Tag: Censorship

Interfax: Russian government develops measure to prevent disruptions of Russian Internet

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television
Aerial View of Kremlin and Environs

MOSCOW. Oct 1 (Interfax) – The Russian government is developing measures to prevent attempts to disrupt the operations of the Russian segment of the Internet, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. “It is necessary to continue to promptly prevent attempts to disrupt the stable operations of the Russian segment of the Internet. Interagency exercises to prevent such attempts were conducted in […]

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Facebook, Google and Twitter hit by new Russian internet law

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television
File Photo of Little Girl at Computer Next to Globe

(Business New Europe – bne.ru – September 30, 2014) Russia’s official communications regulator Roskomnadzor says it will enforce a recently passed law that could force foreign-owned internet companies to store the data of Russian users on Russia data centres, as part of a Kremlin drive towards what it calls ‘information sovereignty’. Major US-based internet companies such as Facebook, Google, and […]

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Curbs on Foreign Ownership Will Gut Russia’s Media

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Foreign Policy, Security, Visas, Human Rights, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television
Kremlin and Saint Basil's File Photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Delphine d’Amora – September 28, 2014) An era in Russian media ended Friday as parliament passed a law limiting foreign ownership in domestic media assets at 20 percent, hitting some of the world’s largest media companies and turning back the clock on an industry that has thrived on foreign brands and capital. Since the draft […]

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When literature came under state control: 80 years since the First Congress of Soviet Writers

History, Soviet Union, Human Rights, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts
File Photo of Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – August 27, 2014) When literature came under state control: 80 years since the First Congress of Soviet Writers When the First Congress of Soviet Writers opened on Aug. 17, 1934 in Moscow, it marked a watershed in Soviet literature. The artistic freedom that had characterized the turbulent 1920s was now gone, replaced by forced […]

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Law Requiring Bloggers to Register as Mass Media Comes Into Force

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Photo of Little Girl at Computer Next to Globe

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov – August 1, 2014) A law requiring popular bloggers to register as mass media took effect Friday, tightening government control over the country’s influential online voices but leaving some uncertainty as to how strict the immediate scrutiny will become. In accordance with the new law, any blog that receives more than 3,000 hits […]

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Russia Beyond the Headlines: Social media alive and well despite laws

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television
File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Alexander Plyushchev, special to RBTH – July 15, 2014) Alexander Plyushchev is a popular blogger and one of the pioneers of Internet journalism in Russia. Russians flock to social networks even as the government tries to regulate the web A new law, which comes into effect Aug. 1, will effectively subject Russia’s most […]

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Putin Now Down to One Ally – Moscow Television

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
File Photo of Russian Television Studio

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, July 24, 2014) Tsar Aleksandr III famously said that Russia has only two allies – its army and its fleet – but now, according to Rashit Akhmetov, the editor of “Zvezda Povolzhya,” Vladimir Putin is down to only one – Moscow television with its ability to shape and direct Russian opinion. In […]

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Russian Blog Post Decrying Government’s Internet Crackdown Goes Viral

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – John Freedman – July 14, 2014) Is this an updated version of Aldous Huxley’s classic antiutopian novel, “Brave New World”? Not exactly. If you live in Russia, this will be your world by September 1, according to a blog, “A Guide Through Your Life: What the Duma Has Banned in Recent Months,” published last week […]

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Arts world up in arms as Russia bans swearwords in films, books and TV

Life in Russia, Culture, Arts
Movie Theater file photo

(Russia Beyond the Headliines – rbth.ru – Nikolai Litovkin, RBTH – July 2, 2014) A law making it illegal to use swearwords in television, movies, literature, media reporting, concerts, and theatrical productions entered into force on July 1. Violators will face stiff fines. Prominent figures have expressed their dismay over the ban, arguing that it will limit cultural expression. Russia’s […]

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Few Russian Artists Bother to Fight Creeping Trend of Censorship

