Will the law on blocking anonymizers be adopted? What can they do for bypassing blocking using VPN, TOR and proxy and why the law did not work against them. What's with Crimea

From May 5, 2019, all exchange services instant messaging who work in Russia must check phone numbers upon registration.

In theory, they should send a request to the carrier. They check whether there is such a number in the database, and only if the answer is positive, you can register and send messages. And if there is no number or the user cannot confirm that this is his phone, registration should be prohibited, and it will not be possible to receive messages.

Government decree of 27.10.2018 No. 1279

This procedure was approved in the fall of last year, but it will come into force only now. It is not clear whether all this will work in practice and how it will affect the use of instant messengers.

Instant messaging services that operate in Russia are required to verify the user's phone number with the database of telecom operators. If there is no number or the user cannot confirm that this is his phone, they will refuse registration and prohibit communication.

A comment: it's unclear if this will work. It can turn out as with a ban on buying a SIM card without a passport: it seems impossible, but in the transitions they are still distributed. But the verification procedure is approved and can be applied.

About VPN

All proxy and VPN services, as well as the anonymous networks Tor, I2P and Freenet, are potentially subject to the law. Their owners are invited to restrict access to sites included in the register of prohibited sites of Roskomnadzor.

Employees of the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs will be engaged in tracking anonymizers, Tor and VPN services that provide access to sites blocked in Russia.

The document also prohibits search engine operators provide links to resources blocked in Russia. (It is unclear how Yandex should handle this. And Google will be banned too?)

Changes have appeared in the law on the protection of information. They were adopted to restrict access to prohibited sites. The provisions for bypassing blocking will take effect on November 1, 2017.

The order says that only sites that allow access to gambling will be included in the register, and not any VPN service. If I do not break the law, I will not be prohibited from anything?

Very much even banned. There are no criteria to segment the VPN destination. Traffic encryption channels are used for different purposes. Someone to work on the marketplace or to use social networks without breaking anything. And someone connects through a VPN to play in a casino - this is a violation.

The Federal Tax Service may decide to block a site with such services, even if there is just information about options for bypassing blocking of online casinos and lotteries. And even more so if there you can download some kind of program or connect a service to go to a prohibited site.

This means that any site about VPN access is at risk, even if you are not going to violate anything. If it works now, then in a week it may not work.

I need a VPN for work, not play. What can you do to avoid getting blocked?

Nobody knows which specific sites are threatened with blocking in the near future. If you literally understand the wording of the order, then even information sites can be included in the register.

If you use a VPN to work or protect you from hackers and don't gamble on the internet, look for different legal options to access anonymizers just in case. Or consider how to work without a VPN.

Do not hope that it will carry you through, as with the "Telegram". This order was signed by the heads of four departments, and now they will be obliged to execute it.

I am a regular user. Sometimes I use a VPN, but I don't visit prohibited sites. Does something threaten me?

Nothing threatens you. You can use anonymizers for work, dating sites or computer games and visit any sites that are in the public domain.

If a VPN service you are used to suddenly stops working, it means that it did not want to comply with the law and helped bypass the blockages. You will find another - there are many of them.

If it suddenly turns out that the site is blocked by the decision of Roskomnadzor or the work has stopped due to the fact that the messenger or VPN does not work, you can lose money or even your entire business.

A lot of noise in the network was raised by the Federal Law of 27.06.2018 No. 155-FZ "On Amendments to the Code Russian Federation on administrative offenses ", which introduced a penalty in the form of a fine for anonymizers and VPN. Many myths and misconceptions have already appeared around these amendments to the Administrative Code. In this publication, we will tell you whether there is a penalty for a VPN in Russia for Internet users, and whether there is any punishment for anonymizers on the Runet.

What are anonymizers? There are several types of anonymizers. network technologies and software, for example: proxy servers, VPN (Virtual Private Network - virtual private network), Tor (The Onion Router - a proxy server system that allows you to install anonymous network connection protected from eavesdropping) and any other services that allow you to bypass the blocking of access to one or another online content.

Recall that in the summer of 2017, the Federal Law of July 29, 2017 N 276-FZ "On Amendments to the Federal Law" On Information, information technology and on the protection of information ”, which prohibited the owners of anonymizers and VPN services from providing an opportunity to use them in Russia to gain access to blocked sites (sections or certain pages of sites). This "Law on the prohibition of anonymizers" came into force on November 1, 2017 and obliges the owners of anonymizers (including the owners of VPN / proxy services) to block access of Russian users to resources that are blacklisted by Roskomnadzor. The same law instructs search engines (Yandex, Poisk.Mayl.ru, Sputnik, Google, etc.) to stop displaying links to prohibited sites in their search results.

