Russian Internet policy at odds with that of Western countries

Kremlin expresses desire for border guards on the Internet.

Cyrus Farivar – Jun 5, 2012 9:07 am | 34

The Kremlin is very active on Twitter, even in English.

TALLINN, ESTONIA—Nearly all Western Internet users believe in the general principles of information-sharing that date back to the Enlightenment-era values of freedom of expression. Or, expressed more succinctly in the 20th century: information wants to be free.

But, says Keir Giles, a veteran Russia analyst at the Conflict Studies Research Center in the United Kingdom, the Kremlin doesn’t quite see things the same way.

“The main principles are reversed,” he said, speaking at the opening day of the International Conference on Cyber Conflict in the Estonian capital, which will continue throughout the week. “Whereas we [in the West] have a tendency to treat [cyber policy] in isolation, Russia and China take it more holistically, as part of information policy.”

Estonia, of course, suffered one of the best-known examples of cyberattacks—back in 2007, political, media, and financial websites were pummeled for two weeks. The following year, the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence was founded in Tallinn. Not long after, in 2009, Konstantin Goloskokov, a commissar with the nationalistic Russian youth movement Nashi, admitted that the group had orchestrated the attacks. Given the decades of Soviet rule of Estonia during the 20th century, Russian foreign policy in all areas, both online and offline, is of particular interest there.

Giles explained that in recent months, Moscow has put forward three distinct Internet policy documents, which are essentially extensions of the “Information Security Doctrine of the Russian Federation” (2000), which has sentences like:

“The state’s interests in the information sphere consist of creating conditions for harmonious Russian information infrastructure development… the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Russia, and political, economic and social stability; the interests of the state also consist in the unconditional maintenance of law and order and in the promotion of equal and mutually advantageous international cooperation.”

In September 2011, Russia introduced the “Convention on International Information Security.” This lengthy document inspired a second related document, which has since received support from China, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan and has been put forward at the United Nations, and largely argues for national interests driving Internet policy.

“[Russians] believe that a new set of legislation is necessary to govern the information domain,” Giles added. “We think that norms evolve from accepted behaviors, laws stem from customs. What is proposed by Russia is a prescriptive regime. There are other assumptions. We think that information moves seamlessly across international borders. The whole essence of the [Russian] draft convention is referred to as a state’s information space. It still relies on the idea that you can put up a barrier that says information does not cross here.”

Russia poised to launch “cyber command”

Giles also highlighted a third document, released in December 2011, with the title of “Conceptual Views on the Activity of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in Information Space,” which he called the first “explicit” document explaining the position of the Russian military with respect to cyberspace. More recently, as of March 2012, Moscow now appears to be moving ever closer to establishing a “cyber command,” along the lines of what already exists in the United States.

“It’s interesting what’s in there, and especially for what is not in there, especially when compared with US and UK documents,” the Kremlinologist said.

Giles explained that the December 2011 document focuses nearly exclusively on defensive measures and does not discuss potential offensive measures. “It has a very defensive-themed [tone],” he added. “It talks about threats to Russian information security. The document treats [cyber threats] as a holistic threat, integral part of information warfare.”

The 2011 Conceptual Views document, Giles added, explores Russian military priorities, which includes “collecting information on threats, developing counter-measures, international cooperation with friendly states, and confirms directly and indirectly that the Convention [should be] the fundamental doctrine for Russia.”

Giles’ analysis appeared to be consistent with recent statements by high-level Russian politicians, including Dmitri Medvedev, the current prime minister.

“The Internet helps everyone, including politicians, to be modern people able to influence the situation and get access to information that has not been touched up or transformed into reports and digests prepared in accordance with particular people’s preferences, or even the various special reports that the law enforcement and intelligence services provide,” Medvedev told supporters in November 2011.