RusNet on the Offensive

Upon becoming president of the United States, Barack Obama formulated the policy of reset in the U.S.-Russia relations – as part of his grand project of improving international relations on a more equitable basis, with a bigger role for diplomacy and international alliances and less reliance on unilateral actions and the use of force. As part of resetting their relationship in the military-political field, the United States and Russia were able, in the first and part of the second tenure of Obama’s presidency, to claim some major achievements in the military-political field, such as signing the New START Treaty, working on further nuclear disarmament measures, and developing bilateral anti-terrorist activities. U.S.-Russia cooperation also resulted in Russia’s agreement to open up its air space and railways for NATO transports which helped the International Coalition to conduct operation in Afghanistan in its “surge” phase and then to successfully withdraw combat units from that country. U.S.-Russia relations were also instrumental in bridging the positions of the two countries with regard to Iran’s and North Korea’s nuclear problem, with Russia and China voting alongside with the United States on UN Security Council resolutions for sanctions against North Korea and Iran to make them comply with the nuclear safeguards. Yet in various regions of the world, Obama’s policy – initially announced as an innovative breakthrough strategy proved instead to be reactive, aimed not at future perspective, but at dealing with the emerging crises on a case by case basis: in Lybia, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and then finally in Ukraine. The “pivot” to the Asia-Pacific, also announced by Obama’s administration, was formulated without consideration of Russia’s interests in the region, while at the same time causing turbulence in relations with China, and was finally overshadowed by the Ukrainian crisis and then the ISIS offensive in the Middle East. The reset fell prey to the contradictions in U.S.-Russia relations which particularly exacerbated after the events in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine and led to freezing of arms control negotiations and bilateral U.S.-Russia cooperation in the military-political field. The Ukrainian crisis is likely to have long-term negative consequences, and in particular will increase hawkish tendencies in U.S. politics. Yet this does not preclude and to the contrary increases the importance of seeking ways to strengthen stability, searching for possible measures for nuclear weapons limitations which would become applicable after bilateral relations improve. U.S.-Russia cooperation remains essential for resolving key international challenges as well as major regional problems.

Russia’s Surveillance State

INTRODUCTION.The article is devoted to the analysis of the position of the Russian Federation in ten investment cases initiated by Ukrainian investors after the events in Crimea in 2014. The article also highlights current trends in the issue of confidentiality of international investment disputes. The authors analyze whether Russian strategy is effective based on the experience of foreign states, and also make assumptions about the enforceability of arbitration awards. Where the tribunals rendered awards on the merits, the authors highlight the problem of recognition and enforcement, and also assess Russia’s the arguments to set aside these awards.MATERIALS AND METHODS.This study is based on arbitral awards and information from public sources,including official press releases and interviews with Russian representatives in connection with the pending investment disputes. The authors employed the historical method, as well as such general scientific methods as analysis, synthesis, analogy, description, modeling.RESEARCH RESULTS.The result of the study is the identification and formulation of patterns in investment disputes with respect to investments in Crimea to which Russia as a party of Russia, the identification of typical arguments of the parties and the conclusions of arbitral tribunals on this type of disputes.DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS.Having analysed the awards rendered against Russia by international investment tribunals, the authors presented an overview of the parties’ arguments that were presented when the arbitration considered the issue of jurisdiction and resolved the dispute on the merits. The authors assessed these arguments in terms of their credibility on the basis of existing in international investment case-law.

