Russia Watch That Censorship For Bloggers Will Get Testy…

Public discontent over a ban on popular websites in the Russian sector of the internet is skyrocketing. The new law allowing authorities to compel ISPs to cut off unwelcome websites may force web surfers to unite against the government’s initiative.

­The federal law ‘On information, information technology and protection of information’ that came into force on November 1 empowered Russia’s Federal Supervision Agency for Information Technology and Communications to compose a blacklist of websites to be closed down.

The uniform register of prohibited websites, officially confidential, is constantly expanding. The list unites porn resources, file-sharing communities, websites dedicated to drugs or containing related information, websites dedicated to terrorist activities, pedophilia etc.

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in a recent ruling called to ban online casinos and to oblige providers to eliminate links leading to such web resources.

The uniform register now reportedly consists of over 180 websites, some already defunct, others still operational.

An interesting fact about how the Information Agency tracks ‘bad’ websites is that anyone can anonymously submit a URL or an IP of a web resource the informer believes poses a threat on the official website of the agency. The information will be verified and if prohibited material is found there, the website will be closed.

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Windows to Russia…

  • Bloggers’ fear: Russian crackdown on illegal web content causes stir (rt.com)
  • Censorship row over Russian internet blacklist (news.windowstorussia.com)
  • Russia Blacklists Over 180 Websites (news.windowstorussia.com)
  • Russia’s secret internet blacklist (news.windowstorussia.com)

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