After Cogent, Lumen is the second American Internet provider to announce the end of its operations in Russia. If this decision is in line with the sanctions imposed by the West, it risks further isolating the Russian people from the rest of the world.
A choice for the security »
” We have decided to disconnect the network due to the increased security risk inside Russia. We have yet to experience any network disruptions, but given the increasingly uncertain environment and heightened risk of state action, we have taken this action to ensure the security of our networks and those of our customers, as well as the continued integrity of the global Internet “says Lumen in a statement to explain his decision.
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If the firm, unlike other technology companies, does not justify its choice by the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia, it is very likely that it fears the new law validated by the Kremlin risking fifteen years prison to anyone who spreads “ fake news on the war.
Lumen assures that its services are “ extremely reduced and very limited in Russia, but the company still counts among its customers Rostelecom and TransTelekom, two public telecommunications companies. The end of the service’s activities in the country should therefore be felt by the population.
Russians find themselves increasingly isolated from the rest of the world. Photography: Aurelien Romain / Unsplash
Tech companies follow Western sanctions
Lumen’s decision comes as no surprise, as Western governments and tech giants take drastic measures to protest the war in Ukraine. Silicon Valley behemoths such as Oracle, Intel, Airbnb, Microsoft and AMD have thus decided to suspend their activities in Russia. This is also the case of Apple, which will no longer sell its products there, as well as Samsung, which has taken a similar decision.
Google has announced the end of its advertising activities in Russia, jeopardizing many companies as the advertising machine of the Mountain View firm is colossal. Similarly, Amazon Web Services, the world’s largest cloud provider, said it would no longer accept new customers from Russia or Belarus.
A digital iron curtain around Russia
Russia retaliates. The Kremlin has for example decided to restrict Twitter and block Facebook in the country, but this only cuts off the Russian people from international sources of information. The fact that Internet providers from abroad leave Russia can have disastrous consequences for Russians.
” To disconnect Russia from the global Internet is to leave Russians with the only state propaganda that tells them that Ukrainians are their enemies. This will silence anti-war voices and harm Ukraine said Natalia Krapiva, a digital rights lawyer with internet freedom advocacy group Access Now, at washington post. Currently, the main remaining international data sources in Russia are Western companies based in Sweden, Italy and the UK.
The West is in the process of building a real digital iron curtain around Russia, a curtain that Putin’s country is trying to circumvent. To achieve this, he plans, for example, to legalize software piracy in order to have access to services and products from Western companies.