Internet Censorship in Russia

(Moscow, Russia) A report from earlier this month.

The Duma has passed the first reading of a bill that would allow for nationwide filtering of blacklisted sites. The black list would be maintain by not-for-profit organization and include sites with underage pornography, "extremism," and - oddly - pro-suicide propaganda aimed at children.

In addition, that not-for-profit watchdog would also maintain an ever-changing list of "18+", "16+", "14+" and such sites. Public access providers would have to block sites from that second list if they allow underage users.

Now, this all wouldn't be too bad if implemented in a country with a vigorous and influential pro-free speech movement.[…]

But this being Russia, the potential for abuse is enormous. "Extremist" is a universal label attachable to anything in the world, even The Reader's Digest -- all it takes is a ruling from a provincial Russian court.

(More….)