Nowadays, the Ukrainian crisis is the most serious threat to the European security and stability since the late 1980s symbolizing the end of the Cold War era. It is accompanied by the protracted conflict in Donbass as well as ongoing disputes on the Crimean Peninsula status between Russia, on the one hand, and Ukraine with its Western allies, on the other. Ukrainian issues are widely represented in the scholarly literature today. However, the most of papers examine Ukraine exclusively as a polygon of the Russian-Western confrontation, focusing mainly on the “Euro-Maidan” and consequent events in Crimea and Donbass. The authors of this article consider the U.S.-Ukrainian bilateral relations as having their own motives and logics, not restricting this issue by the “Russian factor”. Their analysis includes evolution of the Ukrainian foreign policy priorities, the U.S. approaches to the post-Soviet space in general and newly independent Ukraine in particular. It is offered to look at the U.S.-Ukrainian relationship since the USSR demise till 2013. In the authors’ opinion, the “Euro-Maidan” and all developments after it radically transformed the Ukrainian foreign policy in the pro-Western direction. At the same time, Washington balancing between restraint and active cooperation with the post-Soviet Ukraine intensified its full-scaled support of Kiev (Kyiv) as an important strategic ally in the Black Sea region. The article examines some fluctuations in the relationship of the two countries. It analyzes the “bursts” of the U.S. support for Ukraine (1991, 2004–2005 and 2013) and declines of interest to it as well (late 1990s; the period between 2007 and 2013). The authors assume that Washington was not extremely stirring in Ukrainian issues prior 2013. However, the full-scaled domestic crisis in this country pushed the U.S. to a more active engagement. This growing American influence challenged the existing status quo, because it was perceived by Moscow as an ongoing Western offensive to diminish the Russian influence in Eurasia. Acknowledgements. The research has been supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research and the Nonprofit Expertise Institute for Social Research as part of the scientific project No. 19-011-31330 опн “AmericanUkrainian Relations in the Post-Soviet Era: Strategic Interests, Motives, Values”.

At present, the world economy is at the stage of formation of the fourth industrial revolution, which is called to raise the industry to a new qualitative level. In this article we contemplated the history and prerequisites of the industrial revolution, defined its basic features and the most progressive technologies. We analyzed the particular features of development of the industrial revolution in Russia and abroad. We inspected the experience of foreign countries in implementing state programs in the sphere “Industry 4.0”. We investigated the concept of the Industrial Internet as a basis for developing of a new wave of the industrial revolution. We studied its main advantages, its influence on the world economy and the anticipated consequences. We investigated the factors hindering the implementation of the project related to the Industrial Internet in Russia. We formulated the primary tasks and evaluated the perspectives for development of the industrial Internet in the Russian economy.

Today the competitiveness of the Russian economy is closely dependent on the successful introduction of new digital technologies into the domestic industry. In the study, the authors analysed features of the industrial revolution in Russia and other countries. It was discovered that the industrial Internet is currently underutilized in the Russian market. However, one of its notable characteristics is the dominance of the industrial segment in the Russian Internet of Things, which indicates promising development prospects for the industrial Internet technology in Russia. The authors also analysed readiness of Russian enterprises to introduce Industry 4.0 technologies. Although the enterprises clearly expressed their readiness to implement digital technologies, there are some objective difficulties that set back the process. The main obstacles that prevent the integration of the industrial Internet into the Russian industry are insufficient flexibility of enterprises, a lack of developed digital business models of companies, a shortage of skilled personnel, and limited funding. In the conclusion, the authors set some objectives that need to be addressed in order to facilitate the development of the industrial Internet in Russia based on the findings of the study.

In the development of China’s Internet industry and digital economy, great importance is attached to the protection of personal data and seriously protects the legitimate rights and interests of citizens’ personal data. Generally speaking, with the development of technology and industry, China’s personal data protection has gone from “indirect protection” to “direct protection” and then to “comprehensive protection”. In the early years of China’s Internet industry, the indirect protection of personal data was mainly achieved through the protection of the “rights to privacy” of citizens. Since the Internet industry of the People’s Republic of China has entered a stage of rapid development, the state began to directly protect personal data in accordance with the provisions of the Chapter “Network Information Security” established in the “Cyber Security Law” of 2016, establishes several principles for the collection and use of personal data, protection requirements information security. Until November 1, 2021, the “Personal Data Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China” (PPD) was adopted to comprehensively protect personal data, reflecting the ideology of development focused on bringing the people to the center, meeting the new needs and aspirations of the people in the new era, and also proposing the creation international digital legal order “Chinese version”. The PPD further expands the scope of the object of personal data protection, comprehensively establishes the rights of individuals to process data, strengthens the obligations to protect personal data processors, creates strict rules for the protection of sensitive personal data and regulates the processing of personal data by public authorities, as well as improving the means of legal protection of personal data, all of which are important points in the legislation. The law incorporates advanced foreign experience, while emphasizing Chinese wisdom, the spirit of the times, and practicality in accordance with the reality of China.

