The court supported Roskomnadzor in a dispute with VPN provider HideMy.name over unblocking the service

The court rejected the VPN provider HideMy.name (its owner, hidemy.network Ltd, was recognized as a foreign agent) in satisfying its claim against Roskomnadzor. The service demanded that the block be removed from it, which had been imposed without being included in the register of prohibited sites. Access to HideMy.name was limited based on Roskomnadzor’s inspection of access to Alexei Navalny’s Smart Voting sites and online casinos. The agency considered the operation of the service a “threat to the security of the functioning” of the Internet in Russia. The company’s lawyers expect to reach the Supreme Court.

From the case file on the Moscow City Court website shouldthat on December 13, the Tagansky Court of Moscow refused hidemy.network Ltd (VPN service HideMy.name) to satisfy the claim against Roskomnadzor. In October, the plaintiff asked that the blocking of the service using TSPU means be declared illegal (technical means of countering threats – equipment that operators are required to install under the law on the “sovereign RuNet”; see Kommersant of October 4).

Kommersant got acquainted with Roskomnadzor’s written objection to the claim. It follows from it that the center for monitoring and managing the public communications network GRChTs (subordinate to Roskomnadzor) checked the availability of the Smart Voting website of Alexei Navalny, an online casino and an electronic library of books using the VPN service HideMy.name. Having gained access to the resources, the agency classified the service as a “threat of countering the restriction of access to information, access to which is subject to restriction in accordance with the law,” and then applied blocking using TSPU. Separately, the document states that countering website blocking is a “threat to the security of the functioning” of the Internet in the Russian Federation. Roskomnadzor declined to comment.

In 2017, access to the service’s website was already blocked due to an input line placed on it, which made it possible to visit Internet resources through an anonymizer. After the service removed this line, it was unblocked, but a year later it was again added to the register of prohibited information by decision of the Yoshkar-Ola district court. The reason was allegedly extremist materials, according to the court, posted on the service’s website. HideMy.name managed to challenge the blocking, and it was lifted in June 2019. In November 2023, the Ministry of Justice appropriated hidemy.network Ltd. foreign agent status. The reason was “the dissemination of false information about the policies of the Russian authorities.”

“There is no explanation why the GRChTs monitoring center checked the operation of the service using Navalny’s websites and online casinos. This is a matter of taste of the center, which carried out the inspection and drew up a report for official use,” says Ekaterina Abashina, a lawyer for the Moscow CCA “DBA and Partners,” who represents the company’s interests in court. “The wording about a security threat follows from the Law “On Communications” and by-laws. The wording is quite vague and allows the government agency to interpret it broadly and unpredictably. It turns out that Roskomnadzor believes that one client VPN application can somehow break the Internet in Russia.”

The expert commission (which includes representatives of Roskomnadzor, the Ministry of Digital Development and the FSB), which made the decision to use TSPU, incorrectly classified the resource itself, says lawyer Sarkis Darbinyan, who also represents the interests of hidemy.network Ltd in court: “We cannot consider this decision legal . We are already preparing a complaint and will bring the case to the Supreme Court.”

“Unfortunately, the law on Internet sustainability, adopted for good causes, is used at the personal discretion of the final authorities and in those areas where its use was not intended. VPN as an application on end user devices cannot interfere with the stability of the RuNet, but these standards apply to it, the director of hidemy.network Ltd told Kommersant. Markus Saar. “We continue to work for clients from all over the world, regardless of their location.”

Lawyers note the importance of HideMy.name’s legal history. “For future cases, the decision will be a precedent,” says Efim Kazantsev, a teacher at the Moscow Digital School educational platform. According to the head of the IAC OA “Information for All,” Evgeniy Altovsky, so far, in fact, “the court has declared that Roskomnadzor can do anything.”

Alexey Zhabin