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Russia Bans VPNs and Tor, Effective November 1

posted by martyb on Monday July 31 2017, @09:28PM   Printer-friendly
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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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday August 01 2017, @11:55AM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 01 2017, @11:55AM (#547598) Journal

    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!

    What "reasonable measures"? As it stands, I don't see the point of your post in the first place. There isn't a need (by us) for governments to meddle in the internet, much less control what we think and say.