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Russia Bans VPNs To Stop Users From Looking at Censored Sites (cnn.com)

Posted by msmash on from the meanwhile-in-Russia dept.

Russia is cracking down on software that allows users to view internet sites banned by the government. From a report: President Vladimir Putin has signed a bill that prohibits services, including virtual private networks (VPNs), that enable users to skirt government censorship efforts. The law will take effect on November 1. Russian internet regulator Roskomnadzor maintains a blacklist of thousands of websites. Leonid Levin, chairman of a parliamentary committee on information policy and communications, said the law signed by Putin does not "introduce any new restrictions and especially no censorship." "My colleagues only included the restriction of access to information that is already forbidden by law or a court decision," he told state news agency RIA Novosti earlier this month.

5 of 119 comments (clear)

  1. Banning VPN's is in style by shuz · · Score: 4, Informative

    This apparently coincides with a crackdown in China. The BBC is running a story about Apple pulling VPN's from its app store.

    --
    There is or can be built a machine that can simulate any physical object. -Church-Turing principle
  2. Re: Dear Leader Putin Does What He Likes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Putin has an estimated net worth of 200 billion with all the money he's squirreled away from bribes and taking money off the top of govt contracts.

    His family will not need to be publicly in charge to be in charge.

  3. Re: Dear Leader Putin Does What He Likes by Nehmo · · Score: 2, Informative

    Putin has an estimated net worth of 200 billion with all the money he's squirreled away ...

    That actually is a classic example of fake news. Hermitage Capital Management Founder Bill Browder called him the "Richest man in the world" when speaking to U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, and all of the Time Warner etc. media carried articles amplifying the statement. Usually, they said Bezos and Gates together didn't come close to Putin's wealth. Nonetheless, the Forbes most recent list of richest in the world https://goo.gl/NvqgGk puts Gates in the top slot.
    The trick is that Putin's wealth is secret!

    Russia has things worthy of criticism. The soon-to-take-effect VPN ban is a good one. But Putin being super, super rich is just BS.

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    (||) Nehmo (||)
  4. Re: Dear Leader Putin Does What He Likes by Jeremy+Erwin · · Score: 3, Informative

    Forbes has a policy of not including "rulers and dictators" on its various lists of the Worlds's Billionaires.

    ...Forbes has long separated rulers and dictators from our annual rankings of the World’s Billionaires, distinguishing between personal, entrepreneurial wealth and wealth derived largely from positions of power, where lines often blur between what is owned by the country and what is owned by the individual. That is why rulers such as the King of Thailand, the Sultan of Brunei and Dubai’s Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum are not listed among the world’s billionaires, though we have estimated that each controls an 11-figure fortune.

    source

    So, you can't assume anything from his absence. And since Putin's declared wealth is so paltry, proving the existence of Putin's secret nest egg is likely to be difficult and dangerous.

  5. Re:Do Russians even have a clue what is happening by andydread · · Score: 3, Informative

    You missed one huge glaring important point. Putin controls the media in Russia. All the media there has nothing but favourable things to say about Putin and his cronies. The great Russian masses are thoroughly brain washed.