What fines are introduced by the new amendments to the Administrative Code?

Since the fall of 2018, the Federal Law of 27.06.2018 No. 155-FZ "On Amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation" came into force, according to which fines were introduced into the Administrative Offenses Code of the Russian Federation

1. search engine penalties(citizens and legal entities) for displaying in the search results at the request of users of links to prohibited information resources (sites or individual pages of sites) - Article 13.40 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation;
2. penalties for hosting companies(citizens and legal entities) for hiding proxy servers running on the capacities of these hosters - article 19.7 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation.

According to Federal Law No. 155-FZ of June 27, 2018 maximum fine for violation of the "law prohibiting anonymizers" will be 5,000 rubles for citizens, 50,000 rubles for officials, but legal entities can be fined up to 700,000 rubles.

Will regular users be fined for VPNs?

Let's see if new fines for the use of anonymizers (VPN, Tor, proxy, etc.) threaten ordinary users in Russia? What happens if an ordinary citizen (Vkontakte, Odnoklassniki, Facebook or Twitter) links to VPN or any other anonymizers and proxy services?

No, ordinary users do not face fines for using anonymizers! You will not be fined for VPN, Tor, or other proxies!

The punishment in the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation is provided only for those who directly own VPN-services, who provide their support and ensure the functioning of these anonymizers. Penalties, as we already wrote above, can also be applied to search engines, if they, in turn, do not stop displaying links to sites that provide anonymous access to information resources on the Roskomnadzor blacklist, bypassing the blocking.

The user will not be fined for the fact that he posted links to a proxy server or VPN on pages in social networks to view prohibited sites. Although in the past there have been initiatives to punish Internet users or proxy servers / anonymizers, such ideas have not found support from the deputies.

Can anonymizers work in Russia legally?

Yes they can! There is no total ban on anonymizers, and such a service can work in Russia for legal grounds if it meets a number of requirements established by the new Federal law"On information, information technology and information protection."

To function legally, the owners of the anonymizer are required to connect to the federal state information system (FSIS), which is operated by Roskomnadzor. The owners of the anonymizer can connect to the FSIS RKN on their own, or within 30 days after receiving the order from the RKN. After connecting to the FSIS, the owners of the anonymizer are obliged, within 3 days, to "ensure compliance with the prohibition to provide the opportunity to use on the territory of the Russian Federation" of programs and other technical means to gain access to prohibited sites.

Access to websites prohibited in Russia. However, in fact, VPN services themselves, as well as anonymous Tor network... found out why the state declared war on anonymity and how the law will operate.

What the law says

Owners are obliged by law special programs and applications to close access for Russians to sites prohibited on the territory of the country. The wording of the document is as vague as possible, so that all proxy and VPN services, special browser extensions, as well as anonymous network Tor.

The management of the above services will be given access to the register of prohibited sites, and the implementation of the law will be monitored in and. If law enforcement officers notice that Russians are visiting prohibited resources through a specific application, they will report this to Roskomnadzor. He will demand to eliminate the violation, and in case of disobedience, he will block it.

In addition, the law obliges Internet service providers to contact the management of proxy and VPN services and require them to provide information that "allows them to identify [their] owners." In fact, this means that services will be required to issue registration data, that is, the address of the office and the location of the servers. Search engines will be prohibited from giving out links to prohibited resources.

The law does not apply to government agencies and departments, as well as to private companies if the means to bypass blocking are available only to their employees.

How Russia was preparing for the adoption of the law

For the first time, the development of the bill became known in April. It was argued that the Security Council was interested in it, and Roskomnadzor and the lawyers of the Media Communications Union (MKS) were involved in the development, for whom the document became a chance to strike a new blow on pirated resources and torrent trackers.

Prior to that, Roskomnadzor, according to rumors, tried to negotiate with VPN services on a voluntary restriction of access to prohibited resources. It is known that the department also negotiated with the developers of the Opera browser, whose Turbo mode allows you to automatically bypass blocking thanks to the built-in proxy.

Why VPNs and Tor will be hit

Almost all proxy and VPN services are foreign companies that rarely fulfill the requirements Russian legislation... They are unlikely to voluntarily monitor the register of prohibited Roskomnadzor sites and restrict access to them for Russian clients, and they are not too afraid of the threat of being blocked on the territory of the country.

