Ukraine's appeal came as the country retained functioning internet and infrastructure despite fears of a crippling Russian cyberattack. ICANN's refusal preserved the internet's existing naming-system governance boundaries rather than turning them into a wartime disconnection tool.
Ukraine loses the requested ICANN route for globally disconnecting Russia; ICANN keeps its role outside direct wartime network exclusion.
Russian networks remain connected through the global DNS system, while individual providers retain discretion over their own commercial links, as Cogent's action illustrates.
Second-order effects
Pressure to isolate Russian communications shifts toward backbone providers and local ISPs rather than ICANN, producing selective rather than universal network separation.
In occupied Ukrainian areas, Russia-controlled operators gain a practical means to direct traffic and impose censorship or surveillance without needing an ICANN-level change.
Third-order effects
The coverage points to internet fragmentation being driven less by a single global technical authority than by control of transit relationships and physical local infrastructure.
If territorial rerouting and provider-led cutoffs persist, access to information in conflict zones becomes increasingly determined by which network operator controls the connection.
The trend: Wartime internet control is moving toward selective provider and territorial network control, while core global governance bodies resist nation-scale disconnection requests.
[long thread] Yesterday, Ukraine sent a letter to ICANN - the body responsible for the management of the Internet's naming system - with a set of requests against Russia. It goes without saying that, like most, I stand with Ukraine, but this is a bad idea all around. Here's why:
Ukraine Wants to Basically Kick Russia Off the Internet. Terrible Idea. The move would silence what's left of Russia's independent media and further splinter the already fragile internet. My piece for @slate on the latest salvo in the #Russia #Ukraine war https://slate.com/...
In dark times, people need to be able to reach the light, reassure their loved ones, inform themselves and others, and escape the walls of propaganda and censorship. The internet is a crucial tool for all of that - don't mess with it. https://www.eff.org/...
“Ukraine's Ministry of Digital Transformation sent a letter to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ... The letter asks ICANN to shut down Russian-administered domain names (think .RU, .SU, and .рф) and root servers in the country.” https://slate.com/...
Russia is facing a lot of sanctions. Here's one it won't have to deal with: It's access to the Internet is not being shut off, despite request from Ukraine. @b_fung has story as to why. https://www.cnn.com/...
New from me: ICANN denied Ukraine's request to shut down Russian domains. But it isn't the only tech organization getting caught in the middle as Russia and Ukraine each try to wrest control of the internet. Civilians' freedoms are at stake, experts say. https://www.cyberscoop.co…
Radsch argues deplatforming state propaganda should remain at the application level, not IP & DNS, to avoid undermining an open, interoperable Internet. I agree: Cutting Russia off - as Ukraine requests - would risk catalyzing shift to splinternets: US, EU, Rus, China, Iran, etc …