In March the Russian authorities turned their attentions to online social networks — and the Kremlin proved adept at getting major international companies to comply with its directives: on 15 March Twitter blocked an account that promoted drugs and on 29 March Facebook took down a page called “Suicide School” rather than see its entire network blacklisted.

On 25 March, reports surfaced that the ministry of Communications and Mass Media planned to transfer maintenance of the Registry of Banned Sites from communications regulator Roskomnadzor to a third party selected by Roskomnadzor. The ministry proposed changes to the registry; to maintain website owners’ information on the register but deny sites owners — as well as hosting and Internet providers — access to the entire registry. Internet service providers will also be obliged to restore access to sites that have been removed from the register within 24 hours.

Education and schools

ISPs win small victory on child protection

Reports from 1 March stated that Vladimir Putin agreed a change to the Russian administrative code exempting internet service providers from responsibility for preventing availability to children of harmful materials from publicly accessible internet services. Responsibility now rests with all “persons who provide access to information distributed via telecommunication networks in places accessible to children” rather than ISPs.

Saratov demands better filtering

On 13 March the Saratov regional prosecutor reported that the Bazarno-Karabulaksky district prosecutor had discovered that pornographic websites were accessible from computers in the village school of Alekseevka. Similar violations were discovered in schools of Maksimovka, Vyazovka and Sukhoi Karabulak. The schools were told to upgrade their content filtering.

Tyva schools ordered to improve content filtering

On 27 March it was reported that the Tandinsky district court in the Tyva Republic had accepted a district prosecutor’s demand that Kochetovo village school enhance its content filtering. An inspection had found that students could access websites providing instructions on manufacturing smoking blends and explosives, as well as publications included on the Federal List of Extremist Materials.

Neryungri prosecutor demands filtering

It was reported on 27 March that the Neryungri prosecutor had discovered that computers in several schools and a college allowed access to undesirable websites. Educational managers were fined for their negligence and content filters are currently being installed.

Pskov clamps down on porn

On 29 March it was reported that the Dnovsky district prosecutor in Pskov had discovered that students in a secondary school in the town of Dno were able to freely access pornographic websites and sites promoting the use of illegal drugs. The school was told to stop allowing such access.

Bashkortostan targets cannabis site

The Meleuzovsky prosecutor in Bashkortostan discovered that banned websites were accessible in several Meleuz educational institutions. Students in one school could access a website containing information on manufacturing hashish. The prosecutor demanded that the schools restrict access.

Extremism

Extremism “discovered in burger bar”

On 28 February an inspection by the counter-propaganda department of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic ministry of the interior’s anti-extremism unit found an extremist website on the Federal List of Extremist Materials, made publicly accessible from a computer in the Momento Burger internet cafe in Cherkessk. The case is now being considered by the local prosecutor.

Syktyvkar assault on ‘extremist materials’

It was reported on 15 March that the Syktyvkar city court had accepted its prosecutor’s writ demanding that access to 20 sites be restricted by the ISP ParmaTel for featuring extremist materials.

Vologda blocks Islamist website

On 18 March it was reported that the Sokolsky prosecutor had issued a request to an ISP to block access to radical Islamist websites including an article included on the Federal List of Extremist Materials.

Samara clamps down

On 19 March the Kirovsky district court of Samara granted the prosecutor’s office claim against an Internet provider for providing access to a website that contained the book The Gardens of the Righteous by Imam Abu Zakaria Mohiuddin Yahya. The book is included on the Federal List of Extremist Materials.

Moscow prosecutor restricts access

On 19 March it was reported that Gagarinsky prosecutor in in Moscow had filed a writ with Gagarinsky district court against the ISP Niko-2001, demanding restrictions on access to five websites containing publications on the Federal List of Extremist Materials. The ISP complied and the case was dropped.

Nazis suppressed in Lipetsk

Reports from 19 March stated that the Sovetsky district prosecutor in Lipetsk had successfully demanded that the White Resistance (Beloie Soprotivleniie) website be recognised as extremist because it contained Aryan supremacy propaganda, including Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf.

Ulyanovsk goes for Islamists

On 21 March the Ulyanovsk regional prosecutor stated that the Inzensky district prosecutor had found a number of publicly accessible websites containing extremist materials, including the Letter of the Autonomous Mujahideen Group of Vilayata KBK IK, which is on the Federal List of Extremist Materials. The district prosecutor has served a writ against the local branch of the ISP Rostelekom demanding that access be blocked.

Saratov upholds ban

On 22 March it was reported that the civil law panel of the Saratov regionial court had upheld a lower court’s decision to order the ISPs COMSTAR-Regions and Altura to restrict access to websites containing extremist materials.

Saratov prosecutor sues against hatred

On 27 March the Saratov regional prosecutor was reported to have filed eight writs against the ISP COMSTAR-Regiony and the regional branch of the ISP Rostelekom, demanding restrictions on access to websites containing references to extremist activity and materials aimed at inciting hatred or enmity.

Poem targeted in Tambov

On 27 March it was reported that the Michurinsk city prosecutor in Tambov had demanded that the ISP Telesputnik restrict access to a web page containing a poem included on the Federal List of Extremist Materials. The poem was declared extremist by a city court in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in 2007.

