This is physically impossible: Russians are worried about rumors of a total blocking of VPN services

The expert compared the measures introduced on March 1 with the effect of antibiotics

From March 1, 2024, a ban on the popularization of services for bypassing blocking will come into force. As Roskomnadzor explained, this is an additional step in the field of protecting personal data and ensuring cybersecurity. The news excited users: are we really expecting a total blocking of VPN services?

Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said that the Russian authorities did not make a decision to completely ban VPN services. “I can only say that now there are no decisions on this matter. This is what we need to proceed from,” the Kremlin representative said.

Peskov’s position is also shared in the State Duma. As the head of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Alexander Khinshtein, noted in his Telegram channel, the ban on the popularization of VPN services, first of all, helps to keep the information of ordinary users secret. “We are not talking about a complete ban yet, but I warned and will continue to warn – by using VPN services, you are actually giving your personal data to third parties,” Khinshtein emphasized.

According to international cybersecurity expert Andrei Masalovich, the ban on the popularization of VPNs can be compared to the effect of antibiotics. “Society will be divided into two parts: for those who have not dealt with services of this kind on a professional basis, access will be difficult. Those for whom VPN is a professional everyday tool, for example, bloggers, will find ways to circumvent the ban. As the head of the Safe Internet League, Ekaterina Mizulina, rightly noted, an advanced user can create a service on a personal computer that did not exist before. Therefore, Roskomnadzor’s ban can be compared to the effect of antibiotics: the drugs do not kill all bacteria existing in the body, but help cure a number of serious infectious diseases,” the expert concluded.

Andrei Masalovich also added that in modern conditions of information warfare, the most effective means of waging it is to block the enemy’s resources. As a rule, this problem is solved in two ways: legal measures – introducing penalties for using means of bypassing blocking (the Chinese way) and making it difficult to access them (the Russian way).

In one of the videos posted on the Telegram channel of the Head of the Safe Internet League, Ekaterina Mizulina, some users heard that a ban was still being prepared. It was a recording of her speech to schoolchildren in Yekaterinburg. But Mizulina called it a “free interpretation.” She later posted the full video with a detailed commentary on the situation.

“With regard to censorship, I can say the following: you use social networks, read blogs, judging by what is published in the local Yekaterinburg media, there is complete freedom of speech here. You are now saying openly what you think. What kind of censorship are we talking about?” – the head of the Safe Internet League addressed the students.

Ekaterina Mizulina also noted that it is technically impossible to completely block proxies, anonymizers and VPNs. The expert told the children that her organization also uses similar services to watch content on blocked sites. Therefore, Mizulina continued, it is physically impossible to limit their use one hundred percent.

Let us recall that earlier Roskomnadzor reported that in accordance with the legislation in Russia, the operation of means of bypassing blocking of access to illegal content has been prohibited since February 2020. “VPN services are classified as such tools if their use does not restrict access to prohibited resources,” the department explained. It is also worth noting that, according to information confirmed by the Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation, only specific services that are identified by the expert commission as a threat to the security of the Internet will be blocked in Russia.