NordVPN shuts down its Russian servers (Here's Why)

[omidomi]

Content source

https://nordvpn.com/blog/nordvpn-servers-roskomnadzor-russia/

On March 27th, NordVPN received a letter from Roskomnadzor, the Russian national media regulator, demanding that NordVPN makes changes to its service that would directly affect its users’ security, privacy and online freedom. This post will explain what they asked for, why NordVPN is unable to comply, and what that will mean for our users.

What Roskomnadzor wants
Roskomnadzor (their proper name is a mouthful – The Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media) has given the world’s leading VPN providers 30 days to provide the Russian government with access to any servers located in Russia. Their immediate goal is to prevent users from viewing content that the Russian government has blacklisted. However, compliance would also mean complying with other requirements detailed in a broader internet control law.
The Russian government is working to regulate the flow of information within its borders.

NordVPN’s response
Unfortunately, NordVPN is unable to comply with this request, as we would have to violate the service agreement we’ve made with our customers.

• We provide online security. NordVPN provides an encrypted tunnel that makes it nearly impossible to track what you do online or steal your data. To comply with Roskomnadzor’s request, we would need to provide outside access to our servers. We wouldn’t control the key to this door once we create it, meaning that we wouldn’t be able to answer for who opens it or what they do with it. Creating this type of vulnerability is unacceptable for us.
• We provide online privacy. We believe that everyone has the right to keep their lives private online. A content filter would require us and/or the Russian government to monitor what NordVPN users do online. Not only would this violate our no-logs policy, it would undermine our fundamental dedication to online privacy.
• We provide online freedom. NordVPN makes it easier to access online content around the world. This is an especially important feature in states that actively restrict their citizens’ access to information. Implementing a content filter would hinder our users’ online freedom, preventing them from viewing anything the Russian government decides to blacklist.

It would be impossible for us to comply with Roskomnadzor’s request and to continue operating our product, which is why we will be unable to comply.

What this means for our users
We cannot foresee how Roskomnadzor will respond to our position. However, we can tell you what we will do and how that may change your experience when using NordVPN:

• NordVPN will shut down all of its Russian servers. Connecting to NordVPN servers in Russia may no longer be safe. To prevent any service disruptions or malfunctions, we will be shredding all of our Russian servers and removing them from our service. Connecting to them will be impossible. The shredding process will be completed on Monday, April 1st, 12:00 GMT, 2019. Unfortunately, this is not an April Fool’s joke.
• Some users may have to change their configurations to continue using NordVPN. Most people use NordVPN through their apps. The option to connect to Russia through the app has already been removed. If you have a device configured to connect to NordVPN’s Russian servers without an app, you will have to change your configurations for that device to continue to be secured. After we shred our servers on Monday, April 1st, 2019, any such devices’ configurations will be rendered non-functional. We understand that this may inconvenience some users, but these changes are necessary to keep our service secure.
• In all other respects, NordVPN’s service will remain unchanged. Our privacy policy, no-logs policy, and other policies will not change as a result of this request. With the exception of the removal of our Russian servers, our infrastructure will not change. We will continue to offer NordVPN through all currently available channels.

 

[omidomi]

So the main question,whats your idea about another vpn companies who have servers in Russia?

 

[uduoix]

If they keep RU servers that means, they give russia access to their severs? I guess. If Federal Service demand this from companies, how are we suppose to trust other RU product like Kaspersky, Yandex etc..

 

[Janl1992l]

If they keep RU servers that means, they give russia access to their severs? I guess. If Federal Service demand this from companies, how are we suppose to trust other RU product like Kaspersky, Yandex etc..

Every big vendor is working with gorv and agencies. Same as Avast, Norton or any other big name. They work with western grovm and agencies. Just use what u want to use, realy. You get spied on, there is no way to hide. We need to life with it when we use the internet.

 

[Azure]

The VPNs that were send notice

Russia Orders Major VPN Providers to Block 'Banned' Sites * TorrentFreak

Ten major VPN providers have been ordered by Russian authorities to begin blocking sites present in the country's national blacklist. NordVPN, ExpressVPN, IPVanish and HideMyAss are among those affected. TorGuard also received a notification and has pulled its services out of Russia with...

torrentfreak.com

"During the past few days, telecoms watch Roscomnadzor says it sent compliance notifications to 10 major VPN services with servers inside Russia – NordVPN, ExpressVPN, TorGuard, IPVanish, VPN Unlimited, VyprVPN, Kaspersky Secure Connection, HideMyAss!, Hola VPN, and OpenVPN."

 

[Burrito]

If they keep RU servers that means, they give russia access to their severs? I guess. If Federal Service demand this from companies, how are we suppose to trust other RU product like Kaspersky, Yandex etc..