Chelyabinsk restricts nationalist site

On 28 March the Chelyabinsk regional prosecutor announced that the Leninsky district prosecutor in Magnitogorsk had filed seven writs demanding that ISPs restrict access to a right-wing website publishing extremist materials — among them the the article Open Questions of Russian Nationalism.

Sverdlovsk targets Islamists

On 28 March the Sverdlovsk regional prosecutor announced that the Kamensk-Uralsky prosecutor had filed several writs against the ISPs Kamensk-Telekom and Konveks-Kamensk and the regional branch of Rostelekom demanding restrictions on access to websites containing materials on the Federal List of Extremist Materials including the tract Adhering to the Sunnah of the Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah be Upon Him).

Bryansk ISP gets court order

On 28 March it was announced that the Bryansk regional court had granted the request of the Volodarsky district prosecutor to restrict access to websites containing extremist materials. The Sovetsky district court last year rejected the request but was overturned on appeal.

Ivanovo prosecutor wants explosives ban

On 28 March the Ivanovo regional prosecutor reported that the Teikovsky prosecutor had identified publicly accessible websites that contain information about manufacturing explosives. Writs demanding restriction of access to the websites were subsequently issued.

Kirov kills fascist website

On 28 March the Kirov regional prosecutor reported that a publicly accessible website offering items with fascist symbols for sale was identified during an audit. The Kirov city prosecutor demanded that the ISP MTC block access and the court complied.

Gambling and online casinos

‘No more gambling’ in Chapayevsk

On 6 March the Samara regional prosecutor declared that the Lenin district court of Samara had accepted 19 complaints by the Chapayevsk town prosecutor about inadequate restrictions on access to gambling websites.

Ulyanovsk restricts pyramid schemes

On 14 March it was reported that the Novomalyklinsky district prosecutor’s office of the Ulyanovsk region had issued writs against the local branch of the ISP Rostelekom demanding restrictions on access to websites run by the pyramid-scheme impresario Sergey Mavrodi.

Kurgan stops the betting

On 15 March it was reported that the Dalmatovsky district prosecutor had identified 25 gambling websites. The prosecutor demanded that the ISP Rus block the sites, and it agreed.

Online gambling halted in Penza

On 15 March the Penza regional prosecutor reported that the Lenin district prosecutor had identified 13 online casino websites. The prosecutor filed a writ against the ISP Rostelekom demanding that access be restricted, which was granted.

Orenburg rules out casinos

On 15 March it was reported that the Novotroitsk town court in the Orenburg region had agreed to a  prosecutor’s demands for restrictions on access to online casino sites. The ISP Ass-Com blocked more than 20 websites voluntarily.

Omsk bars access to gambling

On 20 March the Leninsky district prosecutor’s office in Omsk sued the ISP Sakhalin in the Leninsky district court, demanding restrictions on access to pyramid-scheme websites.

Pskov stops the gamblers

On 21 March it was reported that the Pskov regional prosecutor had found 85 websites with gambling-related information and demanded access restrictions for the sites. After a long legal wrangle, the local branch of the ISP Rostelecom was ordered to restrict access.

Khanty-Mansiysk closes online bookies

On 22 March the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous district prosecutor’s office reported that the Nyagan Town prosecutor had identified several gambling websites. Based on the results of the inspection, the prosecutor filed a lawsuit against the local Rostelekom branch demanding that access to the websites be restricted. The Khanty-Mansiysk district court has granted the petition in full.

Perm blocks gambling access

On 26 March the Perm regional prosecutor reported that pyramid-scheme websites had been found in the public domain in Chernushinsky district. The district prosecutor issued a writ demanding that the local ISP restrict access to these sites, which was accepted by the district court.

Khanty-Mansiysk clamps down

On 26 March it was reported that the appeal court in the Khanty-Mansiysk autonomous district had accepted demands from local prosecutors that pyramid-scheme websites be blocked.

Social networks

Twitter closes account and deleted Tweets

On 15 March it became known that in the two preceding weeks Twitter had blocked access to five tweets and closed one user account upon request from Roskomnadzor because its owner advertised the sales of illegal drugs. Three Tweets were blocked for promoting suicide and two more for assisting in drug distribution. The deleted user’s account had advertised a drug distribution network, and was reported to Roskomnadzor by Twitter after its removal.

ISP blocks social networks in Ryazan and Orel

On 28 March it was reported that the ISP Rostelekom had blocked the Odnoklassniki and VKontakte social networks in the Ryazan and Orel regions and had blocked access to YouTube in Orel and Livejournal in Ryazan. The websites were included on the Registry of Banned Sites, but the block was later lifted.

Roskomnadzor warns Facebook

On 28 March it was reported that the federal communications agency Roskomnadzor notified Facebook that it would be blocked unless it removed a page called “Suicide school”, containing (mostly humurous) information about suicide. The page was added to Russia’s internet blacklist and was taken down by the social networking site.

Drugs and pornography

Samara blocks drug-dealing sites

On 12 March it was reported that the Novokuibyshevsk city court in Samara region had demanded that local ISPs MIRS, Next Tell-Samara, Progress IT and TesComVolga restrict access to 25 websites that offered narcotics and psychedelic substances for sale. The websites were identified during an audit conducted by the FSB Department of Samara Region.

