Key U.S. provider of Internet to Russia is cutting

[Uncle Joe]

(snip)

Cogent, based in Washington, D.C., is one of the world’s largest providers of what’s known as Internet backbone — roughly comparable to the Interstate highway system, providing the primary conduit for data flows that local companies then route to individual domains. Among its customers in Russia is state-owned Rostelecom, the largest Internet provider in Russia whose customers include many government sites.

Russia, like most nations, is connected to the world by several backbone providers but Cogent is among its largest. Friday’s action, due to begin taking effect at noon Eastern time, is likely to cause some disruptions and diminished performance in Russia, though it won’t be enough to knock the nation offline, say people familiar with the company’s actions, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss matters not yet public.

(snip)

Ukrainian officials have been lobbying American Internet companies to cut off services from Russia and also asked ICANN, the California-based nonprofit group that oversees aspect of Internet functionality worldwide, to suspend the main Russian Internet domain, .ru. On Wednesday ICANN rejected the request.

(snip)

While Ukraine’s calls for curbs on online sources to Russian government propaganda have generated wide sympathy and some action by key American companies, the effort to cut off Russia from the Internet overall has generated significant backlash from digital rights advocates. They argue that isolating Russians from online services — and especially social media — deprives them of access to information about the war in Ukraine, leaving government-controlled media as the only source of news.

(snip)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/03/04/russia-ukraine-internet-cogent-cutoff/

I have mixed feeling about this strategy, I believe it could hurt protest and opposition against Putin's war.

[gab13by13]

1. Not so sure about doing this,

The Russian people need access to the internet.