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Russia Bans VPNs and Tor, Effective November 1

posted by martyb on Monday July 31 2017, @09:28PM   
from the someone's-watching-you dept.

takyon writes:

Russia has banned VPNs capable of circumventing website blocking, and will require users of chat apps to have a phone number associated with their accounts:

Vladimir Putin has banned virtual private networks (VPNs) and Tor in a crackdown on apps that allow access to websites prohibited in Russia. The law, signed by Mr Putin, was passed by Russia's parliament last week and will now come into force on 1 November. A second law to ban anonymous use of online messaging services will take effect on 1 January next year.

It would make it easier for the state to snoop on citizens' browsing habits, one internet security expert suggested.

The laws signed by Mr Putin are meant only to block access to "unlawful content" and not target law-abiding web users, the head of the lower house of parliament said, according to the RIA news agency.

One feature of the second law is the provision to require internet operators to restrict users' access if they are found to be distributing illegal content.

Also at Engadget, ZDNet, RT, TechCrunch, and CNET.

Related: Apple Capitulates, Removes Unlicensed VPN Apps From China App Store

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Original Submission

• Re:Go ahead crypto weenies, explain this Re:Go ahead crypto weenies, explain this (Score: 1, Redundant) by Fnord666 on Monday July 31 2017, @09:58PM (5 children)

  by Fnord666 (652) on Monday July 31 2017, @09:58PM (#547387) Homepage

  We were told by the crypto weenies that an absolutist position was possible because of the magic powers of strong crypto. Governments were powerless in the face of it so go ahead and push for absolute privacy and dens of inequity like Silk Road. Raise a middle finger when they demand lawful access via a court order. Warrants are for meat space, our iPhones are sacred and must never be violated. There is nothing they can do, the crypto anarchists have all the cards now, yea technology!

  Well it turns out there is quite a bit "they" can do. And of course now that it is dystopian societies like China and Russia pointing the way to taming the Internet, very bad things will become standardized. Because you fucks LET THEM LEAD by your refusal to even consider any more reasonable measures. Your all or nothing stance is now going to get you nothing.

  You should have seen the handwriting on the wall years ago. How can you hope to have any freedom or privacy online when we accepted the vendors locking our hardware with they very crypto you thought would "liberate you"? You trusted Apple and Google to stand strong? Ha! Ha!

  Real world cryptography via oblig. XKCD [xkcd.com]

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• US was already pushing this in the 90s. US was already pushing this in the 90s. (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 31 2017, @10:21PM (4 children)

  by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 31 2017, @10:21PM (#547395)

  With Clipper, anti-RSA/PGP stuff, Palladium, etc.

  What changed is all these countries got authoritarians in power because the easily swayed plebs got access to the internet and as a result it became easier to manipulate them with single source media sufficiently to influence the passing of unpleasant and potentially illegal legislation without the discontent of the 'consenting'.

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  • Re:US was already pushing this in the 90s. Re:US was already pushing this in the 90s. (Score: 3, Insightful) by kaszz on Tuesday August 01 2017, @12:28AM (1 child)

    by kaszz (4211) on Tuesday August 01 2017, @12:28AM (#547443) Journal

    Plebs are easily swayed mainly because of deficient minds. It's not like no internet and instead broadcast media + newspapers were solving it.
    Besides there is a Russian tradition of samizdat and they might just revive it.

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      Re:US was already pushing this in the 90s. (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 02 2017, @04:38AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 02 2017, @04:38AM (#547842)

      >Plebs are easily swayed mainly because of deficient minds.

      You say this, and you give your life an example:
      You, a white man, oppose men taking cute sweet pretty female children as brides.

      Instead you wish for men to be ruled over by women.

      You oppose your own interests. A young girl is prettier, nicer, and easier to control for you, but you reject this.
      You are a white man. A golem of the white woman.

      A beast of burden for her.

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  • Re:US was already pushing this in the 90s. (Score: 2) by kazzie on Tuesday August 01 2017, @06:05AM

    by kazzie (5309) on Tuesday August 01 2017, @06:05AM (#547532)

    the easily swayed plebs got access to the internet and as a result it became easier to manipulate them with single source media

    I'd have thought it would be easier to control television and newsprint sources (which largely have to be produced in the country or physically imported) than N worldwide websites.

    Sure, many people choose to get all their news from one web source (e.g. Facebook) these days, but that's no worse than getting all your information from a single tabloid newspaper.

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  • Re:US was already pushing this in the 90s. (Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Tuesday August 01 2017, @12:08PM

    by khallow (3766) on Tuesday August 01 2017, @12:08PM (#547602) Journal

    What changed is all these countries got authoritarians in power because the easily swayed plebs got access to the internet and as a result it became easier to manipulate them with single source media sufficiently to influence the passing of unpleasant and potentially illegal legislation without the discontent of the 'consenting'.

    I guess some youngsters are forgetting about the Tee Vee technology - push only and centralized. Far easier to control than the internet.

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