Sverdlovsk prosecutor demands drugs action

Reports from 12 March stated that the Sverdlovsk regional prosecutor had filed eight writs against the local branch of the ISP Rostelekom,  demanding restrictions on access to the websites containing material encouraging the use of illegal drugs.

Vladimir restricts access to porn and drugs

On 18 March the Vladimir regional prosecutor declared that the Kolchuginsky interdistrict prosecutor had  found websites containing pornographic materials, information about drug manufacturing and articles about suicide methods, made publicly accessible from a computer installed in the Kolchugino town post office. The prosecutor issued a writ against against a local branch of the ISP Rostelekom demanding that access be restricted, to which the ISP agreed.

Samara prosecutor demands porn block

On 19 March it was reported that the Novokuibyshevsk city prosecutor had filed six writs to block websites featuring child pornography. The lawsuits are pending.

Khabarovsk court upholds ISP porn decision

On 21 March it was reported that the Khabarovsk regional court had upheld the decision of the Centralny district court in October 2012 against the local branch of the ISP Rostelekom, restricting access to two websites with pornographic content.

And the rest…

Website blocked for suicide book

On 27 March it was reported that a book by Perm psychotherapist Yuri Vagin, Aesthetics of Suicide (Estetika samoubiystva) had been categorised as extremist. The federal communications agency Roskomnadzor included the website of the Perm psychoanalytic society, which published the book, on the Registry of Banned Sites.

Orthodox parish registered as dangerous

On 27 March it was reported that Roskomnadzor had included the website of Svyato-Vvedensky parish of Rostov on the Register of Banned Sites. As of 30 March, a message “The requested page could not be found” could be seen when attempting to access the site.

Websites warned over Pussy Riot

On 5 March Roskomnadzor reported that it had issued warnings in late February 2013 to the editorial boards of Argumenty i Fakty newspaper and the Polit.ru online news service for republishing a video clip by the Pussy Riot punk collective. The video had been previously been defined by a court as extremist.

Popular writers blog added to banned list

On 19 March Roskomnadzor added to the Register of Banned Sites a page from the online blog of popular writer Leonid Kaganov that featured the lyrics to a satirical song from a 1990s TV show — supposedly for encouraging suicide. A blog post in which Kaganov commented on this ban was then added to the register — and then so was his entire blog, even though, on the request of Roskomnadzor, Kaganov removed the contentious lyrics from his blog.

Sakhalin ISP told to stop giving bribery tips

On 26 March the Sakhalin regional court reversed a previous Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk city court decision not to ban the ISP Rostelekom from allowing access to a website containing information about giving bribes. The ISP must now restrict access to the site.

Andrei Soldatov is a Russian journalist, and together with Irina Borogan, co-founder of the Agentura.Ru website. Last year, Soldatov and Borogan co-authored The New Nobility: The Restoration of Russia’s Security State and the Enduring Legacy of the KGB (PublicAffairs)

The post What Russia censored in March appeared first on Index on Censorship.

Many commentators believe that by then the bill will include amendments extending the list of conditions for blocking websites to include those containing information about homosexuality, which could be blocked without a court order. Current laws on protection of children could be similarly amended.

Duma deputy Elena Mizulina stated: “No adult has the right to impose their sexual preferences on a person under 18 years of age. Propaganda for homosexuality should be considered information inappropriate for children.” The League for Internet Safety, which is backed by the Kremlin and was behind the introduction of the register of banned websites in Russia, supports the initiative.

Schools, students, libraries and a post office

Tuva prosecutor demands school filters
On 22 February it was reported by the Ulug-Khem district prosecutor’s office of the Tuva republic that computers in a school that had been discovered in an inspection last October to allow unfettered access to extremist websites were still lacking filtering software. The computers, in a school in the town of Shagonar, allowed access to Islamist, anti-Semitic and fascist videos and books. The prosecutor demanded that the republic’s minister of education penalise the school’s principal and ensure that the school end the violations.

Stavropol attack on “harmful” advertising
On 26 February it was reported that a prosecutor’s audit of the Stavropol region in January had found that internet service providers were placing ads for pornographic materials and films featuring scenes of cruelty on school websites hosted on portals narod.ru and ukoz.ru. On 9 January, the prosecutor’s office told the head of the Stavropol city education office to cease violating legislation on the rights of minors. Ten school principals now face disciplinary action.

Restrictions on student access in Vologda
On 28 February it was reported that the Vologda city prosecutor had found websites containing extremist and pornographic materials and alcohol advertising to be accessible from computers in five schools. The prosecutor told the schools to block students’ access.

Rural school told: block “damaging” information
On 18 February it was reported that the Kalininskii district prosecutor in the Saratov region had found that computers in the Simonovka village secondary school provided access to websites “that could damage the health and moral and spiritual development of children”. The prosecutor told the school administration to cease the violations.

Library must restrict access to explosives sites
On 18 February it was reported that the Khanty-Mansiysk autonomous district prosecutor had found that Beloyarsk library computers provided access to websites with information on manufacturing explosives. The library was told to cease the violations and to bring charges against those responsible.