Human Rights, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Kremlin and Saint Basil's File Photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – John Freedman – June 23, 2014) As we approach July 1, the day after which obscenities will officially be banned in Russian art, the Russian creative community is doing what it can to make sense of a concerted push on the part of the government to regulate the arts and artistic expression. By writing the […]

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Media Regulator Could Block Foreign Websites for Failing to Reveal Data

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Spies, Spy Allegations
File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov – May 27, 2014) Russia’s media watchdog has drafted a resolution that would allow it to block foreign websites in the country for failing to register with the Kremlin’s monitors, a news report said. The proposed government resolution, drafted by media regulator Roskomnadzor, would cover all websites that allow their users to exchange […]

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Medinsky the Media Magnet

Europe, EU, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts
Kremlin and Saint Basil's File Photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – John Freedman – May 19, 2014) Russian Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky received an honorary fellowship on Thursday a few days late and not quite as planned. The institution doing the honors was Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy, but a planned ceremony in Italy on May 12 was junked at the last minute. Instead, the […]

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Russian Premier Medvedev Defends Facebook, Twitter

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television
File Photo Dmitry Medvedev at Desk with Laptop Computer

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Torrey Clark – May 17, 2014) Russians access to Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. is safe if Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has a say in the matter. The government leader rebuked a communications official for saying in an interview published yesterday that Russia has the right to fully block online social networks if they don’t uphold […]

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Russian Internet ‘One Step Away’ From Chinese Firewall

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television
File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – April 29, 2014) Amid growing criticism of its increasingly tighter regulation of the Internet, Russia’s official media watchdog on Monday vowed to continue its fight in the “information war,” saying freedom of speech “does not mean everything is permitted.” The government made clear at an annual meeting of top officials of the […]

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Creative Unions Seen to Back Kremlin Views

History, Soviet Union, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Kremlin and Moscow Environs Aerial View

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Oleg Sukhov – April 28, 2014) Last week, the State Duma gave its final approval to a bill introducing criminal penalties for “spreading lies” about the Soviet Union’s role in World War II. The legislation, under which offenders face up to five years in prison, has prompted renewed allegations that the Kremlin is imposing a […]

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Human Rights Watchdog Defends Professor Sacked Over Ukraine Article

Education, Academia
Kremlin and Saint Basil's File Photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov – April 11, 2014) The Kremlin’s human rights panel has denounced as illegal the dismissal of a philosophy professor from Russia’s top university for aspiring diplomats for writing an article criticizing Russia’s actions in Ukraine and likening it to Germany in 1938. The presidential human rights council said in a statement on its […]

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RIA Novosti: Russia’s Top Satellite Company Drops Liberal Dozhd TV Channel

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television
Kremlin and Saint Basil's

MOSCOW, February 10 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s major satellite provider stopped broadcasting Dozhd independent television channel Monday after the network became embroiled into a controversy over an opinion poll about World War II. Tricolor TV, Russia’s biggest satellite TV provider, said a week ago that its board of directors had unanimously decided to exclude the liberal Dozhd channel from all […]

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Russia’s ‘Optimistic Channel’ Fighting For Survival

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television
Kremlin and Saint Basil's

(RFE/RL  – rferl.org – Tom Balmforth – MOSCOW – February 5, 2014) Just shy of four years ago a new private television channel appeared on the Russian media scene. With a new generation of talent, snappy and hip programming, and a politically independent line, Dozhd (Rain) TV presented a sharp contrast to the drab and predictable Kremlin-controlled media. And it […]

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Dozhd Television Faces Closure But Strives to Stay Afloat

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television
Kremlin and Saint Basil's

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Oleg Sukhov – February 5, 2014) Dozhd, Russia’s only opposition-oriented television channel, on Tuesday announced that the decision of large cable providers to drop it could lead to its closure and attributed the move to a Kremlin-driven campaign to get rid of them. All major cable companies, including OnLime, Akado, NTV Plus and VimpelCom, dropped […]