State control over the Russian internet (Runet) has been enforced by dedicated administrations and private digital entrepreneurs since the early 2010s. Along with them, groups of digital vigilantes report on “negative” online content and claim to be fighting against activities considered to be criminal or contrary to social norms. However, their ideological convictions and moral supports are diverse and changing. This article analyses two nonprofits: Molodezhnaia Sluzhba Bezopasnosti (MSB, Youth Security Service) and Liga Bezopasnogo Interneta (LBI, Safe Internet League), which sponsors an emergent “cyber Cossack” movement. MSB, which can be referred to as “citizen investigators,” has developed a high degree of technical and legal experience and cooperates actively with the police. LBI promotes a conservative vigilantism to ensure “virtuous browsing,” with a strong focus on education. In March 2019 hearings at the Russian Civic Chamber on a bill addressing the activity of kiberdruzhiny (cyber patrols) revealed tensions between the “politically involved” (Duma members and kiberdruzhiny’s organizations) supporting the bill and the “experts” (representatives of internet companies and security specialists) opposed to it alleging the proposed law’s inefficiency. A third group, the supporters of a free and democratic Runet, is absent from the official debates but speaks out on social networks and through independent media against the development of civil surveillance. Article in English DOI: 10.25285/2078-1938-2019-11-3-46-70

The dominance of foreign digital platforms in the application ecosystem within Indonesia poses significant implications for the sovereignty of the Indonesian state; the utilization of such foreign digital technologies results in the inadvertent surrender and delegation of citizen data to foreign entities for monitoring and processing purposes. This phenomenon has elicited concern among legal scholars, as the usage of foreign applications signifies the applicability of the legal frameworks from the countries of origin of these applications. This raises critical questions regarding the sovereignty of the Indonesian state, particularly concerning its ability to exert control over data and cyberspace in the context of global platforms. The methodological approach employed in this investigation is grounded in normative legal research, utilizing a conceptual framework that examines relevant legal statutes. The aggregation and distribution of personal data constitutes an infringement upon individual privacy rights, as the right to privacy inherently encompasses the prerogative to determine the provision of personal information. The strategic policies and initiatives undertaken by the Indonesian government to bolster national digital sovereignty can be realized through several measures: the implementation of comprehensive personal data protection standards to enhance national digital sovereignty, the establishment of an independent authority for personal data protection, the fortification of cybersecurity measures to mitigate data security risks, and the jurisdictional enforcement of cyberspace law towards achieving digital economic sovereignty. There exists a pressing need for extensive regulatory frameworks to safeguard personal data as an integral component of human rights. A balance must be struck in the management of personal data processing, ensuring the protection of rights and fostering awareness among data subjects, thereby facilitating the development of a secure digital economic ecosystem that offers legal certainty for enterprises and enhances consumer confidence. Furthermore, the establishment of equitable international personal data protection regulations is essential to support the advancement of the digital economy through arrangements governing cross-border data flow.

The Technological Gaze

Digitalisation is changing the way firms create value. Today, one will frequently hear that ‘data are the new oil’. The data to be monetarised in such a ‘digital value chain’, however, are usually customers’ personal data, which are — in the case of banking – traditionally kept in a bank account. In the last two decades, the global internet giants have introduced a model of ‘reversed’ value creation, in which services for the customers are ‘for free’ but paid for by digital traces of personal data, and in which advertisers pay for the output of data aggregation. Current European regulations not only regulate data protection but, in parallel, provide ‘open access’ by the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) or ‘portability of data’ by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). A comparison of the actual data economy (represented by global business platforms) and the current regulations with the duality of data protection and ‘open access’ (or ‘free flow of data’) reveals that the metaphor of ‘data as new oil’ lacks clear ownership in data as a valuable asset. Together with the known problem of ‘time preference’, that is, the inclination of consumers towards current consumption (with benefits ‘free of charge’) over future consumption (based on the long-term value of personal data), the omission of ownership results in an asymmetry in the digital market economy. One solution could be the development of data ownership rights, which would provide certainty to all actors along a ‘data value chain’, from consumers to existing banks, global business platforms or new start-ups.

