The way governments regulate Internet usage may be up for debate. Western technologies and industries, particularly from the United States, dominate the Internet's current construct. But the abstract world of online activity rests on physical infrastructure inseparable from geography. As a result, every country adapts domestic and foreign policies incorporating the Internet — policies that can affect the activities of Internet stakeholders and users.
Russia and China are the most notable among the countries that want to challenge the de facto model of a decentralized collection of loosely structured committees and Internet stakeholders agreeing to technical standards for the Internet. Their similar visions of network security and Internet governance serve to challenge what they perceive as a U.S.-centric Internet — one that also conflicts with their national security interests.
Attempting to regulate Internet usage according to its own standards, Russia recently passed a law that effectively requires companies obtaining information online from Russian citizens to store that data on servers physically located in the country. Meanwhile, China has been working on implementing its own network security laws, including enforcing the concept of Internet sovereignty in legislation and banning foreign technologies in some cases for critical sectors. China's network security strategy intersects with its economic goals and leverages the demand of its enormous population of Internet users in implementing national policies to help defy Internet stakeholder opposition.
Because Russia and China seek to impose similar views on governing the Internet, their partnering in network security bolsters each country's clout in shaping otherwise separate domestic Internet regulations and gives them more potential influence over global policies.
