Russia’s New Internet Controls

The Russian government, long known for attempts at silencing political opposition (ask reporters that dare to criticize Putin), began enforcing a law on November 1st that allows for government controls on the internet. The Kremlin has insisted that the law will improve cyber security and will not change user experience. However, the law gives almost complete control to the government to block websites and track internet users. It has spread fear that they may implement firewall controls similar to those in China, where many websites are banned nationwide.

Despite government claims that the bill is designed to support internet “sovereignty” in the event the West cuts off the Russians from foreign servers, it is widely believed that it is designed to control and monitor domestic internet traffic. Much of the infrastructure being built so far is focused on targeting and blocking users and content, with the messaging app Telegram believed to be the first target. Protests have occurred since March opposing the law, as many Russians see the law for what it is. Representatives from third party groups have noted that the law gives the government the possible power to bring the internet under complete state control.

We have often discussed the significance of censorship and information control. My last blog post also focused on censorship, but on social media sites such as Facebook. As we have seen in the past, information is a powerful tool , especially for governments intending to control flows of information. It also allows for higher effectiveness of propaganda and ability for easier control over narratives. The next few months will be crucial in the future of information in Russia and how the public will react.

BBC News. “Russia internet: Law introducing new controls comes into force.” BBC News: 1 November 2019. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50259597#.

The Importance of Website Design

Website design has become crucial for the success of businesses and other organizations. Specifically, the ability of a website to be mobile friendly now has a huge effect on how customers view an organization. According to one poll, 72% of users want mobile-friendly websites while 79% said they would leave a site that isn’t user-friendly. With a majority of Americans using their cellphones to buy things online, and over 75% of adults being online almost constantly, it is no longer optional for a company to overlook the importance of a well-designed website. Well designed websites can improve commerce and increase the number of users who utilize it.

Currently, up to 50% of online commerce comes from mobile phones. Therefore, by failing to create a mobile-friendly website, a business can be sacrificing almost half of its online income. It is crucial to employ quality graphic designers, in the current age, due to the large amounts of money and commerce that are sacrificed without a mobile-friendly or even a user-friendly web page. In the last year, the ratio of desktop to mobile usage has spread to 61% mobile and 39% desktop. It is now economically inefficient to not produce a mobile-friendly web page.

On a more personal note, my older brother graduated Kutztown University with a degree in graphic design in 2001. In the early 2000s, he found difficulty in finding a job in his field an settled down in rural Pennsylvania designing t-shirts for around 5-7 years. To talk to him now, you would never believe it. He now contracts for several different companies designing mobile applications and web pages in Chicago. He’s making six figures and will likely never have any problems finding a job if he loses his current contracts. It speaks volumes about the importance of website design and its growth in the past few years, and it is likely to continue to grow.

 

Swift, Janet. “The Importance of Responsive Web Design.” I Programmer: 10 February 2019. https://www.i-programmer.info/news/83-mobliephone/12526-the-importance-of-responsive-web-design.html

The Continued Fight for Net Neutrality

As most of us know, Net Neutrality rules were repealed in 2017 under FCC chair Ajit Pai. Pai, a Republican, took control of the FCC in 2017 and immediately moved to remove Obama-era regulations on telecommunications companies and especially internet providers such as Verizon. Without these regulations, internet service providers (ISPs) can influence your connection speeds and improve bandwidth for preferred companies (i.e. Google running faster than Bing). The FCC argues that without the regulations, there is more incentive to improve internet infrastructure and improve speeds.

Attorneys general in 22 states partnered with various organizations and business to sue the FCC in federal court to overturn the regulations repeal. Their decision was rendered on October 1st, with mixed for the future of net neutrality rules. First of all, the court upheld the repeal of the regulations, a loss for those opposing the deregulation. However, there was a key win in the court ruling. The federal court repealed a provision that blocked states form passing their own net neutrality laws. This allows states to continually enact their own net neutrality laws with 34 states already introducing bills in the past few days. Five states, including California, have already enacted legislation. Although the FCC has argued about the issues around a patchwork of state regulations, they plan to challenge different regulations on a case-by-case basis. Net neutrality has implications for consumers in various ways, which makes this issue a pretty big deal. If you haven’t been following this, I would highly recommend you do. It could mean a lot for the future of your internet use.

Reardon, Marguerite. “The Net Neutrality Battle Lives on: What You Need to Know After the Appeals Court Decision.” CNET, 3 Oct. 2019, https://www.cnet.com/news/net-neutrality-battle-lives-on-what-you-need-to-know-after-the-appeals-court-decision/.

China’s New Social Credit System, and Why It May Not Be Different Than Us

China’s incoming social credit system is a topic that will likely arise often in any IST course. The government has green-lighted eight companies to pilot their intended social credit system, which will create a definitive “credit score” for all citizens based on various relationships and actions. For example, jay-walking can drop your credit score, and the possible punishments can range from not being able to get a loan to being banned from trains and flights. Predictably, this has caused an uproar in Western media, including a segment on Netflix’s Black Mirror. However, what many people fail to understand or recognize is that most of the Western world has already implemented similar measures, they are just less open about it.

First comes the United States. The Patriot Act, following the September 11th terrorist attacks, allowed government agencies to collect information on American citizens. Thanks to whistle-blower Edward Snowden, we all know the government collects our data and hides its purpose.It informs no-fly lists, which if you pay attention suddenly sounds very similar to the Chinese government’s intended punishments for their citizens. Additionally, the governments intended red-lists and blacklists are similar to President Trump’s Muslim ban. Credit scores in of themselves have been around for decades and have similar consequences to social credit. The real question we should be asking is: is it better to have an open information collection system, or hide it under the disguise of “national security”?

The United Kingdom does not represent much of an improvement. In 2016, Parliament passed the Investigatory Powers Act. It requires communications companies to store user information and records for at least a year, and gives access to those records to government authorities. The move was harshly criticized by many groups for essentially allowing the government to spy on its citizens using big data. Again, parallels can be drawn to China’s new social credit system and the collection techniques it uses. The European Court of Human Rights even called it a blatant violation of privacy and human rights. So once again, we have to ask what our priority is. When our governments at home are already implementing surveillance techniques, how justified is our anger and fear toward China?

Campbell, Charlie. “How China Is Using ‘Social Credit Scores’ to Reward and Punish Its Citizens.” Time, 2019, https://time.com/collection/davos-2019/5502592/china-social-credit-score/.

Isackson, Peter. “Reassessing China’s Social Credit System.” Fair Observer, 2 Aug. 2019, https://www.fairobserver.com/region/asia_pacific/china-social-credit-system-chinese-government-world-news-34990/.

Walker, Dale, and Siobhan Conners. “What Is the Investigatory Powers Act 2016?” IT Pro, 8 Aug. 2019, https://www.itpro.co.uk/policy-legislation/33407/what-is-the-investigatory-powers-act-2016.