Russia banned proxy services and VPN to block extreme content

Earlier this year, China severely punished VPN and proxy services, forcing all VPN providers or operating cable lines to be approved by the government. Now, Russia also follows this path.

The Russian Federal Council has passed a law whereby the use of a virtual private network (VPN - Virtual Private Network), Tor anonymity network, mobile anonymous messaging service and Internet Proxy services are all breaking the law. The reason is due to concerns about the spread of extreme information.

VPNs are third-party services that allow users to access blocked websites by encrypting their Internet traffic, redirecting through remote connections, hiding IP addresses and accessing restricted sites. on their country.

The law banning VPN and proxy services was adopted by the Russian House of Representatives, the State Duma on Friday and only needed the Senate to agree and the President Vladimir Putin's signature to officially become law. At that time, it will force all ISPs to block access to VPN and proxy service providers.

'After identifying illegal sites and domains, each network service provider will receive a notification, 72 hours must remove the details of the banned service provider', Le VPN for good.

Russia banned proxy services and VPN to block extreme content Picture 1
Following China, Russia also officially banned VPN services

'Host service providers will have 3 days to stop the network service provider from providing unauthorized services to prohibited domains. If not meet the requirements in a month, there will be strong measures. The government can block them completely. '

Many Russians use VPN and proxy services to access websites abroad. Many people say that this law is just a step to tighten censorship, limiting opponents or disagreements. Russian lawmakers protested that the decision was made due to concerns about the spread of terrorist information online.

Russian authorities have begun tightening Internet freedom controls on online services in recent years. Just last month, Russian telecommunications control unit Roskomnadzor threatened to block the Telegram messaging application after the Russian Federal Security Administration said the bombers attacked Saint Petersburg in April using the service. This encrypted chat.