Russia Orders Major VPN Providers to Block ‘Banned’ Sites

[Matrix]

Ten major VPN providers have been ordered by Russian authorities to begin blocking sites present in the country's national blacklist. NordVPN, ExpressVPN, IPVanish and HideMyAss are among those affected. TorGuard also received a notification and has pulled its services out of Russia with immediate effect.

For the past several years, Russia has continued with its mission to restrict access to content the state finds objectionable.

Many kinds of sites, from alleged pirate platforms to sites hosting extremist content, have all been affected.

Local ISPs are required by law to block their domains, rendering them inaccessible. However, plenty of circumvention options are available, something the government is trying to address.

During July 2017, President Vladimir Putin signed a bill into law aiming to close this loophole. The plan was to prevent citizens from accessing banned sites using VPNs, proxies, Tor, and other anonymizing services.

The threat was simple: if such services were found to be facilitating access to banned platforms, they too could find themselves on Russia’s ‘Internet blacklist’, known locally as FGIS.

While some VPN providers pulled out of Russia well before the new legislation (Private Internet Access exited in 2016 for unconnected reasons), others have continued. Now, however, authorities are attempting to tighten the noose.

During the past few days, telecoms watch Roscomnadzor says it sent compliance notifications to 10 major VPN services with servers inside Russia – NordVPN, ExpressVPN, TorGuard, IPVanish, VPN Unlimited, VyprVPN, Kaspersky Secure Connection, HideMyAss!, Hola VPN, and OpenVPN.

The government agency is demanding that the affected services begin interfacing with the FGIS database, blocking the sites listed within. Several other local companies – search giant Yandex, Sputnik, Mail.ru, and Rambler – are already connected to the database and filtering as required.

“In accordance with paragraph 5 of Article 15.8 of the Federal Law No. 149-FZ of 27.07.2006 ‘On Information, Information Technology and on Protection of Information’ hereby we are informing you about the necessity to get connected to the Federal state informational system of the blocked information sources and networks [FGIS] within thirty working days from the receipt [of this notice],” the notice reads.

A notice received by TorGuard reveals that the provider was indeed given just under a month to comply. The notice also details the consequences for not doing so, i.e being placed on the blacklist with the rest of the banned sites so it cannot operate in Russia.

TorGuard, however, is clear – it won’t operate under those terms so has already left of its own accord.

“At the time of this writing TorGuard has taken steps to remove all physical server presence in Russia. We have wiped clean all servers in our Saint Petersburg and Moscow locations and will no longer be doing business with data centers in the region,” the company said in a statement.

“We would like to be clear that this removal of servers was a voluntary decision by TorGuard management and no equipment seizure occurred.”

The demand from Roscomnadzor sent to TorGuard and the other companies also requires that they hand over information to the authorities, including details of their operators and places of business.

The notice itself states that for foreign entities, Russian authorities require the full entity name, country of residence, tax number and/or trade register number, postal and email address details, plus other information.

The Roscomnadzor notification provided by TorGuard doesn’t make any demands to access VPN customer data. However, given TorGuard’s privacy policies, that should already be a moot point.

“We do not store any logs so even if servers were compromised it would be impossible for customer’s data to be exposed,” the provider added.

The same situation should also be true at several of the other VPN providers contacted by Russian authorities. NordVPN, ExpressVPN, TorGuard and VyprVPN, for example, all declared in TorrentFreak’s 2019 annual roundup that they carry zero logs.

As the companies in question consult with their legal teams, only time will tell which of the others will choose to comply with Russian law and begin blocking – or leave the region completely.

 

 View Original Article.

[straycat19]

I don't know the internal workings of a VPN, but if they don't keep logs, and don't track you, any ban they put in place would theoretically exist for all users since they wouldn't be able to sort those connections coming from Russia with all the other connections.  If I wanted to be on the east coast and connected to a server in New York, it could have Russians connected to it also.  So the only way to block a site would be to block it for everyone on that server, whether they were Russian or not.  Anyone with actual VPN operational experience can chime in and educate me.

[steven36]

On 3/28/2019 at 8:26 PM, straycat19 said:

I don't know the internal workings of a VPN, but if they don't keep logs, and don't track you, any ban they put in place would theoretically exist for all users since they wouldn't be able to sort those connections coming from Russia with all the other connections.  If I wanted to be on the east coast and connected to a server in New York, it could have Russians connected to it also.  So the only way to block a site would be to block it for everyone on that server, whether they were Russian or not.  Anyone with actual VPN operational experience can chime in and educate me.

The VPN i use removed Russian servers  because the Russian Government raided there Russian  data centers a  few years ago . People wan't buy VPNs  that censor the internet .  My VPN service still sells to people in Russia only thing Russia can do about it  is ban it like China do from people being able to buy it in there country. Same as when Google stop censoring the internet in China, they blocked them  . I read that Russia is working on a plain to disconnect from WWW and have there own internet anyway.

[truemate]

VPN means/use to visit Blocked sites.. not to block sites

[steven36]

1 minute ago, truemate said:

VPN means/use to visit Blocked sites.. not to block sites

That's not always the case , some paid  p2p vpns block torrents on certain  servers , I never understood people from the EU  there vpns are bad for blocking p2p on USA  and UK  servers when they allow you to p2p on German servers and Germany has some the most harsh Anti P2P laws in the world . Same  with France  they invented the idea the USA uses about your isp sending warning that's the whole reason we even need use VPNs in the USA . For years in the USA we used p2p without a VPN  and they never really bothered us . Most free VPNs block p2p on all servers you have to pay to torrent  unless you lucky enough to find a free giveaway . It's a shame people in Russia even have to use VPNs same as it's a shame people in the USA  need to use them if they use p2p.

