{"id":78138,"date":"2024-07-19T09:00:29","date_gmt":"2024-07-19T09:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/?p=78138"},"modified":"2024-07-19T09:00:29","modified_gmt":"2024-07-19T09:00:29","slug":"russia-slams-googles-censorship-yet-deleting-5-6m-vpn-links-is-just-fine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/?p=78138","title":{"rendered":"Russia Slams Google\u2019s \u2018Censorship\u2019 Yet Deleting 5.6m VPN Links is Just Fine"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"putin-g\"<\/a>Those who have taken an interest in the words of Dmitry Peskov since Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, will have noticed that Vladimir Putin\u2019s press secretary is loyal, if nothing else.<\/p>\n

In respect of his commentary on matters important to the Kremlin, it can be difficult for foreigners to appreciate the finer details; is he always trying to mislead or just most of the time? <\/p>\n

Take for example a statement early February 2024, just a few weeks before new law came into effect<\/a> that tightened the noose further still on the use of VPNs in Russia.<\/p>\n

These measures included a ban on advertising VPNs as a means to circumvent government blocking, which prevents access to other<\/em> information currently blocked in Russia. Indeed, providing information<\/em> on how to access blocked information<\/em> using a VPN is now a criminal offense, with the unblocking information<\/em> also subject to blocking.<\/p>\n

Peskov said<\/a> this didn\u2019t mean that VPNs were banned in Russia, and he offered reassurances that no decision like that had even been made.<\/p>\n

On one hand, that statement was truthful. On the other, Russia\u2019s evisceration of VPNs since 2017 means that when Peskov referred to VPNs, he wasn\u2019t even on the same page as many people listening. As the law stands, there can be no expectation of privacy when using a state approved VPN, i.e the only ones allowed under law. <\/p>\n

Censorship now applies to any mention of VPN unblocking capabilities and should those be discussed online and end up in search results, that information<\/em> will be purged under the orders of telecoms watchdog Roscomnadzor.<\/p>\n

\u201cYouTube Violates Key Principles of Free Dissemination of Information\u201d<\/h2>\n

This week Roscomnadzor informed news outlets including Interfax, TASS and RIA Novosti, that it had contacted Google CEO Sundar Pichai with complaints about YouTube. The regulator said that over 200 channels, operated by Russian media, various government agencies, politicians, and media personalities, are currently blocked by YouTube for supporting Russian authorities.<\/p>\n

Roscomnadzor said that it demanded action from Pichai to reverse what it described as \u201can act of censorship\u201d carried out by YouTube under a \u201cRussophobic\u201d policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe victims are not only those who voice their position on various political issues, but also people who generally speak well of Russia,\u201d Roscomnadzor said, inadvertently amusingly.<\/p>\n

Rules For Thee, But Not For Me<\/h2>\n

In the very same press statement criticizing YouTube for failing to provide unimpeded access to information, Roscomnadzor saw no hypocrisy in calling out YouTube again, this time for not censoring content<\/em> at Russia\u2019s behest. The content at issue, over 61,000 videos containing \u201cfakes about a special military operation,\u201d extremist material, and \u201cpromotion of non-traditional sexual preferences.\u201d<\/p>\n

What these categories all have in common is obfuscation as a means to change and expand definition. The term \u201cspecial military operation\u201d was crafted to reassure Russians that there was no \u2018invasion\u2019 and certainly no \u2018war\u2019 in Ukraine. A new crime of \u2018discrediting\u2019 the military, which encompasses spreading \u2018fake\u2019 information, made the use of the words \u2018invasion\u2019 and \u2018war\u2019 in the context of Ukraine, punishable by years in prison.<\/p>\n

\u2018Extremist material\u2019 is a little like the shifting definition of VPN in Russia. It started out describing material promoting extremist ideology and then when it suited Russia, it meant something else. When Facebook, Instagram, and Meta were designated as extremist groups in 2022, the term could encompass almost anything. Promotion of non-traditional sexual preferences refers to anything that deviates from the Victorian standard of a man and a woman, period. Or at least it does today, the terminology seems broad enough to intrude even on that.<\/p>\n

Erasing the Existence of VPNs From Search Results<\/h2>\n

As more overt wars of words attract attention, Roscomnadzor\u2019s war on VPNs not only continues, but does so with significant assistance from Google. The company says it has no choice but to comply due to Russian law and Roscomnadzor certainly isn\u2019t holding back.<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s campaign against VPNs and similar technology gathered pace<\/a> in 2017 and hasn\u2019t let off the gas since. In addition to targeting Tor<\/a>, a massive search engine delisting campaign is ongoing.<\/p>\n

What began with takedown notices ordering Google to remove a few dozen links per month, soon escalated into orders to remove a few thousand, then tens of thousands<\/a>. The invasion of Ukraine saw thousands of links crammed into single notices but nothing like the delisting campaign currently underway.<\/p>\n

A typical notice sent by Roscomnadzor to Google is shown below. This is just one of 18 notices sent to Google in June 2024 and orders the removal of a staggering 460,750 URLs from Google search, for being related in some way to VPNs.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"typical<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

The exact nature of the URLs removed is not for public consumption. On top of the requirement to disappear the links, Google is compelled to deviate from its transparency policy due to restrictions under Russian law. <\/p>\n

What we can see are the numbers involved. In just 18 takedown notices sent to Google, Roscomnadzor demanded the removal of more than 5.6 million URLs, in June alone.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"roscomnadzor-vpn-takedowns\"<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

Given the surge in volumes, these removals represent more than just links to VPN providers. Tutorials and discussion about VPNs have become a priority target and are likely to feature heavily here.<\/p>\n

As a result, it\u2019s difficult not to conclude that this represents classic censorship and the denial of the right to freely receive and impart, knowledge and information. Russia knows that, and it knows that everyone knows that it knows. It just doesn\u2019t care.<\/p>\n

Links to the takedown notices, courtesy of the Lumen Database, are available below<\/em><\/p>\n

#01 June 03, 2024 \u2013 413,348<\/a>
\n#02 June 03, 2024 \u2013 58,987<\/a>
\n#03 June 04, 2024 \u2013 39,353<\/a>
\n#04 June 04, 2024 \u2013 442,913<\/a>
\n#05 June 04, 2024 \u2013 478,474<\/a>
\n#06 June 05, 2024 \u2013 444,220<\/a>
\n#07 June 06, 2024 \u2013 37,914<\/a>
\n#08 June 06, 2024 \u2013 450,920<\/a>
\n#09 June 07, 2024 \u2013 456,006<\/a>
\n#10 June 10, 2024 \u2013 437,887<\/a>
\n#11 June 10, 2024 \u2013 38,646<\/a>
\n#12 June 11, 2024 \u2013 437,957<\/a>
\n#13 June 13, 2024 \u2013 431,769<\/a>
\n#14 June 13, 2024 \u2013 77,607<\/a>
\n#15 June 14, 2024 \u2013 445,285<\/a>
\n#16 June 14, 2024 \u2013 49,424<\/a>
\n#17 June 16, 2024 \u2013 447,292<\/a>
\n#18 June 17, 2024 \u2013 460,750<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

From: TF<\/a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.<\/p>\n

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Those who have taken an interest in the words of Dmitry Peskov since Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, will have noticed that Vladimir Putin\u2019s press secretary is loyal, if nothing else. In respect of his commentary on matters important to the Kremlin, it can be difficult for foreigners to appreciate the finer details; is he always […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78139,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[308],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-torrent"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=78138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/78139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=78138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=78138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=78138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}