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Ukraine Government email to ICANN (requesting shutdown of .ru root DNS servers)

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Re: Ukraine Government email to ICANN (requesting shutdown of .ru root DNS servers)

#71

This is a terrible shortsighted idea, the average Russian will be negatively effected. Russians are just like you and me, We are talking about effectively disrupting everyday services for Russians... What if someone's trying to access critical health services, use connected medical equipment.. Theres a million reasons to not do this.

Agreed. Not every Russian wants a war, it's the mad helm at the top ruling for 20+ years who need a war for their own survival. Stopping .ru domain has direct impact on common Russian people. Instead, we need to cut off Russian propaganda sites or for that matter any site that spreads disinformation like anti-vax.

Re: Ukraine Government email to ICANN (requesting shutdown of .ru root DNS servers)

#72

It’s starting to feel like the West is using this conflict as a proxy to implement China-like Great Firewall measures on its own populations. The “globalist” ideal that international commerce and communication would bolster peaceful relations is becoming increasingly farcical. I don’t think that I’ve ever visited a .ru domain name, so it’s not like this will affect me much personally, but sure seems like a weak and p…

The Great Firewall is probably the best investment that China has made. This has allowed them to build native alternatives and given them leverage when negotiating with foreign companies who want to do business there. Not to mention they can shield the people against foreign propaganda.

Competitors copying it is inevitable.

Re: Ukraine Government email to ICANN (requesting shutdown of .ru root DNS servers)

#73
post #70

What will happen is a Russian dns that many countries will use would be setup. This creates a grey-net where by using this dns sites with content not allowed in the west will live. The possibilities are a little exciting.

The west can force their ISPs to block traffic to these DNS services... and then extend that to whatever else they want blocked.

We need a blockchain DNS service which can be exported as custom list for a DNS service you run locally (afaik, pihole supports custom lists).

Re: Ukraine Government email to ICANN (requesting shutdown of .ru root DNS servers)

#74
post #56
post #21

From Bill Woodcock who first posted this email: "In the short-term, this is a bad plan because it would cut the Russian man-on-the-street off from international news and perspectives, leaving them with only what the Russian government chooses to tell them. That's not a great way to decrease Russian public support for the war. In the long-term, this would set the precedent that small industry associations in Los Angel…

China and Russia have already effectively seceded from the 'open internet'. Those governments have firewalls and killswitches set up in such a way that they can censor whatever they want. If they wish to reap the benefits of the open internet, it's only fair they face consequences when they abuse their power.

There's a _huge_ difference between having a firewall that can be bypassed by a VPN, and making all Russian websites and email inaccessible from outside Russia.

Their request to remove all "domains issued in the Russian Federation" is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. Do they honestly expect ICANN to spend exorbitant amounts of resources to help companies migrate? To help researchers maintain contact with Russian colleagues?

Re: Ukraine Government email to ICANN (requesting shutdown of .ru root DNS servers)

#76
post #50

Does no one else think all these requests from Ukraine is a bit strange... People, do your research and look into the history of Ukraine, you'll find that all of this was preventable. Watch something like Oliver Stone's Ukraine on Fire, it's a starting point to the bigger picture. Does China face the same actions over their human rights violations ie. Uyghurs, no. Does the US and its allies face the same actions over…

I'd suggest to also have a look at the recent similarly anti democratic violent intervention of Russian paratroopers to secure the Kazakh oligarchs, which I'm confident most HNers don't even know happened less than 2 months ago.

Have Russia held liable for the hundreds of protesters killed and thousands arrested? No.

I wonder why?

Re: Ukraine Government email to ICANN (requesting shutdown of .ru root DNS servers)

#77
post #47

I totally get the sentiment, but it will be the worst thing that west can do right now. Russia been practicing and preparing for a while to "sovereign internet", i.e. total disconnect from rest of the internet and operating independently. If ICANN/RIPE will shut things down, it will give to Russian government excellent excuse to totally disconnect from rest of the world

I sure will miss the balanced perspectives Russian trolls and bot farms bring.

If you think i am russian troll, please check out my comments from past few days

edit. in case i initially misunderstood what you wrote, there is still a lot of people who are west oriented a nd hate everything that happens.they are horrified by what is happening. many writing that they ashame to be russian. i have friends that go daily to protests those days. shutting down this communication will isolate them and will be disservice for everyone long term

Re: Ukraine Government email to ICANN (requesting shutdown of .ru root DNS servers)

#78
post #21

From Bill Woodcock who first posted this email: "In the short-term, this is a bad plan because it would cut the Russian man-on-the-street off from international news and perspectives, leaving them with only what the Russian government chooses to tell them. That's not a great way to decrease Russian public support for the war. In the long-term, this would set the precedent that small industry associations in Los Angel…

how does removing .ru dns cut the russian man-on-the-street from interational news and perspectives.

dns is not ip addresses. all that means is russian websites would stop working via normal dns, not that ip addresses would stop routing and non .ru would continue to resolve normally.

the only thing I can imagine is that it would cut them off because russia et al would then take the step to cut them off (which they sort of do already)

Re: Ukraine Government email to ICANN (requesting shutdown of .ru root DNS servers)

#79

Once TTLs expire this will presumably make all RU websites and hostnames inaccessible. Please correct me if I’m wrong. The effect is ICANN deplatforming all Russian websites from the Web along with taking down SMTP/POP/IMAP servers, and much more. This is the equivalent of remotely burning all books, killing the mail system and destroying all telecommunications in another country a half century ago. It is a drastic s…

making the request is probably on the same order as russian bringing the nuclear arsenal to readiness. its about the threat, "you think we don't have any bullets left in our gun? see the big bomb we just brought out".

i.e. I doubt they expect it to happen as of now, they do however want the world (not just leaders, but people as well) to realize what it can do to attack russia without resorting to nukes.

Re: Ukraine Government email to ICANN (requesting shutdown of .ru root DNS servers)

#80
post #52

I don't think any competent army uses "the internet". You may think making Russian websites inaccessible will bring moral boost or justice served moment but it will certainly have a negative effect. This won't change number of casualties nor shorten any conflict in meaningful way. This and some other sanctions that punish average Russians for just being Russians will put us into polarized world again and another cold…

> I don't think any competent army uses "the internet"

I don't think there are competent armies that don't use the Internet. It's a magical place ripe for propaganda ( e.f. check the news on the Russian vs French propaganda war on Facebook/Twitter in Central Africa).

> Seriously how does blocking country from an adult website helps the situation?

It informs more Russians of the real situation on the ground. That's good. Likes on social media are less useful of course, but it's still a metric. When a Russian sees millions of likes on a Zelensky heartfelt message on Twitter, maybe it gets them thinking they're really the bad guys and the whole world sees it like that. Russian soldiers are already deserting and giving up in some places, so morale is very important.

> This and some other sanctions that punish average Russians for just being Russians will put us into polarized world again and another cold war that will take ages to repair.

What's the alternative? Let Putin get away with it? If regular Russians don't feel the sanctions they'll never know just how terrible their regime is. And maybe, just maybe, this will push them to act.

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