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Opinion
May 17, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 20
head and engage in a discourse with the Russian people directly, by addressing them using social media. The Kremlin would have been powerless to stop Zelenskiy if he tried this – until now.
Moscow has since introduced various draconian laws in response, focusing on restricting content, controlling data storage and limiting anonymity in an effort to gain greater control over the internet.
Material determined to be “extremist” or a “threat to public order” – both loosely defined pretexts for censorship – can be blocked and potentially land posters in jail while the communications watchdog Roskomnadzor maintains an active blacklist for a host of services to follow.
As of March, showing “blatant disrespect” for of- ficials or publishing “fake news” will also get you in trouble. Online privacy has suffered too. Tel- ecommunications operators and companies have been told to save the data and metadata of us- ers and give the security services access to their encryption keys. Social media and communication platforms are required to link accounts to phone numbers while blogs with more than 3,000 daily readers must sign up to an official register. Virtual private networks (VPNs) have new restrictions too.
Some of these laws have been better implemented than others. Some have hardly been implemented at all. Often clumsy and chaotic, it would be easy to be cynical about Moscow's efforts. But the intent remains the same – gain control over the online world at the expense of internet freedoms.
Laws and limits
In many ways the new sovereign internet law is
a fitting culmination to the campaign. It seeks
to replicate what is essentially a physical on/off switch for the internet by forcing service providers to use Russian based, government controlled exchange points (these are the things that stitch together to form paths for information to flow). New sophisticated equipment will need to be installed to allow regulators to better monitor
and block a host of internet traffic – webpages,
messaging apps, VPNs etc – giving Moscow the power to cut the country off from the rest of the worldwide web in a time of crisis.
The law also sets out the creation of a Russian alternative to the global Domain Name System (DNS). The DNS is a complex, flexible system
Moldova’s banking sector turning the corner
Moldova has long been a money-laundering black hole. Then in 2014 they had a shock when more than $1bn was stolen from the bank sector – equivalent to 15% of GDP.
Belatedly the government is now responding. Stakes in three of the country's biggest banks, which together account for about 80% of the sector’s assets, have been sold to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and private investors and the central bank has been given real teeth to enforce regulations.
bne IntelliNews editor-in-chief Ben Aris talks
to special advisor to the president and head
of strategic planning at Moldova-Agroindbank (MAIB) Corneliu Munteanu and asks if Moldova’s banking sector has turned the corner.
Corneliu Munteanu
special advisor to the president of Moldova, head of strategic planning at MAIB
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