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Dry the rain: the disgraceful hounding of Dozhd TV

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television
Kremlin and Saint Basil's

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Natalia Antonova – January 31, 2014) The scandal surrounding the independent Dozhd TV channel has so far progressed in a predictable and chilling fashion: Media organization does something that many people find to be tactless and/or offensive, said people express their dismay, the media organization apologizes… and then surrealism begins to take over. In case […]

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Russian TV Promoting ‘Permanent Hysteria’ about Ukraine, Commentator Says

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Kremlin and Saint Basil's

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, January 29, 2014) Any Russian with access to the Internet can get some idea of the dizzying and kaleidoscopic developments in Ukraine, but Russians who rely on government-controlled television are being fed a more or less constant diet of propaganda designed to promote “permanent hysteria” about that country, according to a “Novaya […]

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Three Disturbing New Russian Legal Initiatives

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Human Rights, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Race, Ethnic, Extremism, Xenophobia, Terrorism
Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, October 16, 2013) The Kremlin’s moves against the principles of the Russian Constitution and basic human rights are currently coming at such a rapid pace that it is difficult to keep up with its assault on what remains of democracy in that country. This week alone featured three initiatives that are particularly […]

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Russia – making bloggers ‘law-abiding’?

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Natalia Antonova, Acting Editor-in-Chief, July 15, 2013) The latest legislative initiative from the State Duma would award popular blogs the status of media outlets. I am using the word “award” somewhat ironically here. United Russia Deputy Sergei Zheleznyak, who saw himself and his family attacked in the blogosphere after it was revealed that his daughters […]

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Russia’s Internet: Between Regulation and Censorship

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television
File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(Alexey Eremenko, RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, July 5, 2013) ­ The morbidly cute educational cartoon “Dumb Ways to Die,” about do’s and don’ts when using public transportation, has won critical acclaim at international ad festivals. But in Russia, it was banned as promotion of suicide. Over the past nine months, Russia has passed two bills regulating domestic Internet use, including […]

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Russia to Fast-Track New Online Censorship Bill

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Russian Duma Building

(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, June 12, 2013) ­ A Russian parliamentary committee approved for review a new controversial anti-piracy law dubbed “the Russian SOPA” by critics after a similar US bill. The bill will undergo on Friday the first of three required readings in the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, and may be passed by mid-July, […]

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Russian Public TV denies canceling programme over Putin divorce jokes

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Vladimir Putin and Lydumila Putin file photo

(Interfax – Moscow, June 8, 2013) Russian Public TV is not planning to cancel its Social Network programme, the next episode will air on 10 June. The channel’s press service told Interfax on Saturday (8 June) that the 7 June edition of the programme was not aired for technical reasons. “No-one is closing the programme, it will continue to run. […]

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Russia’s Top Social Network Under Fire

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Spies, Spy Allegations
File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Tom Balmforth – MOSCOW – May 28, 2013) When Vkontakte.ru briefly appeared on a government blacklist of banned websites last week, it raised eyebrows. Russia’s leading social network isn’t just a place where friends connect, make plans, and share experiences. It’s also one of the main platforms the opposition has used to organize its activities across […]

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Putin spokesman praises ex-deputy PM Surkov’s legacy, defends ‘pro-state’ cinema

Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Vladislav Surkov file photo

(Interfax – Sochi, May 22, 2013) Dmitriy Peskov, press secretary to the Russian president, has described reports that the Kremlin was taking film-making under its control as fiction but stressed that films produced with state money should have matching content. “A number of mass media outlets, including the (business) newspaper Vedomosti, have said that all of Surkov’s (Vladislav Surkov, once […]

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Medvedev still against government involvement in media

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Regions, Cities, Municipalities
Dmitry Medvedev file photo

