• Geopolicy
• National Security
• Issues of Armeniancy
• Economy

INTERNET LOCALIZATION AS A MINIMAL DEFENSE AGAINST INTERNET WEAPONIZATION

By Dr. George Kostopoulos
Professor of Cybersecurity
University of Maryland University College, USA

Introduction

In the recent years, a new resource has become available to the world that has greatly enhanced communications, having equally enhanced the productivity of practically all sectors. This resource covers the world like the sun and the moon, having become an infrastructure for the creation and implementation of previously impossible accomplishments. This resource is the Internet – a centrally managed network of networks – that is a valuable asset beyond quantitative valuation.

A natural question is: Who owns the Internet? “The Internet is a network of networks. Each of the separate networks belongs to different companies and organizations, and they rely on physical servers in different countries with varying laws and regulations.” The Internet is nominally managed and administered by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). ICANN “ . . . is a nonprofit organization responsible for coordinating the aintenance and procedures of several databases related to the namespaces and numerical spaces of the Internet, ensuring the network's stable and secure operation.” Physical nodes are located in countries around the world facilitating the network's speedy and effective operations.

It is a fact that in the Internet, conceptually, there are no physical borders, and that the world is fully interconnected with unlimited benefits to be derived. As the Internet grows in usefulness and in coverage, this bona fide assumption is being shaken by the thought of potential actions that will isolate or divide the world. A world that the Internet has in some way united.

In reality, “ . . . the Internet is a network of networks . . . “. These networks, consisting of routers and servers, miles of cables - optical and copper - as well as of wireless links. They belong to various companies or national organizations, where they must comply with the rules and decisions of the governments of the respective countries. The fears of the Global Commission on Internet Governance is that, “ . . . the political controls imposed by governments would cause people to lose trust in the Internet . . . “ As described further down in this paper, there are numerous cases where governments have shut down the Internet in selected areas and at selected times, presumably for the common good.

It is beyond doubt that most of the Western World's data physically reside in servers that are located in the United States. The various social media entities, that enjoy worldwide trust and offer free services, have their data warehouses with billions of accounts in the US. Universities for their convenience have their email accounts managed by gmail, which is a US-based business organization. Even the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of a European country, after a major email system crash, of unknown cause, has now employed the gmail services. That is, now all of the Ministry's emails are stored in the gmail servers, thousands of miles away.