HMA on Russian Internet Censorship

Top VPN HMA has been watching Russia closely since Putin made announcements that hinted at greater censorship controls. Russia reacted very badly to the news of NSA spying, and e have been expecting some action against this ever since.

Russian Internet Censorship

Russia has already blocked several websites this year. Some of those websites were blocked because they expressed opposing political views. So not all of them were related to illegal activities. The regulator in charge of these blocks, Roskomnadzor, has complete control over blocks. No court order or regulation is necessary.

Following in the footsteps of China, Russia is working on tighter Internet controls. Most recently they have been working on passing legislation that will require that data is kept in Russia only. The government has said that they are using Internet censorship to stop websites that encourage illegal activities like terrorism. But it actually does a lot to harm freedoms of speech in the country. All Internet users will be affected by these new censorship laws.

Any foreign online company that wants to serve Russia will have to have local Russian servers where they will store all the data they have on Russian users. This is a huge expense for companies, an estimated $200 million initial cost plus $10 million yearly maintenance cost. If companies agree to do this, the Russian regulator will then have access and control over all that data. It is a heavy type of monitoring that will prevent people from expressing themselves freely. If companies don’t comply, Russian users can continue to access the sites using tools like HMA.

Another recent law in Russia says that any blogger with more than 3,000 visitors or followers has to register with the government. Their readers will be kept track of as well as all their sharing activities. If they don’t submit all the required details, they will be fined the equivalent of up to $840 for individuals and $8,400 for companies for the first offense. Fines can go up to $14,000 from there and include site suspension. But people who value their freedom and privacy and who do not wish to comply can continue on as usual with the help of HMA.

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