Exactly. And no, not every country does this.... some are more intrusive than others.

 

[Wraith]

If they keep RU servers that means, they give russia access to their severs? I guess. If Federal Service demand this from companies, how are we suppose to trust other RU product like Kaspersky, Yandex etc..

+1
It'll be very hard to trust any Russian company or provider from now on. Unfortunately from now on I might have to think twice before renewing Kaspersky.:emoji_sob:

 

[dabluez98]

but kaspersky isnt a vpn. So they dont have to blscklist their users. I dont see what vpns have to do with antivirus. And i am not sure if such legislations affect non vpns. Lets not jump too many horses

 

[Wraith]

but kaspersky isnt a vpn. So they dont have to blscklist their users. I dont see what vpns have to do with antivirus. And i am not sure if such legislations affect non vpns. Lets not jump too many horses

Kaspersky has their own VPN(licensed from hotspot shield). Moreover KSN collects data from every PC unless you opt out. While I still trust Kaspersky if the government demands from Kaspersky what data they collect through the KSN they'll have no other option except to provide it.(I hope Kaspersky doesn't include any personal data within their KSN and I'm not even mentioning their VPN here, that's an entirely different story).

 

[harlan4096]

This is always the same... and if CIA/NSA demands data from antivirus firms from USA, what it will be happen? and the same with other countries... with Russia all of these questions become quickly public and hot news, in USA probably You will never know, but They will do it as well...

 

[dabluez98]

Yes kaspersky vpn yes but not the ksn hopefully

 

[RoboMan]

So the main question,whats your idea about another vpn companies who have servers in Russia?

It's more of the same. Whoever installs VPN servers in Russia will be forced to comply or shut down. If you find a functional VPN on Russia, don't use it. If you live in Russia just use USA servers or any other nearby server.

 

[SumTingWong]

So no Russia servers on VPN?

 

[hyena]

Kaspersky Lab to comply with Roskomnadzor requirement to connect own VPN service to single register of restricted websites

Kaspersky Lab to comply with Roskomnadzor requirement to connect own VPN service to single register of restricted websites - Interfax

 

[harlan4096]

Just don't use VPN Russian servers... in Kaspersky Secure Connection paid, You may select the country server...

 

[spaceoctopus]

I would say that i like very much NordVpn reaction. At least they have some guts and show the will to protect the data of their users. Are you not paying for a service that gives you a very high level of privacy and anonymity?

Ok, fine, we all know that the secret services of any country are spying on users data and so on. But what are the decisions and actions taken by other Vpn services in that case? Are they taking their customers money but at the same time providing infos that the Russian government asks them? How about sharing infos of your customers to the Russian government but having a zero log policy?

 

[jerzy601]

Anonymity in intrnet is a myth.
every large security company on the internet is potentially an agency that gathers information about Internet users.
no matter if it's Kaspersky, Avast, Notron, Eset, etc. all deal with it.
even companies that are VPN producers also deal with this.and it's not for free yet because you pay for it, because in order to use it you have to buy and give your data.
using VPN is not anonymous and will not hide.
To be honest, the internet is not anonymous in these times.
that's the truth.

 

[SumTingWong]

Just don't use VPN Russian servers... in Kaspersky Secure Connection paid, You may select the country server...

America will going to do the same thing, no doubt. Government wants your data.

 

[uduoix]

Anonymity in intrnet is a myth.
every large security company on the internet is potentially an agency that gathers information about Internet users.
no matter if it's Kaspersky, Avast, Notron, Eset, etc. all deal with it.
even companies that are VPN producers also deal with this.and it's not for free yet because you pay for it, because in order to use it you have to buy and give your data.
using VPN is not anonymous and will not hide.
To be honest, the internet is not anonymous in these times.
that's the truth.

We all know anonymity is a myth, but its not same in all countries. If goverment want access to servers with user data, this says pretty much everything.
In my country privacy is pretty good. Goverment doesn't demand data from internet providers unless they believe you are doing something illegal. My friend works in goverment, so this is info from first hand.
Internet providers don't care about P2P. We can download as much as we want, till we don't sell stuff online, which is criminal act.

Now you can see difference between my country and Russia. In both countries anonymity is gone, but in Russia is much worse.

 

[Burrito]

So many tend toward fallacious 'false equivalence' arguments. "They all do it... there is no privacy anywhere... "

It's definitely not the same everywhere. There are definitely wide variances in State snooping.

Contrary to multiple assertions in this thread and elsewhere here at MT, in the US, there is not mass surveillance. Not at all.

It requires a court order to gather information. Court orders have to be based on a law enforcement or intelligence basis and are not automatically granted.

And this information is as first hand as it gets..