Ukraine asks ICANN to revoke Russian domains and shut down DNS root servers

The nonprofit group that oversees the Internet's Domain Name System (DNS) was asked by a Ukrainian government official to shut down root server in Russia and revocation of Russian domain names. The letter to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers was posted here, and it has been confirmed that it received the letter.

Internet experts say that granting the request would be a bad idea. Bill Woodcock, the Executive Director of Packet Clearing House, a nonprofit that provides operational support and security to Internet exchange points and the core of the domain name system, wrote a thread on the subject. As a critical infrastructure operator, my inclination is to say no regardless of my feelings.

The letter said that Russia's atrocities have been made possible due to the Russian propaganda machinery using websites continuously spreading misinformation and promoting violence. Ukrainian IT infrastructure has been the target of many attacks from the Russian side.

The letter asked for the domains to be temporarily or permanently revoked. This list is not complete and may include other Russian Federation domains. The root server of the internet responds to the requests made by the internet service providers.

Mykhailo Fedorov, the vice prime minister and minister of digital transformation in Ukraine, sent a letter to the CEO of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. The regional Internet registry is called the RIPE NCC.

Cutoff would make sites unreachable and reduce security

The text of Fedorov's letter was also sent in an email by Andrii Nabok, Ukraine's representative to the Governmental Advisory Committee of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. On Monday, Woodcock posted the full text of the email on Pastebin.

Russian websites and email will not be reachable from outside Russia or inside Russia, depending on how their ISPs and resolvers are configured, according to Woodcock. Woodcock wrote that the security of the RPSL and the RPKI would be broken by the revocation of theip address delegations to Russian networks.

He wrote that the three actions would have the effect of making Russian civilians more vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks. According to Woodcock, the actions would have little to no effect on the Russian government or military, since what Ukraine requests is exactly the attack the Russians practiced for last July.

The requested measures will help users seek for reliable information in alternative domain zones.

Woodcock argued that the Ukrainian request would cut the Russian man-on-the-street off from international news and perspectives, leaving them with only what the Russian government chooses to tell them. A lot more countries than just China and Russia would leave the internet if that were to happen.