Surgut prosecutor hits at school porn
On 22 February it was reported that the Surgut district prosecutor had found that computers in the Lyaminsk high school allowed access to pornographic material. The prosecutor demanded that the school install content-filtering software to restrict students’ access to harmful websites.

Amur school instructed to block violence
On 11 February it was reported that the Bureya district prosecutor of the Amur region had found that computers in Rodionovo secondary school allowed access to sites promoting violence and brutality, drugs, pornography and anti-social behaviour. The school principal was ordered to cease the violations and bring disciplinary action against those responsible.

Kostroma post office fined
On 13 February the Kostroma region prosecutor reported that an inspection by the Mezhevsky district prosecutor had revealed that a computer in the Georgievskoe village post office allowed access to extremist materials and information on the manufacturing and use of tobacco and illegal drugs. After a court case, the post office was fined 20,000 rubles (£425).

Bashkortostan court orders school filters
On 13 February it was announced that Dyurtyuli interdistrict prosecutor in Bashkortostan had found that computers in schools provided access to websites with information on narcotics. The prosecutor demanded that the schools install filtering software and limit access to these sites, demands that were backed by a court.

School head sued on access to extremism
On 6 February it was reported that the Umetskii district prosecutor in the Tambov region had found a computer in a local high school that allowed access to extremist materials. The principal of the school was ordered to cease allowing access, and the prosecutor recommended disciplinary charges against the responsible parties.

“Students need protection” in Kineshima
On 6 February the Ivanovo regional prosecutor reported that the Kineshma prosecutor had found that computers in the city’s schools provided access to extremist materials. The schools were ordered to cease violations of anti-extremism legislation.

Salekhard school must install internet filters
On 6 February it was reported that the Salekhard city prosecutor had found that students of a secondary school were inadequately protected from harmful information: computers at the school could be used to access pornographic material, information about manufacturing explosives, and texts with foul language. The principal was ordered to install working internet filters.

Prosecutor demands protection from poetry
On 8 February it was reported that Omsukchan district prosecutor in Magadan had established that filtering software in the Omsukchan village high school was failing to prevent access to extremist materials, including Vladimir Shcherbina’s poem “Progonite zhida” (Chase Away the Jew). The school was ordered to restrict access to the extremist websites.

Extremism

Altai court orders block on 29 websites
On 25 February the Gorno-Altaisk city court upheld the demand of the Altai Republic prosecutor that the regional branch of the ISP Mobil’nye TeleSystemy limit access to 29 websites. The materials include songs on the Federal List of Extremist Materials published on 12 websites, and a book also on the list published on 17 sites. The court ordered the ISP to limit access to these materials. The decision has not yet entered into force.

Saratov prosecutor demands restrictions
On 26 February it was reported that the Leninskii district prosecutor in Saratov had identified several sites “containing public calls for extremist activities, terrorism, incitement of hatred or enmity, as well as humiliation of human dignity”. The prosecutor has ordered the regional branch of the ISP MTS to restrict access to these sites by installing IP-address filtering on its routers.

Extremist sites blocked in Smolensk
On 27 February it was reported that two websites containing extremist material had been blocked in response to a demand from the Roslavl prosecutor in the Smolensk region.

Yekaterinburg authorities block sites
On 27 February the Sverdlovsk regional appeal court considered the regional prosecutor’s appeal against the decision of the Upper Iset Yekaterinburg district court to dismiss the request of Zheleznodorozhnyi district prosecutor in Ekaterinburg to block access to four extremist websites. The appeal court overturned the original decision and ordered the ISP Telnet Service to restrict access to websites on the Federal List of Extremist Materials.

Omsk oppositionist added to register
On 27 February it was reported the administration of LiveJournal.com had blocked the account of Mikhail Yakovlev, the Omsk opposition leader. The author was notified that his page had been added to the Register of Banned Sites. According to Yakovlev, the ban could be related either to his criticism of the Sverdlovsk governor Yevgeniy Kuyvashev or to his liberal position on soft drugs.

Altai demands restrictions
On 18 February the Altai regional prosecutor announced that the Zarinsk prosecutor had identified several websites containing extremist materials and demanded that two ISPs use IP-address filtering to block them.

Kirov action against ISPs
On 18 February the Kirov district prosecutor in Samara filed 10 legal suits against ISPs demanding blocks on websites that contain extremist materials. The suits are currently being considered.

Extremist website accessed from college
On 20 February it was reported that the counterpropaganda officers of the Centre for Extremism Prevention of the Karachay-Cherkessia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs had discovered that computers at the Karachay-Cherkessia College of International Tourism and Hospitality Management in the village of Uchkeken, provided unfettered access to a website included on the Federal List of Extremist Materials. The audit results have been forwarded to the prosecutor’s office.

ISP blocks sites in Smolensk
On 11 February it was reported that in the city of Gagarin in the Smolensk region the ISP Orbit Plus partially blocked access to several sites that published Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and other pro-Nazi texts. Last November the regional prosecutor demanded that the ISP cease violating the Law on Combating Extremist Activity.

