Anonymizer blocking

Recently, we have seen more and more cases of prosecutors from different regions of Russia turning to the courts with claims to restrict access to anonymizers. As a rule, prosecutors substantiate their claims by saying that Internet users can access extremist materials using such services.

Anonymizers themselves do not contain any prohibited information. At the same time, access to prohibited materials can also be carried out through other tools, including through a conventional search engine, since it has not yet been possible to completely remove them from the global network - however, this possibility is not a reason to close access to search engines. Similarly, the fact that printing houses can theoretically print extremist materials cannot justify their closure. In this regard, we consider decisions to block anonymizers unlawful.

In connection with the multiplication of news about the claims of the prosecutor's offices of this kind and the corresponding decisions of the courts, we have been combining them into one list since August 31, 2016. Previous related news are available in the "Related Articles" section in the left column of the site.

On November 16, 2017, the prosecutor's office of the Saratov region reported that, at the suit of the prosecutor of the Ozinsky district, the court recognized the information posted on the anonymizer site as prohibited for distribution. With the help of an anonymizer, it was possible to get access to the video clip for Timur Mutsuraev's song "Oppositionist" ( paragraph 3053 of the Federal List of Extremist Materials).
On November 27, 2017, the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Chuvashia announced that the Shumerlinsky District Court had satisfied the claim of the Shumerlinsk Interdistrict Prosecutor's Office to recognize a number of anonymizer sites as information prohibited for distribution in Russia.
On November 16, 2017, the prosecutor's office of the Saratov region reported that, at the suit of the prosecutor of the Tatishevsky district, the court recognized the information posted on the anonymizing website as prohibited for distribution. The resource provided access to materials of an extremist nature, including those included in the Federal List of Extremist Materials.
On October 31, 2017, it became known that the Dyurtyulinsk Interdistrict Prosecutor's Office of Bashkortostan achieved in court the blocking of 19 anonymizing websites that allowed access to information included in the Federal List of Extremist Materials.
On October 26, 2017, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Saratov Region announced that, at the suit of the Tatishchevskiy District Prosecutor, the court banned the dissemination of information posted on a certain anonymizing website, through which it was possible to gain access to prohibited materials, including those included in the Federal List of Extremist Materials.
On September 4, 2017, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Irkutsk Region reported that the Osinsky District Court had satisfied six claims from the District Prosecutor’s Office to block anonymous websites that allowed access to materials deemed extremist.
On July 28, 2017, the Magadan prosecutor's office reported that the Magadan City Court had satisfied the prosecutor's claim to block a certain anonymizing website that allowed access to a video that was recognized as extremist.
On July 26, 2017, the prosecutor’s office of the Ulyanovsk region reported that the prosecutor of the Zheleznodorozhny district of Ulyanovsk filed a lawsuit with the court to recognize information posted on ten anonymizing websites as prohibited for distribution: “p…e.com”, “h…c.der-i… r.de/n..-...pl", "h…o.com" and others that provide access to any Internet resources blocked due to the placement of extremist materials on them.
On July 12, 2017, the prosecutor's office of the Ulyanovsk region reported that the prosecutor of the Pavlovsky district filed a lawsuit with the court to recognize the information posted on two websites as prohibited from dissemination. The prosecutor's office, during an audit to counter extremist activity, found that the anonymizing sites " b…yg…b.io " and " v…ea…mb…t.com " provided the ability to access any Internet resources blocked due to placement on extremist materials, as a result of which users could view information about the inferiority of citizens on the basis of nationality, language and religion.
On July 10, 2017, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Krasnodar Territory announced that the court had satisfied the claim of the Mostovsky District Prosecutor’s Office to ban four anonymizing websites that made it possible to access recognized extremist materials.
On July 4, 2017, the Medvedevsky District Court of the Republic of Mari El ruled to block access to the HideMy.name VPN service, previously located at HideMe.Ru, which was blocked by the decision of the Buzuluksky District Court of the Orenburg Region.
On June 22, 2017, the prosecutor's office of the Saratov region announced that the court had satisfied the claim of the prosecutor's office of the Voskresensky district to recognize the information posted on the anonymizer website as prohibited for distribution in Russia. With the help of this site, it was possible to gain access to materials of an extremist nature, including those containing " statements with signs of incitement to hostile actions of one group of people in relation to another group of people ."
