Websites and social networks are blocked in Russia. Is it possible to bypass blocking?
During almost a week of war in Ukraine, Russia blocked all remaining independent media and restricted access to specific social media platforms. In most cases, Russians are more likely to search the internet for what a VPN is, in court for the latest news about the war. The BBC tells whether it is possible to read prohibited resources.
Together with the fighting in Ukraine, Roskomnadzor began to slow down traffic on Facebook and resumed the slowdown of Twitter on desktop computers – on the mobile network, downloading pictures and videos on this social network was slowed down a year ago.
Withdrawal of the supervisory authority blocked the websites of independent media – TV channels “Dozhd” and “Present Time” (recognized as foreign agents), the radio station “Echo of Moscow”, the regional publication “Taiga.info”, the youth resources DOXA and The Village. And the “Echo of Moscow” was also disconnected from broadcasting.
Reason for blocking
used to block steel materials for a military compressor in Ukraine, which Roskomnadzor considers “inaccurate”. At the same time, the oversight agency calls even the very word “war” “unreliable” – military operations should be called a “special operation.”
“At the gathering for the consideration of messages published by socially significant unconsidered reports about the shelling of Ukrainian cities and the inhabitants of Ukraine observed in the world as a result of the actions of the Russian Army, and also referred to as materials during which an operation was carried out to attack, or invade, or declare war,” – this is one of the claims of Roskomnadzor to the media.
The matter is not limited to these social networks and resources: State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin promised on the morning of March 3 that all foreign social networks and platforms would be closed “one of these days.”
Under these conditions, the Russians are frantically looking for ways to bypass the blocking: according to the Google Trends service, since February 25, the climate query “vpn is” a popular phrase “Russia’s war with Ukraine.” Among the more targeted visitors are “vpn for iphone” and “vpn for instagram”.
The BBC is responding to these requests.
What is VPN
VPN is an abbreviation for “virtual private network” or “virtual private network”.
The mechanism of the service is simple. In a normal situation, the user loads the site on his device (computer or laptop) immediately by accessing it. If access to the site in Russia is restricted, then the equipment supplied to the operator by Roskomnadzor sees this request and blocks it.
When connected to a VPN connection and downloading through an intermediary in the VPN video server. In such cases, the blocking hardware does not meet with the end sites frequently visited by users, but only with the proxy server.
There are a huge number of VPN service providers, but Roskomnadzor struggles with the special requirements if they do not restrict access to the site at the request of the department. For example, such popular services as ExpressVPN, Nord VPN, Opera VPN, Vypr VPN are officially blocked in Russia. The situation is similar in China, where the use of a large number of VPN services is limited.
However, the executive director of the “Internet Defense Society” Mikhail Klimerev. “If they offer themselves such a goal, then blocking is ineffective,” he says.
In addition, among the widespread, there are little-known suppliers that Roskomnadzor has not yet reached.
How Thor works
Tor is a browser that allows you not only to bypass blocking, but also to remember anonymity on the network. It works according to the “onion routing” recipe. The use of the words “onion” is not accidental: just as an onion has many layers, traffic in Tor goes through several intermediate nodes.
The Tor Browser works on both desktop and mobile devices.
In December 2021, Roskomnadzor began to restrict access to Tor in Russia, but even then it was detained, which is quite difficult. The agency blocked some of the entry nodes (such “nodes”), but users have since opened new entry points, Klimarev says.
According to open statistics from the Tor network, since the blocking began, the number of users has not only not fallen, but, on the contrary, has grown.
How the app helps
Another option is how to continue reading the blocked edition.
If the developers of the application took care, then through it the traffic to the site goes according to a scheme that bypasses the blocking, says Mikhail Klimarev. For example, the mobile applications Meduza and Dozhd (about the publication of recognized international and large foreign agents) are designed for possible blocking, says a BBC interlocutor who helped in this editorial.
Roskomnadzor already has a vote from Google to remove the Rain app. Google and Apple, at the initiative of criminal cases against their employees, have removed the Navalny app with Smart Voting lists from their stores.
However, IT giants are discovering a detection in Russia. Apple Pay has already disabled Russian users from Apple Pay.
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