(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 22, 2013) Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is not changing his position regarding the need for the government to keep out of the media, especially in the regions, and he regrets that this has yet to be done. “It’s a shame that we didn’t bring this topic to its conclusion. The government’s presence in the media […]

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Talking to itself

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Photo of Russian Television Studio

(opendemocracy.net – April 23, 2013 – Zygmunt Dzieciolowski, Alexei Levinson, and Mikhail Sokolov) Mikhail Sokolov is an ex Radio Liberty journalist and a historian. Alexei Levinson is sociologist and senior researcher at the Levada Center, Russia’s leading polling organisation, Moscow. Zygmunt Dzieciolowski is a Polish journalist who has covered Russia and other post Soviet republics for European media since 1989. […]

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Putin Has More Free Speech Than All Media

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Duma Session file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Michael Bohm – April 12, 2013) Michael Bohm is opinion page editor of The Moscow Times. State Duma Deputy Alexei Mitrofanov, who heads the Duma committee regulating the media, came up with a new idea two weeks ago to fight the Kremlin’s battle against “insulting speech” aimed at politicians: increase the fines against media outlets […]

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Russia’s ‘absolutely free internet’ era over, extremism will be dealt with – MP

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television
File Photo Dmitry Medvedev at Desk with Laptop Computer

(Interfax – Moscow, March 19, 2013) Russian society should be ready for manifestations of extremism in the internet to be viewed and punished appropriately, as those made outside the net, the head of the State Duma committee for information policy, information technologies and communications, Aleksey Mitrofanov, has said. “I think that the fight against extremism in the internet will gradually […]

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Smut-Free Web Evokes Censorship Fears

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television
File Photo of Little Russian Girl at Laptop Next to Globe

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – February 5, 2013) The government’s plans to protect children from harmful online content are causing increasing alarm among anti-censorship activists, who see one region’s plans to introduce a smut-free version of the Internet as the latest move to banish distasteful speech. Details of the Kostroma region’s plan, which appeared in the media […]

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Russian Government Now Views Internet as Main Threat to Its Position, Agora Says

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television
File Photo Dmitry Medvedev at Desk with Laptop Computer

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, February 4, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/02/window-on-eurasia-russian-government.html) The growth in Internet use in the Russian Federation over the last year has meant that “for the first time, the Internet began to be considered by the Russian government as the main source of threat to its well-being and stability,” according to the annual report of […]

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Pussy Riot Clip Classified as Extremist

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Religion
File Photo of Pussy Riot Members in Courtroom Enclosure, With Man Showing Papers to One While Female Guard Looks On

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Nikolaus von Twickel – Nov. 30, 2012) A city court has declared Pussy Riot’s “punk prayer” video extremist, meaning that media outlets can face closure for publishing the all-female band’s famous performance in Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral. Thursday’s far-reaching decision also means that hosting platforms like YouTube must remove the video for Russian users […]

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Medvedev denies Russia’s Internet laws repressive

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television
File Photo Dmitry Medvedev at Desk with Laptop Computer

(Interfax – November 27, 2012) Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev denied on Tuesday that Russian laws on the Internet are repressive. “It’s impossible to call those laws repressive because so far not a single resource has been banned or disconnected,” Medvedev said at a joint news conference in Paris with French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault. Mistakes that had been made, […]

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Court Ruling Ramps Up Pressure on Internet Providers to Block Content

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television
File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Nikolaus von Twickel – November 26, 2012) A recent Supreme Court decision increases pressure on Internet providers to block websites without direct state interference, lawyers said Friday. The Supreme Courtsaidin a ruling published earlier this month in Rossiiskaya Gazeta that Web providers risk losing their licenses if they fail to block access to sites with […]

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There is no censorship in Russia – culture minister

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television
Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Interfax – November 23, 2012) Russian Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky said there is no censorship in Russia. “There are no restrictions. There is no censorship in any form. And you won’t believe it, this outraged many people,” Medinsky told a briefing held in the Russian Foreign Ministry, a video of which has been posted on YouTube. “Three of every four […]

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RuNet: Russia on the Chinese road?

