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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
(Score: 3, Interesting) by jmorris on Tuesday August 01 2017, @02:06AM (1 child)
This is a perfect example of the defective mindset I'm talking about. I can promise you everyone important watched that Apple vs US Gov vs Terrorist case and drew the correct conclusions. They all know Apple was lying its ass off for PR purposes. And Putin and Xi don't give a damn about Apple's PR problems, and besides they will agree to keep it on the downlow and THEY DON'T LEAK LIKE SIEVES.
Apple wants to play both sides. On the one hand they are the stalwart defender of their customer's privacy. On the other they have total cryptographically secure control of every device they put in the field. The government was willing to accept that a master key was overreach and only demanded they supply a firmware image that would only run on that device's unique identifier and unlock that one phone. To say a company must comply with a search warrant makes them an indentured servant is the sort of rhetoric that loses your side a seat at the big kids table. Apple can't retain sole possession of a device and then object when they, as the owner, gets served. And besides, have you seen the regulatory compliance department at any non-trivial corporation?
So what will happen now? No leader in the West wants to take up the issue, the tech industry still has its head up it butt thinking governments are a passing thing, no need to worry about legacy issues on the rush to the Brave New World. But of course they are whores so they have been rolling over and happy to comply with every tinpot dictator who wants them to censor because they can't afford to lose the sales and eyeballs. Well once dozens of countries are routinely getting Big Tech to censor or rat out users on command the EU will want in on the oppression. Remember, no 1st Amendment there and they love putting nice old pensioners in prison for Crime Think. So that will just leave the U.S. being chumps. Next Democrat administration will put an end to that, remember they LOVE holding up Europe as the example of the Sunny Uplands of History; where we should be going if we weren't still too full of racist gun clinging white people who love Jesus.
What is the compromise we could have worked out between tech and law enforcement? I don't have the answers, I just know by refusing to even allow the question to be debated we ceded the decision to some really bad people. We could have perhaps started by quietly trying to prevent end to end encrypted chat from getting into mass deployment. It should have been obvious that wouldn't end well. Because something CAN be done doesn't mean it SHOULD be. Perhaps the mad rush to encrypt absolutely everything, often in multiple layers, wasn't the winning move? Especially since it does not appear to have improved security all that much.
And if Apple, Google and Microsoft are going to own all our hardware they could admit it and accept the responsibility that goes with it. Maybe if everyone were clear on that point we would demanded a different reality, one where we had the option of owning our own stuff or it could go horribly wrong and Clipper 2.0 could have be birthed. But we didn't have the discussion and we apparently still do not want to. As Rush (the Canadian band) explained it, "If you choose not to decide You still have made a choice" We choose poorly.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Tuesday August 01 2017, @12:24PM
Also, the federal demand was ridiculous. It created not only a security flaw in the iPhone, but it also created a lot of unpaid work for Apple. It's not too much to ask law enforcement to do their job rather than break important communication tools.