American Khoster blocked the Ukrainian site at the request of Roskomnadzor

The American hosting provider and registrar of the domain name Godaddy blocked access to the site of Ukrainian activists Maidanua.org at the request of Roskomnadzor. In an open letter, the site owners draw the attention of the American authorities, NPOs and business to the fact that the Russian censorship department can now close objectionable American sites.

On July 10, the Maidanua.org domain was blocked at the domain level without warning, the letter said. At the same time, the registrar had contact details of the site owners. The GODADDY support service and its Wildwest subsidiary through which the domain was registered did not respond to a request from Ukrainian activists.

July 13, access to the site was restored.

The notification of Roskomnadzor says that the site should be blocked for "calls for riots, extremist activities and participation in public events conducted in violation of public order." According to the Lugovoi Law, which entered into force in February 2014, the Prosecutor General’s Office out of court will block hundreds of sites and pages on these grounds, including the City.ru and Kasparov.ru. At the request of prosecutors, Roskomnadzor sends the relevant requirements to Russian and foreign providers. Until now, however, foreign hosters have refused to comply with the requirements of the RKN.

The decision of the American company "to meet the fraudulent and impudent request" of Roskomnadzor violates the rules of the ICANN - international domain regulator, the owners of a blocked site say.

The site Maidanua.org has existed since 2000. Initially, it was located at Maidan.org.ua. The spare domain was registered in 2001 due to the threat of censorship by the then Ukrainian authorities. From the very beginning, the site owners used American hosting, which was considered "reliable and safe."

The site belongs to the non -governmental organization "Information Center" Monitoring the Maidan. This goal has stated for the protection of the constitutional rights and freedoms of Ukrainians, support for civil society infrastructure. The organization unites Ukrainians living in Kyiv, Kharkov, Odessa, Simferopol, Donbass, as well as in Poland, Canada and the USA.

One of the largest projects "Maidan Monitoring" is a Ukrainian peacekeeping school .