Internet access

Russia is taking over the Internet in Ukraine’s occupied territories

Webpages in the city of Kherson in south Ukraine stopped loading on people’s devices at 2:43 pm on May 30. For the next 59 minutes, anyone connecting to the internet with KhersonTelecom, known locally as SkyNet, couldn’t call loved ones, find out the latest news, or upload images to Instagram. They were stuck in a …

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VPN use skyrockets as Russia blocks popular social networks and media resources

Virtual private networks (VPNs) are more in use than ever in Russia as a number of social networks and media have been made inaccessible by the authorities. Mobile operator Yota reports that the proportion of its subscribers using VPN services grew 38-fold, reaching 22.8% of the total number of Yota clients, from Jan. 1 to …

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Russia has been preparing to have its internet cut off

Among Joe Biden’s options to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine are disruptive cyberattacks—the kind that Russia itself often unleashes on other countries. Even more broadly, sanctions experts have discussed the possibility of cutting countries off from the global internet entirely, the way governments do to stifle unrest in domestic regions.  But Russia has been preparing for …

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At 1.6% of net salary, Russia ranks 18th in Europe for broadband Internet expense

AddictiveTips.com, an online resource on apps, phone and the web, has calculated the cost of broadband Internet relative to users’ income across 37 European countries. Price data came from Cable.co.uk and salary data from Numbeo.  Russia ranks 18th as the average broadband expense in this country (€75.65 per year, €6.30 per month) accounts for 1.6% of Russians’ net salary (€4,497 per year, €375 per month).  …

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Report: Russia ranks 42nd for ‘digital qualify of life’

VPN provider Surfshark has issued a research on the “digital quality of life” (DQL) across 85 countries of the world.  Revealing the factors that “have the greatest impact on digital well-being,” the study says which areas should be “prioritized to improve the potential” of a country.  The countries covered account for 6.3 billion people, or 81% of the …

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How a highly connected military figure became Russia’s point man for disconnecting the Internet

In November 2019, Russia’s so-called “Internet sovereignty law” took effect, requiring all local telecom operators to install special equipment designed to “withstand foreign threats” and block anything added by Roskomnadzor (the federal censor) to the government’s registry of banned online content. The new regulations are still unenforceable in practice, but officials are already testing the …

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How Russia could build its own, autonomous Internet

On December 14 Russian lawmakers Lyudmila Bokova, Andrey Klishas and Andrey Lugovoy submitted to the State Duma draft amendments to the existing legislation to ensure a “secure and stable functioning” of the Internet network. Should these amendments be adopted, the country would use its own domain name system and Internet traffic routing, where only Russian websites would work. …

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Russian economy could lose $1 billion this year because of the Telegram ban

The collateral damage to the Russian economy caused by the Russian authorities’ efforts to block Telegram will reach $1 billion within a few months, according to software company Flexbby, cited by business daily Kommersant and online publication Meduza. The damage is essentially due to the fact that, by blocking of millions of IP addresses, the crackdown on Telegram has affected …

Russian economy could lose $1 billion this year because of the Telegram ban Read More

Russia plans to introduce new restrictions on foreign ownership of Internet and telecom operators

The Russian Communications Ministry has inspired draft amendments to the telecom legislation, aiming to limit foreign ownership over Internet exchange points to 20%. According to these amendments, domestic ISPs would not be allowed to connect to exchange points that belong to other states, foreign companies or organizations, as well as foreign citizens or Russian nationals with dual citizenship. …

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American VPN provider leaves Russia after server seizure and adoption of anti-privacy legislation

Private Internet Access (PIA), a US-based VPN provider whose users may anonymously visit webpages and bypass site blockings, has announced that has discontinued its Russian gateways and will no longer be doing business in the region. PIA seems to be the first international player to stop activities in the country after the adoption of Russia’s latest “anti-terrorist” legislation. Under this …

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