While many analyst have warned about the spread of the Chinese model of Internet censorship, often referred to as the Great Firewall, two other US adversaries are pursuing policies that may have much more detrimental consequences for the future of the Internet. Unlike China, Iran and Russia don’t merely want to censor what happens online. Instead, they aim to isolate their domestic Internet from the global ‘network of networks.’
Iran recently announced that work on the “national information network,” which is basically a countrywide intranet, is 80% finished. Russia is pursuing a similar plan that would enable the country to disconnect Runet, the Russian Internet, from the global Internet. Russia claims that a planned test of Runet’s “independence” aims to help the country protect its digital assets against foreign attacks, but analysts believe that Moscow is instead pursuing an ‘online Iron Curtain.’
Read more: Russia and Iran Plan to Fundamentally Isolate the Internet