Videos barred in Altai
On 13 February the Gorno-Altaisk city court considered a suit filed in January by the Altai republic’s prosecutor against the ISP Rostelecom demanding restrictions on access to extremist videos published via the online social network VKontakte. In the course of the trial it was established that access to the videos had been restricted prior to the start of the trial. The case was subsequently dismissed.

Islamist videos banned in Kursk
On 13 February it was reported that the Zheleznodorozhnyi district prosecutor in Kursk had found extremist materials accessible online including anti-Russian Islamist video clips and other materials aimed at undermining the constitution and justifying murders of law enforcement officers. The ISPs Aksinet and Comstar-Regiony were told to restrict access to the relevant sites and complied with the demand.

Audit of websites in Karachay-Cherkessia
On 5 February the Centre for Extremism Prevention and the FSB of the Karachay-Cherkessia republic identified a publicly accessible website containing extremist material. The audit results have been forwarded to the republic’s prosecutor.

ISP warned in Krasnodar
On 7 February the Krasnodar regional prosecutor reported that the Temryukskii district prosecutor had identified a publicly accessible website, Vilayat Dagestan – maintained by Imarat Kavkaz (“Caucasus Emirate”) organisation – publishing extremist materials. The director of the regional branch of the ISP MTS was warned about about the impermissibility of extremist activity.

Gambling and online casinos

Khanty-Mansiysk court blocks gambling
On 25 February it was reported that the Urai prosecutor in Khanty-Mansiysk autonomous district had been granted court backing to ensure that the ISP Rostelecom block access to gambling websites.

Tula prosecutor goes for pyramid scheme

On 26 February the Sovetskii district prosecutor in Tula sued the ISPs Altair Tula, MTS, RadioPeydzh-T, Tulskii Gosudarstvennyi Universitet and ER-Telecom Holding, demanding that they restrict access to sites of the MMM pyramid scheme.

Ufa prosecutor demands restrictions
On 25 February it was announced that the Sovetskii district prosecutor in Ufa had sued the ISP Ufanet demanding that it block access to 26 gambling websites.

Gambling targeted in Surgut
On 27 February the Khanty-Mansiysk autonomous district prosecutor reported that the Surgut city prosecutor had identified several illegal gambling websites. The prosecutor demanded that six ISPs restrict access.

Tula casino access barred
On 27 February it was reported that the Tsentralnyi district prosecutor in Tula had filed 33 writs against ISPs demanding restrictions on access to online casinos. The Tsentralnyi district court ordered the ISPs to comply.

Pyramid-scheme sites banned in Yamal-Nenets
On 1 March the Yamal-Nenets autonomous district prosecutor reported that the Gubkinskiy city prosecutor had identified pyramid-scheme advertising on 18 websites and that Gubkinskiy city court had accepted the prosecutor’s demand that the ISP Pursatkom restrict access to the sites.

Chita court order ISP to block pyramid schemes
On 19 February it was reported that the central district court of Chita had granted a prosecutor’s request to order the local branch of the ISP Rostelecom to restrict access to the sites of Sergei Mavrodi, the creator of pyramid schemes. The decision has not yet entered into force.

Samara bars gambling ads
On 19 February it was reported that the Neftegorsk interdistrict prosecutor in the Samara region had identified 10 sites that provided information about a pyramid scheme. The Leninskii district court of Samara accepted the prosecutor’s demand that the ISP Rostelecom limit access to these sites. The court’s decisions have not yet entered into force.

Casino sites blocked in Kaliningrad
On 20 February it was announced that the Moscovskii district prosecutor in Kaliningrad had identified two gambling websites. The ISP TIS-Dialogue agreed voluntarily to its demand that it limit access to these sites.

Computer club told to clamp down
On 21 February it was reported that Kurganinskii district prosecutor in Krasnodar had found a pyramid-scheme website to be accessible via a computer club. The prosecutor’s demands that the owner of the club restrict access were accepted by the district court.

Surgut blocks pyramid sites
On 12 February it was reported that the Surgut city prosecutor had successfully moved to restrict access to pyramid-scheme websites.

Online casinos blocked in Samara
On 13 February the Leninskii district court in Samara accepted nine demands from the Chapaevsk prosecutor for restrictions on access to online casinos. The decisions of the court have not yet entered into force.

Tula orders online casino ban
On 15 February it was reported that the Sovetskii district court of Tula had accepted prosecutors’ demands that ISPs Altair Tula, MTS, and ER-Telecom Holding block access to gambling websites.

Casinos blocked in Komi Republic
On 14 February it was reported that the Ukhta city prosecutor had been given court approval for its demand that the ISP GSP restrict access to nine gambling websites.

Drugs

Samara court blocks drug promotion
On 20 February it was announced that the Oktiabrskii district prosecutor in Samara had filed 70 writs demanding restrictions on access to websites promoting illegal drugs. Of these, 43 have been accepted by the local court and the rest are pending. Previously, on 5 February, the Kirov district prosecutor on Samara had successfully demanded restrictions on access to seven sites promoting drugs.

Cannabis sites blocked in Voronezh

On 13 February the Voronezh ISP Votek Mobile was ordered by a district court to limit access to the online cannabis seed distributor Semyanych, kacheli.my1.ru and ganzhaman.tut.by. Votek Mobile closed access to these sites.