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television
File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(Irina Borogan – www.opendemocracy.net – November 20, 2012) Irina Borogan is a Russian investigative journalist who covers the operations of Russian security services. She is co-founder of the web site Agentura.Ru, which chronicles the services’ activities. Last year, Borogan and Andrei Soldatov co-authored The New Nobility: The Restoration of Russia’s Security State and the Enduring Legacy of the KGB (PublicAffairs). […]

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Russia’s Controversial Internet Law Causing Collateral Damage

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television
File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(RFE/RL – Tom Balmforth – November 14, 2012) MOSCOW ­ The law was supposed to make the Internet safer for children. So far, it has led to the brief blocking of an electronic library, a popular satirical encyclopedia, and the country’s most highly trafficked torrent-tracking website. The sites are just the first collateral damage from controversial legislation aimed at regulating […]

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Russian Watchdog Strikes 21 Entries Off Blacklist

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Human Rights, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

MOSCOW, November 14 (RIA Novosti) ­ Russia’s telecoms watchdog, Roskomnadzor, has struck 21 entries off its “blacklist” in three days, the agency said in a statement on Wednesday. The 21 links and IP-addresses included popular internet resources, whose blacklisting triggered public debate. “This includes the Lurkmore.to resource, links to individual pages in the social networking site Vkontakte and also the […]

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Internet Censorship Faces Obstacles

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Human Rights, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Nikolaus von Twickel – November 14, 2012) As the number of websites banned or blocked under the new Internet law continues to grow, the country’s media watchdog backpedaled Tuesday by acknowledging that censoring content was technically and legally difficult, and it promised to remove popular sites from the blacklist. The Mass Media Inspection Service said […]

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Lurkomorye online encyclopedia removed from list of banned Web sites

Education, Academia, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television
File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(Interfax – November 13, 2012) The net culture online encyclopedia Lurkomorye has been removed from the communications, IT and mass media oversight service Roskomnadzor’s list of banned Web sites. “We have conducted a thorough check and removed the [Lurkomorye] links and IP-addresses from the list,” Roskomnadzor spokesman Vladimir Panin told Interfax on Tuesday. The ban was lifted after Lurkomorye’s owners […]

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Internet Restriction Law Comes On Line

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television
File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(Moscow Times – Rachel Nielsen – November 2, 2012) The law giving government agencies the power to order Internet companies to block material the state deems illegal came into force Thursday. Ostensibly aimed at protecting children from pernicious content online, the measure allows material to be blocked if officials determine that it includes child pornography, solicits children for porn, encourages […]

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RuNet, hate crime and soft targets: how Russia enforces its anti-extremism law

Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Human Rights, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(Natalia Yudina –  opendemocracy.net – Natalia Yudina is chief expert at the Moscow based SOVA hate crime monitoring agency – October 30, 2012 – charts here: http://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/natalia-yudina/runet-hate-crime-and-soft-targets-how-russia-enforces-its-anti-extremism-la) The internet is a tool that can be used for good, but it can also be manipulated by fanatics preaching violent hate propaganda. Policing is never going to be easy, but the Russian […]

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Russian Govt Confirms Mechanism to Block Access to Banned Online Content

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Photo Dmitry Medvedev at Desk with Laptop Computer

MOSCOW. Oct 30 (Interfax) – The Russian government has confirmed a mechanism to block Web sites with banned content. On October 26, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a resolution, due to come into force on November 1, that approves a list of banned Web sites and determines the criteria for the list operator’s work, as well as a procedure for […]

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Working Group Supports Closing Entire Websites

Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Rachel Nielsen – October 1, 2012 The working group responsible for defining the rules to accompany the law restricting Internet content that goes into effect next month decided last week to continue pressing for blocking whole websites rather than individual Web pages. Officials are also advocating giving broader jurisdiction under the law to government agencies […]

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