being developed when a person will have the opportunity to work both in the closed part of the Internet and in the open. Relatively speaking, the provider Rostelecom or Sberbank create such a resource, and only verified users are loaded into their ecosystem. I repeat, there will be no anonymity within the system. Roughly speaking, you have a separate browser, and there is protected content inside.

– This is still not quite a Chinese version of Internet regulation …

– In the future, such a secure Internet will be more in demand, and its development may follow different scenarios. And at the first stage, we can talk about about 95% of our Internet consumption with you being inside a secure circuit. Gradually, those services that we have, for example, are not yet of sufficient quality – like RuTube, will be loaded there. Again, the development of technology may lead to the fact that you will have to replace part of the equipment, perhaps abandon Apple – you know that from there all the information goes to the United States.

– And from Chinese smartphones and laptops – to China?

– Quite possible. It’s just that with the development of our products, both software and hardware, we will gradually come to the sovereign Internet, which, in modern realities, I think is inevitable.

– From foreign resources will be required to fulfill some conditions in order to get inside the protected circuit – if they want, of course?

– It requires full compliance with Russian legislation, and if a company wants to work within a protected segment, it will have to upload only content allowed in the territory of the Russian Federation and bear full responsibility for this.

– Will the implementation of the plans you outlined require the adoption of new laws?

– Today, there is no need to adopt new laws, but then, of course, legal regulation of relations between external and internal services will be required. But not this year: now the task is to launch a pilot, and then we’ll see.

– Pilot – on the territory of some region?

– While it is supposed within the limits of one large company.

– Does the government support the project? Does the Ministry of Digital Development participate in its implementation?

– The state is not the initiator. The Ministry of Digital Development is not the main character here, because the project is purely commercial, but in case of a positive result, it can be proposed to the state.