And the rest

Move on fake diplomas site
On 8 February the Zhigulevsk city court in Samara backed the city prosecutor’s demand for restrictions on access to a website offering fake diplomas from various educational institutions. The court’s decision has not yet come into force.

Chechnya ban on Islamist TV channel
On 12 February the Leninskii district court of Grozny declared the internet TV channel Imam TV extremist. The site carries Musa Yandyrhanov’s video Napominaniie (Reminder) and talks by other members of illegal armed groups. The court said these materials promoted terrorism, contained incitement to violence against government representatives and incited hatred on religious grounds.

Block on sites giving bribery tips
On 12 February the Bashkortostan republic prosecutor announced that Sharanskii district prosecutor had identified several websites containing tips on giving bribes. The ISP Bashinformsvyaz was made to restrict access to these sites.

User group banned in St Petersburg
On 15 February it was reported that the Centralnyi district prosecutor in St Petersburg had ordered the social network VKontakte to block the user group Childfree. The prosecutor found that the group’s posts contained material violating the rights of minors. The VKontakte administration blocked the user group and deleted all its posts and blocked one user’s account.

ISP sued for posting bribery tips
On 4 February the Nefteyugansk interdistrict prosecutor identified sites containing bribery tips and filed a writ against the ISP Elektrosviazi demanding that it restrict access to these sites.

Orel blocks bribery sites
On 7 February it was reported that the Orel city prosecutor had identified several websites with tips on bribery and had been granted its demand for restrictions on access to the sites.

Post by designer added to banned list
On 5 February the popular designer Artemy Lebedev reported that the ISP Roskomnadzor had added his blog post containing an animated movie, Dumb Ways to Die, to the Register of Banned Sites. Roskomnadzor interpreted the video — a public service announcement by Metro Trains Melbourne in Australia — as promoting suicide.

Andrei Soldatov is a Russian journalist, and together with Irina Borogan, co-founder of the Agentura.Ru website. Last year, Soldatov and Borogan co-authored The New Nobility: The Restoration of Russia’s Security State and the Enduring Legacy of the KGB (PublicAffairs)

The post What Russia censored in February appeared first on Index on Censorship.

Russian parliamentarians have passed legislation that will establish a central register of banned websites. The new laws are ostensibly designed for child protection, but Andrei Soldatov says the real aim is to take control over the country’s burgeoning social networks

READ: INDEX CONDEMNS RUSSIAN INTERNET BLACKLIST PLAN

This article was originally published at OpenDemocracy

On 11 June the Russian State Duma passed amendments to the laws ‘On the protection of children from information deemed harmful to their health and development’, ‘On information’, ‘On communications’ and the Code of Administrative Offences at the second and third readings. The main gist of the draft law is that from 1 November this year Russia will have a single register of sites and web pages to be blocked (“Single Register of domain names, internet page selectors and URLs identifying sites in the internet containing information banned in the Russian Federation”).

For the first time the Kremlin will have at its disposal the facilities for blocking access to internet resources across the whole of Russia.

The principle of internet censorship is, of course, not a new one to the Russian authorities. For some five years now, regional and city prosecutors have been busy implementing regional court decisions that required providers to block access to forbidden sites. Up until now this has been done unsystematically, so that sites blocked in one region remained accessible in others. The Register, which is to be compiled by a special federal organisation, will remove this problem.

It seems that the new system will be modelled on the one that is currently used to block extremist bank accounts. In this process, the Office of the Prosecutor General, the Ministry of Justice, the Investigative Committee and the Ministry of the Interior submit data to a central agency (in this case: Rosfinmonitoring, the federal financial monitoring service). The agency compiles and updates a central database of “organisations and physical entities known to be involved in extremist activities or terrorism”. The List is sent to all organisations operating in the areas of finance and property and is available for download via a password-encrypted area of the Rosfinmonitoring site. People in charge of internal monitoring in banks are in their turn obliged to check that a given client is not on the black list. If he is, the bank has 24 hours to submit data about him and his company to Rosfinmonitoring, who are then able to close down his operations.

The same principle will apply for the Register of banned websites: as soon as a website appears in the Register, the service provider will have 24 hours to block access to it.

After the Arab Spring, the Kremlin gave serious thought to developing facilities for averting “enemy activity” on the Russian internet. The problem has been under discussion since the summer of 2011 at various levels: the heads of state of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation members, prosecutors general and the security services. The growth of political activism in Russia and the role of social networking in mobilising protestors has only increased the paranoia. It seemed, however, that the security services were unable to devise an effective strategy to deal with the problem.

In March, Irina Borogan and I wrote that immediately after the Arab Spring the security services started developing a strategy for the blogosphere and social networking sites, but had not managed to come up with anything before the December [anti-government] protests. They were used to dealing with threats of a more traditional nature and were confused when faced with a protest organisation with no centre, but instead worked through the social networking sites. Our sources in the secret services said then that they were powerless to deal with these sites, especially any that were based on servers outside of the country such as Facebook and Twitter (“what can we do if [the pro-Chechen] Kavkazcenter opens a page on Facebook?” was their rhetorical question).

