Last month Walled Culture wrote about an important case at the Court of Justice of the European Union, (CJEU), the EU’s top court, that could determine how VPNs can be used in that region…
Although I don’t think their methods would work here, or rather, I don’t think they could grab the kind of power necessary.
Russia now has regional internet blackouts, were they effectively only allow a small number of white listed sites to be accessible.
So if you you literally cannot reach the VPN servers because only a handful of Russian government websites, preferred businesses, and UK banks (oligarchs gotta oligarch) are whitelisted, well then you banned VPNs, again, sort of.
They did roll out a government approved VPN for specific approved individuals and use cases, to a get around those blackouts…so that’s something.
Whitelists are the death of the Internet if they are implemented. We already have a massive issue with corporate centralization of the Internet, and if free and open competition isn’t allowed to exist in the first place, then why even have an Internet?
It also helps the government keep ultimate control over their populace, which I’m sure is what they want at the end of the day like any regime throughout history.
Russia has banned them, sort of.
Although I don’t think their methods would work here, or rather, I don’t think they could grab the kind of power necessary.
Russia now has regional internet blackouts, were they effectively only allow a small number of white listed sites to be accessible.
So if you you literally cannot reach the VPN servers because only a handful of Russian government websites, preferred businesses, and UK banks (oligarchs gotta oligarch) are whitelisted, well then you banned VPNs, again, sort of.
They did roll out a government approved VPN for specific approved individuals and use cases, to a get around those blackouts…so that’s something.
Whitelists are the death of the Internet if they are implemented. We already have a massive issue with corporate centralization of the Internet, and if free and open competition isn’t allowed to exist in the first place, then why even have an Internet?
It also helps the government keep ultimate control over their populace, which I’m sure is what they want at the end of the day like any regime throughout history.