Russia Prepares To Block Tor And Anonymizing Proxies
from the don't-give-them-ideas dept
As more and more countries start introducing Web blocks, some people console themselves with the "at least there's always Tor" argument. Politicians may be slow, but they are not all completely stupid, and they are beginning to get the message that Tor and other anonymous services potentially render their Web blocks moot. It's then not a huge leap for them to move on to the next stage -- banning or blocking Tor -- as Russia now seems to be contemplating, according to this article on Russia Today:
The head of the Federal Security Service (FSB) has personally ordered preparations for laws that would block the Tor anonymity network from the entire Russian sector of the Internet, a Russian newspaper reported.
In fact, according to the Izvestia story (original in Russian), along with Tor, all anonymizing proxy services would be banned too.
No prizes for guessing what's behind the latest move:
FSB director Aleksandr Bortnikov announced the initiative at a recent session of the National Anti-Terrorism Committee, saying that his agency would develop the legislative drafts together with other Russian law enforcement and security bodies, the widely circulated daily Izvestia reported.The news was disclosed after the Russian civil movement 'Head Hunters' wrote a letter to the FSB with a request to block Tor, as it is one of the favorite software tools for distributors and users of child pornography. The FSB replied that the request was directed to the wrong body, as crimes against public health and morals fall under the Interior Ministry's jurisdiction.
However, the FSB graciously decided to get involved anyway:
The FSB official said that the agency initiated the move as internet anonymizers were used by weapon traffickers, drug dealers and credit card fraudsters, giving the FSB an obvious interest in limiting the use of such software.
In other words, banning Tor and anonymizers is a real crowd-pleaser, since politicians can point to lots of bad people that use them. Just like they use the Internet, or postal service: and just as there are lots of good uses of the postal service and the Internet, so Tor and anonymizers are also vital for a wide range of non-evil people, notably activists and political dissidents, both of whom are already under pressure in Russia. But what is a bug for some is a feature for others: blocking Tor -- "for the children" -- would also have the knock-on effect of making it even harder for dissidents and political groups to access information and organize in secret.
Assuming that the proposed law is passed, as seems likely, the worry has to be that other countries will take note and start to think about following suit, probably playing the same populist card of fighting child pornography that Russia's 'Head Hunters' are now employing.
Follow me @glynmoody on Twitter or identi.ca, and on Google+
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: anonymity, filters, internet, online, proxies, russia, tor
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
It's interesting though. I suppose Ed Snowden is using all sorts of routes to conceal and anonymize his activities online for very good reasons which probably includes TOR and such proxies/vpns and whatever. Can you see where I'm getting at?
The for the children mantra is getting tired already. It's about time they used the correct term: blatant censorship.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Blocking TOR
lol
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Blocking Anything
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Putin on the Ritz
http://imgur.com/gallery/7DSoY48
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
As for the proxies I'm guessing they are gonna maintain some sort of black list but still, anybody can set up an anonymous proxy in minutes..
[ link to this | view in thread ]
"Russian sector of the Internet"
That shows a disturbing worldview.
There are no "national sectors" on the Internet. It is fully transparent. Without looking, I have no idea which country the www.techdirt.com servers are in. Where I work, we use servers located in another country, while our target users are in our country, and they do not notice.
Their mentality seems to be stuck in the bad old times where each country had its own separate national network.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
There are ways to avoid this and it's pretty certain that the folks at tor will find an easy way around this.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
This has also been the case with Journalists who are not government friendly as well as civilian protesters of the Russian government policies.
The you have the Russian governments crackdown on the internet and copyright enforcement and how they seem to be hell bent as stopping that courtesy of the pressure they have had on them from the Hollywood paid for Obama Government.
The irony is stunning that the Russian government will crack down on this but yet do nothing to those in Russia who are running Bot Net, committing financial crimes ranging from credit card fraud and bank fraud to pilfering business accounts through ACH fraud and fraudulent wire transfers that seem to go to Russia all the time and I wont even bring up the spam and pill operations that are ran for there.
But yet they choose to do nothing about the aforementioned groups committing those crimes in not only Russia but many other countries as well. But I guess if you kick back enough to certain people, the Russian government wont bother you.
Once again it shows us all that many governments around the globe will seek to change the rules in the name of saving the children or what ever other cause they want to label it as all in the name of increasing their powers on keeping tabs on not only their citizens but their critics as well.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
The way around that is to use bridges (https://www.torproject.org/docs/bridges.html.en). They are not listed publicly, and can obfuscate the protocol further to make them even harder to detect. See that page for details.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Blocking TOR
So another of your piratey dodges falls to the two-edged sword of tech.
Oh, and that's besides TOR almost certainly being a honey pot which is actually sending everything in plain text to NSA.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Blocking TOR
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Re: Blocking TOR
Otherwise it wouldn't have taken them so long to kill freedom hosting, too.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Snowden's advice
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Illegal is completely legal as long as it's for the children.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Blocking TOR
See https://www.torproject.org/docs/bridges.html
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Blocking TOR
Well, at least you came out with a ridiculous conspiracy theory that didn't contain the word "Google" for once, so there's that.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Show's that Snowden is for political gains
It also shows that not only it about NSA and 'freedoms' it's about if you have some power, you use it, that includes EVERYONE, including you !!!
You don't like censorship yet if you are given the power to censor you will use it, happens here on TD every day.
So if the freedom loving Masnicks on TD will employ the tools in their power to block, censor and supress speech or freedoms YOU WILL !!!
So will the US, Government departments, foreign Governments, security organizations, Tech Dirt, PJ from Groklaw, Masnick.
You all do it, but I guess when you do it 'it's right' but if anyone else does it, it's criminal and evil..
How many phone calls or emails have you not been able to send or make because of the NSA ?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re:
After all, such services are often used by people reporting on human rights and other abuses by governments. It would be handy for government to be able to shut down people reporting such things merely by making the tools illegal to operate in and of themselves.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Blocking TOR
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Yawn...
We'll simply develop something else and route around them.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Blocking TOR
Back to chasing ambulances yet? Let me know when you get settled in at the pen, I have some soap on a rope to send you, just need your inmate number. Cheers
[ link to this | view in thread ]
better pay your property tax and child support
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
need to fight like the NRA
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Blocking TOR
And the ultimate karmic justice is that that US has, since the early 20s, created the enemies it fights (from Prohibition, through the Great Depression, wartime, through to Communism, The Movement, Cold War, and in the modern day, Al-Qa'ida and the IRA.)
And neither it nor Russia have learned - those who fail to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: better pay your property tax and child support
I'm sure the government would LOVE to have its phones going off the hook for hours on end with no reprieve.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Blocking TOR
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
john gilmore said it best:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
China "blocks" Tor
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Blocking TOR
Your solar panels wouldn't last to that strength of blocking.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: better pay your property tax and child support
[ link to this | view in thread ]
the war on anonymity
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Makes any moral dillema less of a dillema
I know it's for sure pushing me in that direction.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
ipfilterX
to mitigate the spies hits and much other .
I do use ipfilterX and it's great .
Get proper info at p2pblocklist.net .
There also a discussion about VPNs and their vulnerable features .
My 2 cent .
[ link to this | view in thread ]
As if it even matters
There will always be a way for people to get what they want on the internet, obviously however that means that lowest of humanity will get their fix but it also means that "data crusaders" will be able to expose much needed truths.
It's not a black and white issue.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Re:
This is about the dumbest thing I have ever read.
No reason to use a vpn if it is going to log all your traffic.
Thta defeats the purpose all together.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Blocking TOR
6 years and it hasn't happened yet.
[ link to this | view in thread ]