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- In the order of disconnection: how Moscow is experiencing disruptions in the mobile network
In the order of disconnection: how Moscow is experiencing disruptions in the mobile network
Mobile Internet outages in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other regions in recent days have shown that there is no system for informing citizens and businesses about such incidents yet, and the "white lists" of available sites often turn out to be irrelevant. This is what the experts interviewed by Izvestia say. The suddenness of the blockages is explained by security considerations, but well-established warning mechanisms are necessary, experts say. At the same time, the question remains who and how will compensate businesses and their customers for losses caused by the lack of Internet, as well as how to act when even basic online services are unavailable.
What's going on with the mobile Internet
Mobile Internet outages in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other regions, which have been recorded since March 5, are targeted and do not resemble measures to repel UAV attacks, information security experts and cellular experts interviewed by Izvestia noted. Mass complaints from users relate to the inability to call a taxi, set a route, pay with a card, and even make calls.
"The Internet doesn't work on one street, but it does on the next one," one of them described the situation.
According to one of the information security specialists, the logic of the outages may indicate that security forces are conducting special events or exercises in pinpoint limited locations. He recalled that since the end of February, a law has been in force in the Russian Federation allowing the FSB to block access to the Network. Izvestia sent a request to this agency.
Internet disconnection is chaotic, according to users who have encountered it, including Izvestia correspondents. So, on the evening of March 5, Beeline's mobile network did not work on the Koltsevaya metro Line, while the Internet functioned smoothly on the Sokolnicheskaya line. On March 8, it was impossible to use the Raiffeisenbank application on Pokrovsky Boulevard, while the Sberbank application was working normally. On March 10, in the Novokuznetsk metro area, it was impossible to make an appointment with a doctor through the application of one of the clinic networks, but after traveling several tram stops, the user managed to do so.
Denis Kuskov, CEO of TelecomDaily, noted that due to Internet outages, there may be problems with ordering a taxi and paying for parking on city streets. In Moscow and St. Petersburg, parking can be paid by SMS, he recalled.
— As for ordering a taxi, it can be arranged by phone. In regions where outages occur regularly, customers are advised to use the service from places with access to Wi-Fi," the expert noted.
Against the background of outages and unstable operation of the mobile Internet and Wi-Fi, the restaurant business also faced on March 8. As Yan Dmitrenko, co-owner of the Honest Fish chain, told Izvestia, at some points some of the checks either did not go through or were printed with a delay, which is why orders did not arrive in the kitchen on time. This caused disruptions in the delivery, and he estimated the total damage in one day at about 200 thousand rubles. According to him, the problems continue: at some points, especially in the center of Moscow, even the working Wi-Fi is unstable.
The main difficulty for restaurants in such a situation is not so much payment as failures in internal digital processes when orders are delayed or do not reach the kitchen, he noted. Businesses have to compensate guests for inconveniences. At the same time, the acquiring terminals are operating relatively stably, there were no serious problems with accepting payments, the source added.
In St. Petersburg, only sites from the "white lists" worked - a list of socially and infrastructurally significant resources, access to which should be maintained even with temporary restrictions on mobile Internet, industry Telegram channels previously reported with reference to users. It also published notices about outages allegedly sent by one of the cellular companies: they indicated that the reason was "security measures" that the operator could not influence.
Representatives of the Big Four interviewed by Izvestia did not respond to requests or declined to comment. One of the companies recommended following a statement by Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, who said on March 10 that all Internet outages and restrictions on communications occur strictly in accordance with current legislation.
— All this is probably connected with the main need — to ensure security. But as for the problems that this poses for business, of course, this is the subject of additional analysis," he explained.
Dmitry Peskov clarified that in different contexts, the topic of adding certain resources to the "white lists" arises, and some of them were included there.
Izvestia sent requests to the Ministry of Digital Affairs, Roskomnadzor, as well as to the office of Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Grigorenko, who oversees communications issues in the government.
How to minimize the damage caused by Internet disconnection
Experts interviewed by Izvestia note that in the case of spot Internet outages, the lack of information about them may be a justified measure.
— This is not a situation with an attack by UAVs, with an air alert, which should be notified in advance to as wide a circle of people as possible. Special services cannot and should not announce their special events," said Eldar Murtazin, a leading analyst at Mobile Research Group. — As for the "white lists", their use should be dictated by the specific situation: operators should respond to one threat by completely blocking the Internet, in another situation they can retain access to the sites included in the lists, and so on.
"Whitelists" are a new tool for operators, and it takes time to work correctly, said Igor Bederov, head of the Information and Analytical Research Department at T.Hunter. According to him, there are cases when sites from the list do not load at all, and sometimes, on the contrary, you can access blocked resources without additional funds. The mechanism needs to be improved and debugged, the expert emphasized.
Yaroslav Shitsle, head of the It & Ip Dispute Resolution department at Rustam Kurmaev & Partners, believes that the issue of compensation to enterprises whose customers were unable to use services or pay for them using bank cards is also not worth it yet.
— Civil legislation separates compensation cases in which losses were caused by illegal and lawful actions of public authorities. In the first case, it is necessary to establish the illegality of the actions of the authority — either in the form of an act of another controlling body, or a court decision on the claim of the person concerned. In the second case, it is necessary that such an opportunity be specified in the federal law," the lawyer explained to Izvestia.
The introduction of measures is justified by the principles of ensuring public security. Since there is no relevant federal law, there are no grounds for receiving compensation for the legitimate actions of a government agency, the lawyer noted.
Izvestia sent a request to the Ministry of Economic Development with a request to comment on the possibilities of compensating for losses to businesses and citizens related to Internet outages.
In general, the information system in Russia is still poorly established: it is sometimes present, sometimes absent and is not regulated by any regulatory documents, Denis Kuskov noted. In his opinion, it is necessary to clearly define the notification procedure and make a list of cases in which it should be applied. The same applies to services from the "white lists".
— Judging by the complaints of recent days, these lists do not work everywhere and not always, which underlines the need to improve their use by operators, — said the expert.
As for business, some of the problems also lie with companies: the need to introduce wired Internet in organizations has been discussed for a long time, he added. At the same time, the question remains how citizens should act when services through mobile applications — banking, medical, delivery, and others — are unavailable, the expert concluded.
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