Source: Yandex/Fom

On 27 March of this year, this failure was indirectly recognised by the First Deputy Director of the FSB, Sergei Smirnov. At a meeting of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure within the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, Smirnov referred to the relevance the Arab Spring has in terms of current thinking. He said: “New technologies used by Western special services to create and maintain a level of continual tension in society with serious intentions extending even to regime change (…) Our elections, especially the presidential election and the situation in the preceding period, revealed the potential of the blogosphere.” Smirnov stated that it was essential to develop ways of reacting adequately to the use of such technologies and confessed openly that “this has not yet happened”.

The Register of banned websites is clearly one of the measures devised in the subsequent months.

Once it has been set up, this nationwide system for filtering Internet traffic will always be available, ready for use against anyone deemed dangerous by the authorities.

The Register is ostensibly for the protection of children, but from the very beginning it was clear that this was no more than a pretext. Apart from references to child pornography and paedophilia, the draft law contains a paragraph to the effect that those compiling the Register will also draw on court decisions involving the banning of websites. These decisions currently refer mainly to radical sites or opposition sites accused of extremism. This paragraph is an obvious attempt to impose a system on the hitherto un-coordinated efforts of provincial prosecutors to block banned sites in their own regions. There will now be a special state organisation responsible for ensuring that within 24 hours sites become inaccessible throughout all of Russia.

Filtering on a nationwide basis will be supported organisationally by ministries; there will also be technological backup.

The text of the draft law states that the Register will list not only domain names and URLs, but individual page selectors too. To block sites, providers will have to buy expensive DPI (deep packet inspection) equipment, which enables the provider to split the traffic into separate streams, dividing up audio, video, images and spam. With this equipment a provider will be able to block requests for, and from, specific addresses; the provider will also be able to turn off individual services — for example, to completely block internet-telephony such as Skype, which has so far been difficult to monitor.

DPI will address the problem of Facebook, which is a source of such irritation for officers of the Russian security services. Special services in Uzbekistan, for example, compel local providers to use DPI to change the URLs of discussion groups in social networks.

Once it has been set up, this nationwide system for filtering Internet traffic will always be available, ready for use against anyone deemed dangerous by the authorities. Until recently, Russian security officials were always impeded by their technological backwardness.

Up till now the best the St Petersburg division of the FSB could do was to send a fax to Pavel Durov, founder of the social network Vkontakte (“in contact”), requiring him to close down protest groups. This was 20th century technology, but the Register, with its essential DPI component, will put Russian security officials at the vanguard of countries with web censorship. The world’s leading manufacturers of telecommunications equipment are more than happy to provide DPI equipment (including China’s Huawei, the US company CISCO, Canada’s Sandvine or Israel’s Narus, now owned by Boeing), and it is already in operation in Pakistan, China, Iran and the Middle East. According to Infonetics Research data, the world market for DPI products is already worth 470 million USD a year and the projected growth by 2016 is 2 billion USD.

Our State Duma is making sure that the Russian share of this market will be extremely significant.

Andrei Soldatov is a Russian security services expert, and together with Irina Borogan, co-founder of the Agentura.Ru web site. Last year, Soldatov and Borogan co-authored The New Nobility: The Restoration of Russia’s Security State and the Enduring Legacy of the KGB (PublicAffairs). 

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Andrei Soldatov reveals that the Russia’s Federal Security Service, the successor to the KGB, has granted the same office that responds to journalists requests licence to search their homes, wiretap them and place them under surveillance

Order No 343, signed by FSB director Alexander Bortnikov on 15 July 2009 expanded the list of FSB generals allowed “to initiate a petition to conduct a counterintelligence measures that restrict the constitutional rights of citizens” (i.e. the right to privacy of correspondence and communications, as well as the inviolability of the home). These generals have the authority to order wiretapping, surveillance and searching of premises.

The panel was first established on 14 September 2007. Initially it consisted of heads of counter-intelligence sections, the department of economic security, border guards, and the FSB’s leadership. The July order significantly expanded it to include the Directorate for Assistance Programmes (UPS). This division is in charge of dealing with journalists, and the Centre for Public Communications (the press office of the FSB) is part of it.

There are limited grounds for the FSB to carry out counter-intelligence actions. These include the need to gather information about the activities which pose a threat to Russia; to protect information which constitutes a state secret; to monitor people who provide or have provided the FSB with confidential assistance; to ensure the FSB’s own security, the existence of information regarding signs of intelligence and other activity by foreign states’ secret services and by individuals aimed at inflicting damage on Russian security, and the requests of the secret services of other countries.

Russia’s journalists are not obvious “clients” of the list — no bearers of state secrets, they might divulge secrets or names of agents only if they are given access to state secrets by FSB officers or other officials. The FSB has special units to protect every type of secret from the Directorate of Counterintelligence Support, to transportation, to military counterintelligence, and these departments usually initiate prosecutions after publications.

Lawyers and FSB officers I questioned told me its possible the UPS asked for the surveillance licence not to initiate criminal proceedings, but to keep a closer eye on journalists. Previously the UPS chief had to ask the leadership or the counterintelligence department to intercept journalists’ correspondence, as there is a waiting list for such activities in the FS the leadership might have decided that listening in on a real spy was more important. Now the head of UPS is able just to give an order.