The presidential election held on 9 August 2020 and the subsequent popular mobilization marked the end of an era in the history of post-Soviet Belarus. Cautious and apolitical for three decades, Belarusian society seems to have awakened (Petrova and Korosteleva, 2021), in a short space of time observing a profound transformation of state-society relations taking them to a qualitatively new level of self-awareness and self-organisation. This article explores the emergence of peoplehood in Belarus from a complexity-thinking perspective. This lens naturally lead us to the principal conceptual frame of this article - societal resilience as a process of self-organisation - which encapsulates and explains the gist of the recent developments in Belarus, and helps us understand why the rise of peoplehood as a process of emergence in the country may result in irreversible change.

Russians Go West

The main aim of this study is to measure the dynamic connectedness and spillover effects among emerging stock markets in Asia and the developed stock markets of the US and Europe in the ongoing Ukrainian crisis. The paper also aims to provide a comparative analysis of return and volatility spillovers during the global financial crisis in 2008, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Ukrainian crisis. This paper utilizes the multiple structural beak test of Bai & Perron (2003) and also depicts the risk and return transmissions among these markets using the Diebold & Yilmaz (2012) method. The main outcomes of this study indicate that the stock markets in Asia are less affected by the political crisis in Ukraine as compared to the previous effects during the GFC and COVID-19 periods. The results also show that sensitivity of Asian financial markets to global shocks has been weakened in the wake of the Ukrainian crisis in favour of increased resilience of Asian stock indices to external shocks. These results carry an important implication for international and local investors as well as for policy makers in Asia, where investors have greater potentials for portfolio diversify and risk reduction across Asian markets. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2023-07-02-04 Full Text: PDF

The good news is that personal data privacy law has become a reality in India. The bad news is 95% of the public is ignorant of the same, 3% do not know what it entails and the rest 2% are voraciously engaged in an intellectual feud. Privacy as a concomitant of natural or inalienable rights has been recognized in the western hemisphere since the 18th century. In India, the legislative history of the doctrine can be traced to the trilogy of cases during the 1950’s. It was only post 1978, that the apex court of the country passed a slew of judgements recognizing the right to privacy as an essential part of the right to “protection of life and personal liberty” embodied under the Indian Constitution and thereby bestowing the fundamental right status. On August 24, 2017, a nine-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court of India (Puttaswamy judgment) re-wrote history as it not only recognized and reconfirmed the fundamental right status of “ right to privacy” but also laid the foundation of data protection law in the country. August 11, 2023, marks a historic date in the legislative annals of digital India, as the country enacted the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (“DPDP Act” or “Act”) after more than half a decade of deliberations. At a time when technology has become the defining paradigm of every business, the DPDP Act seeks to lay the foundation for developing a strong data privacy regime in the country. The Act in its new avatar is quite different from its predecessors proposed earlier. Ironically, the regulations themselves have set ajar a host of challenges, issues and steeplechases, which can barely be fathomed at this moment. In addition, the DPDP Act is yet to be notified or implemented by the Central Government. The key question this paper discusses is whether this seemingly endless period of deliberations culminated into a robust and comprehensive law or is it simply a Strudel served raw! To answer this question, the paper first charts the history of the concept with a chronological approach on a global platform. The second part of the paper charts the pre-DPDP era in India. The third part recapitulates the DPDP Act (in the present form) in a nutshell, while the fourth part dissects the DPDP Act highlighting certain potentially problematic features of this law. Lastly, the paper will examine what can be done to influence the development of a robust and sustainable data protection regime in the country in the years to come. Keywords: Data Privacy, DPDP Act, Indian Privacy Law, Origin of Privacy Laws