[steven36]

News update:  Russia Demands 10 Major VPNs Censor Content or Face Ban

 

Russia Demands 10 Major VPNs Censor Content or Face Ban

 

 

The Russian government is demanding that 10 major VPN services connect their services to a state content-filtering system or face a ban.

 

On Thursday, Russia's telecommunications regulator, Roskomnadzor, announced it had sent notices to companies demanding they fall in line with Russian law, including NordVPN, ExpressVPN, VyprVPN, TorGuard, and Hide My Ass.

 

If the VPN providers fail to comply within 30 working days, the Russian regulator has threatened to block internet access to their services.

 

In 2017, Russia passed a law cracking down on VPNs, which can be used to circumvent online censorship by accessing servers in other countries. It requires VPN providers to register with Roskomnadzor and block access to websites the government has banned. Those who refuse will be blocked.

 

Roskomnadzor, however, has not actually demanded that VPN services connect to the state system, which is used to enforce the country's online censorship, until now. It's not clear why there was a delay, but according to the head of VyprVPN, the Russian regulator was likely trying to approach the problem by first forcing internet service providers to block access to VPN services. Google has also been pressured to comply with Russia's censorship demands.

 

 

"Now they (the Kremlin) are looking at the VPNs and trying to pressure them directly, similar to what China has been doing," according to Sunday Yokubaitis, CEO of Golden Frog, which runs VyprVPN.

Golden Frog was among the VPN providers that told PCMag they had received a notice yesterday to register with Roskomnadzor. However, Yokubaitis said his business, which is incorporated in Switzerland, doesn't plan on complying. "Our core mission is to keep the internet open and free, so VyprVPN will continue to provide uncensored access to the internet," he said.

 

TorGuard has responded to Roskomnadzor's demand by removing all the company's physical servers in Russia, it wrote in a blog post. This was likely done as a precaution in the event Russian authorities try to seize the hardware.

 

"We have wiped clean all servers in our Saint Petersburg and Moscow locations and will no longer be doing business with data centers in the region," TorGuard wrote. "Our networking team is currently deploying additional servers in neighboring countries to ensure fast VPN download speeds for everyone in the region."

 

NordVPN  has also decided to pull the plug on its Russia-based servers. "Connecting to NordVPN servers in Russia may no longer be safe," the company said in a blog post on Friday. "To prevent any service disruptions or malfunctions, we will be shredding all of our Russian servers and removing them from our service."

 

The "shredding" will be completed on April 1. "Unfortunately, this is not an April Fool's joke," it added. The option to connect to NordVPN's Russia-based servers has also been removed.

 

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[steven36]

 

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IPVanish responds to Russia’s censorship request

 

 

Russia’s government censorship agency, the Roskomnadzor, has served ten non-Russian VPN providers with compliance demands — including IPVanish. These demands require each VPN provider to block access to the Roskomnadzor’s list of banned websites within 30 business days. Any VPN provider that fails to comply could see their services restricted in Russia.

Russia’s Censorship Agenda

Russia’s censorship agenda is not new. In 2017, Russia passed legislation specifically targeting the use of VPNs to circumvent website blocks. That law was the origin of the requirement that VPNs block access to the Roskomnadzor’s list of banned websites. Up until recently, however, they had done little to enforce such rules. These new demands mark a significant escalation.

That escalation is hardly surprising, though. Last month, search engines were asked to enforce website bans. And last year, Russia blocked the encrypted messaging service Telegram, sending a clear message that Russia does not respect privacy rights. Ultimately, the move backfired, though, as Telegram was more effective at sidestepping Russia than Russia was in banning Telegram.

IPVanish Response

Concerning Roskomnadzor’s censorship demands, IPVanish refuses to comply. This would not mark the first time we’ve faced pressure from Russian authorities, either. In 2016, Russia passed new data retention laws compelling all online services to store private information on its users for an entire year. In response, we removed all physical server presence in Russia, while still offering Russians encrypted connections via servers outside of Russian borders. That decision was made in accordance with our strict zero-logs policy.

 

IPVanish will always treat blacklisting requests with the same regard. While we regret not being able to serve customers with physical servers in Russia, our position on logging is absolute. The same is true of our views on censorship: we believe in an open internet, and will not be pressured into enforcing unjust restrictions by any governing body. Furthermore, you can trust that we at IPVanish will always prioritize the integrity of our network and the privacy and security of our users. While we remain technically capable, we will continue to offer our VPN service to Russian users via our other servers.

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Russia Demands VPN Providers to Comply with Censorship; VyprVPN Refuses

 

Censorship in Russia has been steadily rising in the past few years, most notably with the announcement in July 2017 when the initial VPN law was signed, and later took effect the following November. 

 

Since that time, the VPN industry was waiting to see what the outcome of the legislation would be. While oppression and censorship marched steadily forward, it seems our industry finally has an answer.

This week, Russia’s communications branch Roskomnadzor sent compliance demands to several VPN providers, including VyprVPN. You can view the email that we received below, with full translation.

 

 

 

The strong censorship and oppression of the Russian regime was the main reason for us to avoid locating any of our servers inside of Russia. Our core mission is to keep the Internet open and free, and therefore, we will continue to provide uncensored access to the Internet in Russia and around the world. We will not cooperate with the Russian government in their efforts to censor VPN services.

 

The VyprVPN team has been battling against the censorship created by the Great Firewall of China, and we believe that China has exported the Great Firewall technology to regimes across the world, including Russia.

 

We are committed to providing Internet users around the world with the tools needed to access news and information without censorship. We will continue to honor our commitment to fight for a free Internet, this time in Russia. 

 

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