Vlad the blockader: Russia's anti-VPN law comes into effect

[LASER_oneXM]

A Russian law that bans the use or provision of virtual private networks (VPNs) will come into effect Wednesday.


The legislation will require ISPs to block websites that offer VPNs and similar proxy services that are used by millions of Russians to circumvent state-imposed internet censorship.


It was signed by President Vladimir Putin on July 29 and was justified as a necessary measure to prevent the spread of extremism online. Its real impact, however, will be to make it much harder for ordinary Russians to access websites ISPs are instructed to block connections to by Russian regulator Roskomnadzor, aka the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media.

Among those banned websites are Wikipedia – placed on the list on the pretext that it contained information about taking drugs – and numerous pornographic websites, as well as some genuinely extremist outlets such as The Daily Stormer.

But the bigger issue and concern are short-term bans that have been repeatedly placed on news websites when they report on topics that the Russian government considers sensitive.

For example, during Russia's annexation of Crimea – an action that led to international condemnation and the imposition of sanctions – several Russian publications that criticized the move found themselves blacklisted.

The regulator has also shut down significant online resources on the basis on one small issue: such as when it removed access to GitHub because some notes appeared somewhere on the sprawling service that outlined suicide methods (GitHub now publishes Russian government takedown requests). Roskomnadzor also cut off access to Amazon Web Services for several hours because it decided it didn’t like a poker app hosted somewhere on its systems.

 

[spaceoctopus]

Sad and bad news for privacy,and for those Russian folks who simply want to live their life, know the outside world and have their privacy respected.

After all these years,still unable to learn some lessons from the USSR collapse

 

[NikolayfromRussia]

Yes, they (government) want to control citizens activity in Internet as it was in ex Soviet Union.

 

[browneylad]

Its a shame really. It won't be long till that my country adopts a similar stance regarding vpns. With site blocking currently being the most popular for now. Obviously blocking educated & grown up people from accessing the world internet is the best way to counter terrorism or atrocious acts, rather than educating about it. You have a loose pipe & spilled water problem in your kitchen. Lets cut off the water supply to home. That will fix & contain the problem. Tried & tested method.

 

[ForgottenSeer 55474]

It is really sad for the open free internet, witch is an illusion in Russia and many other countries, i have six VPN services, and I guess I will be losing a lot of servers.

 

[zzz00m]

You have a loose pipe & spilled water problem in your kitchen. Lets cut off the water supply to home. That will fix & contain the problem. Tried & tested method.

Brilliant!!!

 

[spaceoctopus]

Just imagine if Russia was a more open country, had their own "Silicon Valley". All that combined with very skilled workers in IT and cybersecurity, that country would easily compete on many level with many western countries and the US. But Vlad is more interested in building nuclear missiles and playing war games. What a waste of manpower and knowledge.

 

[Windows Defender Shill]

Positive Side:

This proves VPNs are effective.

 

[bribon77]

Other sulutions will be sought, the Internet can not be stopped.

 

[browneylad]

Its OTT but in my country(India) VK is blocked due to that Bluewhale scandal, by special Govt initiative. They just forgot about vpns and the other circumvention tools. Now its an example where the block may be effective given the kind of victims, but the blocking of a particular site just bypasses the bigger issue of improving general awareness and effective use of a social media.

 

[antreas]

Oh man! i saw this news some time ago and i tried to get it out of my mind because it make me feel sad and angry! If 1 country do this then more will follow bye bye my privacy we need to do something!!!

 

[grumpy_joe]

At least life is still better than in China with "The Golden Shield Project " aka "The great firewall of China".

 

[Lightning_Brian]

Has anyone confirmed if TOR is still a valid option in Russia? I know you have to be quite careful in what you do but.... Hey! If it works why not right?

I would say that this does go to show how much VPNs really do protect our privacy. We must continue to keep everything that we do as private as possible, because who here doesn't like privacy?

It would be interesting to see if TOR is still an option.

 

[Sunshine-boy]

We have Such rules(even worse than this)here!!But rules and limits like this make ppl to find better and more effective ways to protect their privacy IMAO:notworthy:
Example:
I never knew there is such thing like DNS over TLS or open source firmware for routers!!but because they did it to me I searched and found many useful topic and tools(to bypass these rules)!they made me more secure, more private and more anonymous than before

 

[boredog]

Yes, they (government) want to control citizens activity in Internet as it was in ex Soviet Union.

Yes the X Soviet Union was reborn. AS most world people have nothing against other country citizens, most have issues with their governments. Citizens don't start wars, governments do. I remember the history behind Leningrad (spelling) St petersburg? I read that story many years ago. Can not remember what it's new name is but if my old memory is working. they were surrounded by Germans and wer forced to eat wall paper ect. Then somebody came to their rescue. I wonder who that was? I think someone was very ungratefull for that help. I remember the book, Seige of Leningrad was 3 inches thick.

 

[R2D2]

Its a shame really. It won't be long till that my country adopts a similar stance regarding vpns. With site blocking currently being the most popular for now.

Blocking the BW game isn't something that will succeed as there are ways to get around those blocks.

The only reason VPNs aren't banned or controlled is because they aren't very popular. Only a small percentage of private internet users in the country use VPNs primarily to bypass site blocks or run P2P programs. But once they reach critical mass it is possible the Govt. may try to control them.

But there's hope. You may remember those draft IT Rules proposed some 2 years back that made silly demands on WhatsApp users and put restrictions on encryption. All in the name of security and anti-terrorism. Just BS if you ask me! It caused a public uproar and the Govt had to retreat. So, while our politicians and bureaucrats come up with silly and sometimes downtright stupid proposals I'm thankful for the democratic freedoms we have to push back at the Government.