Russia Blocks All Of Shutterstock Due To 'Offensive' Image Involving The Russian Flag
from the shutter-to-think dept
We've talked quite a bit over the years about Rozcomnadzor, the Russian agency in charge of policing the internet for copyright infringing content... and really anything else that the Russian government decides it doesn't like. The agency operates exactly as deftly as you would expect, routinely blocking entire sites that are in regular use in Russia over a tiny percentage of "illicit" use. The problem, of course, is that Rozcomnadzor often interprets "illicit" uses of the internet to mean embarrassing public Russian figures with ties to the government, criticizing the government itself, or using basic internet security tools such as VPN to keep the Russian government out of one's internet use. This makes it all the more infuriating that American groups such as the MPAA have happily signed on with the Russian agency in an effort to protect copyright content, despite the agency's more widespread aims.
It keeps happening. Recently, stock photo site Shutterstock -- all of it -- suddenly appeared on the Russia banned sites list. You might be assuming that this is a copyright issue, but it isn't.
However, those who visit the URL detailed at the top of the notice will find what appears to be an image of a Russian flag placed in the middle of a pile of excrement. Russian authorities do not take kindly to their national symbols depicted in such a fashion and have laws in place to prevent it.
As a result, Russian ISPs are now blocking two Shutterstock-related IP addresses (one in Germany, one in the Netherlands) which are both operated by cloud company Akamai. Whether other sites using the same IP addresses are also being affected is currently unclear.
For good measure, Russia is also targeting the image.shutterstock.com domain. As highlighted by Russian digital rights group Roskomsvoboda, which first reported the news, this is particularly problematic since rather than tackling just a single URL, a whole HTTPS subdomain is in the register.
As a recap, because the Russian government is upset over someone putting an image online of the Russian flag in less than flattering circumstances, Shutterstock's domain is blocked nationwide. This is about where I'd like to ping the MPAA and ask again about its support of Rozcomnadzor. After all, the MPAA signed on with the Russian agency over a concern on copyright protection, ostensibly so that creative types could sell their wares to legitimate buyers. With this overreaction of a site-wide block of Shutterstock, a whole bunch of stock photo artists have suddenly lost their ability to sell their creative works.
One also wonders just how long this can go on without a massive reaction by the internet-using Russian public. After all, with these massive overblocks, eventually the Russian government will run out of internet to deprive of its citizens.
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: censorship, rozcomnadzor, russia, russian flag, site blocking
Companies: shutterstock
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
'Amateurs...'
Of course the real irony is that by showing themselves to be so incredibly thin-skinned and quick to silence anyone who might say something they might object to they have demonstrated more disrespect and caused more damage than any number of images like that could have dreamed of.
Whoever the artist was may have presented the flag in a pile of crap, but it's government agencies like them utterly losing their minds that show that if anything the image was understating the state of the government/country.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Not imgur yet
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Too bad they're not as effective att blocking Russian troll farms or malware sites.
It's almost as if they support them
...
Oh crap!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
So serious...
“Offensive image involving the Russian flag”
Ya make a joke about the flag falling faster then the ruble and everyone hunts ya down...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Stupid russkis making such a fuss over their flag, just look at that law of theirs
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/4/8
Oh, wait.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Well they could have removed the image.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Why?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
Because somebody somewhere on the internet had a case of butthurt?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
In that case we might as well close down the internet..
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re:
Exactly
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Yep. Governments and major corporations long for the era before the internet when they had (near) absolute control over what people saw/heard/read. The artificial scarcity meant they could shovel money straight into their pockets, and the control meant it was much easier to cover up certain things while forcing their agenda on everyone.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Yup, the good old days when a politician could say one thing in one town and the complete opposite in the next town and hardly anyone noticed.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Thanks Roscensor
No we know how to get any domain which accepts user generated content taken down in Russia. We post said picture of flag in shit.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Russia has the same freedom of speech the US has...
In America, you can stand in a public square and start insulting President Trump. That's freedom of speech.
Russia has exactly the same freedom of speech the US has. You can stand in public squares insulting President Trump all you want.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Russia has the same freedom of speech the US has...
Pelosi maybe.. Trump would be protected.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Not just Russia...
This image has also received numerous complaints from the manure industry!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Too sexy for my shirt
"the Russian government is upset over someone putting an image online of the Russian flag in less than flattering circumstances"
But the image of Putin riding bareback without a shirt is A-Ok.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
How normal! As one Russian saying goes "(shooting) sparrows using the cannon"...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I’ll give it a shot
13000 people used to live here now it’s a ghost town.
“Holds up Russian flag”
🇷🇺 :”rage beyond human recognition “
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Cheapest 5G smartphone
Xiaomi Redmi K30 5G launched.
http://www.trendbuzz.co.in/cheapest-5g-smartphone/
[ link to this | view in chronology ]