I say let'em have it. Split the root and let the commies have their own Internet. It's inevitable anyway and could possibly curtail much of the online crap that comes out of Russia/Asia. I think it's pretty obvious now that the Internet will not "set oppressed peoples free", and in fact can get them oppressed even further, so what's the point in "one Internet"?

In addition it would open up huge new job sectors for their developing economies.

http://icannwiki.org/Alternative_Roots

Oh, *those* alternative roots ...

I've said this before - surely there must be someone on El Reg who knows more about DNS workings than Mr. Hansen ?

Right now, it's much more politically difficult to sell the internet censorship to the Russian public than to US public. So if they build their own network, the only significant difference will be in the lack of respect for the western intellectual property rights.

Which is nice :)

In Soviet Russia, DNS queries YOU!!!

In Soviet Russia, Internet connects to YOU!!!!

In Soviet Russia, mp3 downloads YOU!!!

Please, the USSR set the examples, China copies them. Putin, don't do the backwards thing now!!!

Whatever network either Russia or any other country set up, it either WILL have (firewalled and censored) access to the rest of the world, like today, or it WILL NOT, in which case they've just committed themselves to a slow economic death like the Soviets did. I predict a leaky firewall, like the Chinese one, with the most obvious leak being that all the spam and malware gets through. (Sorry Raheim!)

As usual, the whole thing is blown out of proportion.

Russian authorities *did* monitor all the network before, do monitor them now, they know the physical addresses of all the internet service provide users, and, they have real-time dynamic IP table updates from the ISPs. When they *want* to arrest someone, they do within minutes.

So as you can see, there is no need for the “Russian internet” for the sake of control, this is complete and utter crap propaganda!

Oh, and I do not know any blogs in England that write absolute and utter crap about UK politicians, in the same ferocity and quantity as there are blogs in Russia. Stop cloning the FUD

‘Putin tightens his grip on Russia's internet’

So he's tightening his grip and enjoying internet penetration huh? ;)

There are stil people in the USA (and the UK) who can't get over Putin, and see their (oil-) pipe dreams of hegemony and wealth beyond avarice slowly sinking into the distance. So near.. and yet so far... So very '90s. The same people for whom the word "standard" is never preceded by the word "double", and whose nostalgia is more contagious with the media than a free lunch.