Russia Tests Alternative Internet

RUSSIA – THE Government of Russia is claiming to have successfully tested an alternative to the global internet.

According to the Ministry of Communications, ordinary users did not notice any changes as details of what the test involved were vague.

The results will now be presented to President Putin, international news agencies are reporting.

Experts remain concerned about the trend for some countries to dismantle the internet.

“Sadly, the Russian direction of travel is just another step in the increasing breaking-up of the internet,” Prof Alan Woodward, a computer scientist at the University of Surrey told the BBC.

He is quoted as saying, “Increasingly, authoritarian countries which want to control what citizens see are looking at what Iran and China have already done.

“It means people will not have access to dialogue about what is going on in their own country, they will be kept within their own bubble.”