The situation with Tor is even more complicated: it is led by the Tor Project development team. Most of the project's employees consider themselves to be part of the so-called cypherpunk movement, which means they consciously resist any restrictions on the Internet and openly oppose cooperation with the authorities.

As a result, the management of VPN services and Tor will most likely refuse to restrict access to sites banned in Russia and will be the first to be blocked by Roskomnadzor.

Is it possible to restrict access to Tor and VPN

This has happened with VPNs before. In January, Roskomnadzor blocked the website of the VPN service HideMe by a decision of the Ufa district court, but it continued to work, simply changing the address to Hidemy.name and turning on redirects. Restricting access to the site does not directly affect the operation of the VPN service, but complicates access to the payment page and downloading the program itself.

Roskomnadzor may also achieve the removal of VPN services from the AppStore, which will hit iPhone and iPad owners - unlike those with Android smartphones, they cannot download third-party installation files.

You can block technical domains and server addresses of VPN services, causing connection interruptions. Roskomnadzor already has experience in restricting access to the infrastructure of the RuTracker torrent tracker: the agency hit the bt servers that were responsible for distributing files, thereby partially blocking the ability to download them.

In addition, Internet service providers may be required to install special DPI equipment (Deep Packet Inspection) that monitors transmitted data packets by their content. These tools are able to distinguish VPN traffic from regular HTTPS traffic and are used to identify and block VPN services in China. However, the purchase and implementation of such equipment costs a lot of money, and the costs of installing it will fall on the operators themselves.

Most likely no. Roskomnadzor is unlikely to be able to force foreign VPN services and the Tor Project to restrict Russians access to prohibited sites and will be forced to block them. However, this is unlikely to cause them significant damage and will not be able to prevent the inhabitants of the country from bypassing the blockages.

The use in Russia of means to bypass blocking to access prohibited sites from November 1 will be prosecuted. What are VPNs and anonymizers and what threatens those who decide to pretend that they haven’t heard about the new law, we will tell you in the "Question-Answer" section.

What are anonymizers?

Anonymizers are special sites (proxy servers) that act as an intermediary between you and the resource you wish to visit. But at the same time, your real IP address on the site will not be able to track, since you will look at them on behalf of the IP address of the web proxy. The anonymizer has a narrower scope than VPN, but they are similar in principle of operation.

What is a VPN?

VPN is a virtual private network, in simple words, it is a technology that provides secure communication logical network over private or public with high-speed internet. At the same time, all information transmitted internally is reliably protected by encryption algorithms that form secure tunnels. Unlike a regular network, a VPN connection makes the transmitted information inaccessible from the outside and protects it from illegal use.

So now you can't use VPN services and anonymizers?

Federal Law No. 276 "On Amendments to the Law" On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection "does not prohibit the use of VPN services and anonymizers, the only thing is that they will no longer be able to visit prohibited sites.

To the owners of information and telecommunication networks and information resources, through which access to sites prohibited in Russia is provided, it is prohibited to provide opportunities for their viewing. The display of links to blocked Internet resources by search engines is now also illegal, first of all, the ban applies to resources of pornographic and extremist content.

Thus, in Russia, with the help of the law, they intend to fight the spread of extremist materials and other prohibited information.

Who will track it and how?

Control is entrusted to Roskomnadzor. The committee will create and will maintain a federal state information system (FSIS), which will contain a black list of prohibited resources. At the same time, the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs will be empowered to find services that help to gain access to websites blocked in Russia.

When law enforcement agencies apply, Roskomnadzor will determine the provider that allows the use of anonymizers. He will be notified in in electronic format about the need to provide data that will identify the owner of the anonymizer. The provider will have three days to provide the relevant information, TASS reports.

After that, Roskomnadzor will send the anonymizer a request to connect to the FSIS. The resource will have to join the system in 30 days. Internet search engines operating in Russia will also be required to connect to the FSIS at the request of the department.

After fulfilling the first requirement, anonymizers are given only three days to ensure compliance with the ban on providing the ability to use programs and other technical means in Russia to gain access to prohibited sites, and search engines - to stop issuing links to them. In case of refusal, such services will be blocked.

Can my home internet be blocked if I search for a blocked site?

No. The law, which comes into force on November 1, 2017, does not contain grounds for blocking home internet when searching for prohibited sites.

The provisions of the new law will not apply to operators of state information systems, state bodies and local self-government bodies, as well as for cases of using anonymizers, provided that the circle of their users is predetermined by the owners and their use occurs for "technological purposes of ensuring the activities of the person using it".

The law does not impose additional prohibitions, since it comes about sites that are already blocked in Russia.