The activities of the UPS have gone beyond the borders appropriate for a press office ever since its formation. When the directorate was established in 1999 it embarrassed many FSB case officers, who were not happy that the name of directorate had revealed what was presumably a confidential term. “Assistance programmes” or “assistance operations,” were known as “active measures” during the Cold War, and were intended to change the policy or position of a foreign government in a way that would “assist” the Soviet position. Thus, the FSB Centre for public communications carried out tasks very similar to those of a psyops unit. It was also known that one of the departments of Centre for Public Communications of the FSB was tasked to monitor publications to determine the authorship of articles written under a pseudonym.

Bortnikov’s order has changed the situation for journalists. In the 1990s monitoring publications and even identifying authors was a legitimate function of the FSB press office. But when, in 1999, the FSB had merged public affairs with propaganda it was already far beyond the limits: it clearly undermined the credibility of information disseminated by the FSB. The power to carry out surveillance marks a new step in the manipulation of media.

FSB units are divided into operational and support units. Some, for instance counterintelligence or counter-terrorism consist of operatives who might recruit agents. Support units include the capital construction directorate, the FSB’s medical department, human resources and, as it was long believed, the press office.

However, the right to order surveillance is the hallmark of an operational unit. When I put it to the duty officer at the FSB Centre for Public Communications that UPS is an operational unit he just said that “it is defined by our internal regulatory documents and nobody will tell you.”

Andrei Soldatov is editor of Agentura.ru. He worked for Novaya Gazeta from January 2006 to November 2008. Soldatov’s book with co-author Irina Borogan, The New Nobility, about the Russian secret services, is published later this year by Public Affairs Books.

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There may be more crossovers in the strategies, and fates, of the two titles than people realise.

I joined Novaya Gazeta in January 2006, a few months before Lebedev and Mikhail Gorbachev announced their decision to buy the paper. I was put in charge of covering the Russian secret services and I don’t remember any attempts by my proprietor to change or halt my stories in spite of his KGB past.

Yet I remain to be convinced that he came to our oppositional paper because of any liberal views. From the 1990s Lebedev was surrounded by journalists from the paper Komsomolskaya Pravda. Pavel Vedenyapin, Lebedev’s close associate on the media, came from that stable, as does the current editor of Novaya Gazeta, Dmitry Muratov.

Komsomolskaya Pravda enjoyed the largest circulation of any Soviet daily. It was famous not for its investigations, or for its political positioning, but for launching numerous popular and populist campaigns to mobilise public opinion on populist issues: for instance, a campaign to persuade members of the public, especially in rural areas, to hand in illegal firearms. Campaigns such as these were difficult to organise without the support of the Kremlin.

In the liberal 1990s, Komsomolskaya Pravda turned into sensationalist tabloid, although it maintained close ties with the siloviki (the security services). Sergei Ivanov, who in August 2006 took over the press office of the SVR, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, was for some years the paper’s New York correspondent.

Novaya Gazeta had gained a reputation for being not just the most outspoken oppositional paper, but for its record of high-profile investigations, led by Yuri Shchekochikhin and Anna Politkovskaya. When Lebedev took over, the paper was facing its biggest crisis. Shchekochikhin had been killed, reportedly poisoned, in July 2003, while Politkovskaya had been gunned down by assassins in October 2006. The new owner faced a difficult choice — develop the investigations section, or turn to public campaigns as a time-honoured means of increasing the paper’s influence and popularity.

Lebedev chose more of the latter than former. Novaya Gazeta became involved in numerous public campaigns, partly organised by Lebedev: one was the idea of building a memorial to the victims of the Gulag. This was supported by Russia’s new president, Dmitry Medvedev.

In this light the “Sorry London” campaign carried out by the Evening Standard, with its promises to take a more “positive” approach, looks more understandable.

For all his wealth and public profile, Lebedev has not increased Novaya Gazeta’s editorial resources: it still has the lowest salaries amongst Moscow-based papers, and the new computers in the editorial office appear to be the only real investment. His first attempt to launch his own paper turned out to be disaster. In autumn 2007 he started the tabloid Moskovsky Korrespondent, modelling it in part on Komsomolskaya Pravda. Within months he was forced to suspend the paper and to fire its editor when it reported that President Putin had left his wife to marry a gymnast. It later was forced to apologise. In November 2008, Novaya Gazeta made a number of journalists in its political and investigations sections redundant, including myself.

As Russia was hit by the global financial crisis, Lebedev, like other magnates, was forced to go cap in hand to the state for a bail out. Last week, facing a cash crunch, he put his global financial reputation ahead of the needs of the paper when he paid the salaries of the troubled German budget airline Blue Wings –– leaving the staff of Novaya Gazeta to wait, and worry, unpaid.

Andrei Soldatov is editor of Agentura.Ru website. He worked for Novaya Gazeta from January 2006-November 2008. Soldatov and Irina Borogan are working on a book, The New Nobility, about the Russian secret services for PublicAffairs Books to be published in 2010

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