The details of the strange sentence to the Tomsk computer scientist were revealed: VPN had nothing to do with it

The accused turned out to be a hacker

Law enforcement authorities have denied the information that criminal liability has begun to be brought to justice for the use of secure messengers and VPN services. Such fear in the public circles was caused by the news that in Tomsk a citizen was allegedly convicted for using a regular secure messenger.

As it became known to MK, the reason for the dissemination of such information was a misunderstanding that arose due to the not very clear wording of the charge on which the Tomsk citizen was convicted. The information published on the website of the Oktyabrsky District Court of Tomsk reported that “as a result of the use by citizen K. of a malicious computer program, the means of protecting computer information were neutralized, expressed in the impossibility of unambiguously identifying the user and his network activity.” For this, he was convicted under a criminal article, limiting certain actions.

After this news appeared on one of the popular network resources, it began to spread rapidly. Almost all commentators on the news agreed that “Citizen K.” convicted for using a VPN service. By the way, this is also punishable by law, but responsibility for VPN is not meant to be criminal, but administrative.

Later, a court ruling was made public, in which it was reported that the man actually used the VIPole secure messenger, which is not very popular in Russia, but quite legal. It can be downloaded from many sites, and VIPole for phone or tablet is available from a well-known mobile app store.

However, the press service of the MK prosecutor’s office reported that it was neither a VPN nor a messenger, the court also said that the name of the program was indicated incorrectly in the decision. An end to the question was put in the press service of the FSB in the Tomsk region. The representative of the department stated that in fact K. “carried out hacker activities, but since he cooperated with the investigation, he practically escaped with a slight fright.” The FSB refused to give the name of the program used by the man.

The Tomsk hacker was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison. During this time, he must not leave Tomsk, has no right to change his place of residence without the permission of a specialized government agency, not to attend mass and entertainment events, etc.