Alt causes to internet balkanization.

Andrew Sullivan, “Misguided Policies the World over Are Slowly Killing the Open Internet,” Internet Society, 03-01-2023, https://www.internetsociety.org/blog/2023/03/misguided-policies-the-world-over-are-slowly-killing-the-open-internet/

China’s connection to the Internet has long been vastly different from the online experience elsewhere. The Internet in China is tightly controlled through central operation and the so-called “Great Firewall.” Many parts of the global Internet cannot be reached from China, yet this way of operating seems to attract the interest of other governments.

Russia has been attempting to mimic China’s approach for over a decade, through “RuNet.” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine brought greater attention to RuNet because it rerouted existing Ukrainian network connections through Russia in the areas that it occupies.

In Cambodia, a proposed “National Internet Gateway” would manage all local and international online traffic through a centralized government facility, making the Internet far less open for all Cambodians.

If You Think It’s Not a Problem in the West—Think Again

In July, actions by the Irish Data Protection Commission threatened to disconnect users from social media platforms for their own privacy protection. In both Brussels and London, draft legislation is pending that would effectively give governments and third parties access to private communications under the nebulous umbrella of “dangerous content.”

European telecommunications interests are pressing for new telecoms rules that will make the fragmentation worse, by requiring tech companies to share the costs of infrastructure with the telecom operators. Users will only be able to access online services that have specifically contracted with a telecom provider, which means what parts of the Internet a user can see will depend on what contracts the user’s Internet Service Provider has. Of course, extra costs will undoubtedly be passed onto end users.

Meanwhile, Canada is attempting to regulate the Internet by treating it as a broadcast medium (under Bill C-11), as well as attempting to regulate what constitutes news content online, and how that news is paid for (Bill C-18). In the United States, various states have proceeded with separate Internet legislation governing privacy, child protection, and content moderation, creating the possibility of 50 separate Internet jurisdictions in the U.S. alone.