On June 21, 2017, the prosecutor's office of the Saratov region announced that the court had satisfied the claim of the prosecutor's office of the Krasnokutsk district to recognize the information posted on the anonymizer website as prohibited for distribution in Russia. With the help of this site, it was possible to gain access to materials of an extremist nature, including those containing " statements with signs of incitement to hostile actions of one group of people in relation to another group of people ."
On May 29, 2017, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Saratov Region reported that the Prosecutor’s Office of the Rovno District filed a petition with the court to restrict subscribers’ access to the anonymizing website, which allowed access to prohibited websites. The demands of the prosecutor's office were satisfied by the decision of the court.
On May 29, 2017, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Saratov Region reported that the Saratov Prosecutor’s Office filed petitions with the court to restrict subscribers’ access to anonymizer sites that allow access to prohibited sites.
On May 22, 2017, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Saratov Region reported that the Prosecutor’s Office of the Kirovsky District filed petitions with the court to restrict subscribers’ access to an anonymizer site that allows access to prohibited sites. The demands of the prosecutor's office were satisfied by the decision of the court.
On May 11, 2017, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Perm Territory reported that the Krasnokamsk City Court, at the request of the prosecutor, declared information posted on a number of anonymizer sites prohibited for distribution. These anonymizers made it possible to gain access to four sites that hosted materials deemed extremist.
On May 3, 2017, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Kirov Region reported that the Podosinovsky District Court, following a suit filed by the district prosecutor, declared that information posted on a certain anonymizing website, which allowed users to access a video included in the Federal List of Extremist Materials, was prohibited from distribution.
On April 25, 2017, the prosecutor's office of the Ulyanovsk region reported that the prosecutor of the Leninsky district of Ulyanovsk had filed a lawsuit with the court to recognize the information posted on two websites as prohibited from dissemination. The prosecutor's office, during an audit to counter extremist activity, found that the anonymizing sites "x…n/p…t" and "p…yb…o" provided the ability to access any Internet resources blocked due to the placement of extremist materials on them, as a result, users could view information about the inferiority of citizens based on nationality, language and religion.
On April 10, 2017, the prosecutor's office of the Ulyanovsk region reported that the prosecutor of the Tsilninsky district filed a lawsuit to declare the information posted on the anonymizing website "p...z...eu/i...x" banned for distribution. The resource allowed viewing information about the inferiority of citizens on the basis of their belonging to nationality, language and religion.
On April 7, 2017, the prosecutor's office of the Saratov region reported that, at the suit of the prosecutor of the Tatishevsky district, the court recognized information posted on a certain anonymizer site as prohibited for distribution. The resource provided access to materials of an extremist nature, including " statements with signs of incitement to hostile actions of one group of people in relation to another group of people ."
On March 22, 2017, the prosecutor's office of the Krasnodar Territory reported that the prosecutor's office of the Abinsk district filed a lawsuit to ban the anonymizer sites it identified during monitoring. The demands of the prosecutor's office were satisfied.
On March 17, 2017, the prosecutor’s office of the Chechen Republic reported that the prosecutor of the Staropromyslovsky district of Grozny filed a lawsuit with the Leninsky district court to block a certain anonymizing website that allowed access to extremist and terrorist materials.
On March 7, 2017, the prosecutor's office of the Saratov region announced that the prosecutor's office of the Zavodskoy district of Saratov filed a lawsuit to block several anonymizer sites. The court satisfied the requirements of the prosecutor's office in full.
On January 12, 2017, Roskomnadzor blocked the HideMe.ru VPN service. The decision to recognize the information on this site as prohibited was made by the Buzuluk District Court of the Orenburg Region, said Vadim Ampelonsky, an official representative of Roskomnadzor. Previously, HideMe.ru was included in the Unified Register of Banned Sites by decision of the Uchalinsky District Court of the Republic of Bashkortostan, but was not blocked, since the anonymizer form was removed from the site. Now the service has moved to a new domain and changed its name.
On December 28, 2016, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Penza Region reported that the Prosecutor’s Office of the Pachelmsky District filed a lawsuit to block 8 anonymizing websites, “through which network users have unlimited access to previously blocked Internet resources containing materials recognized as extremist in accordance with federal law " . According to the message, the statements of claim were considered and satisfied.
On December 27, 2016 the CNews edition reported that only since the beginning of November, 2016 Roskomnadzor blocked 27 sites anonymizers and other similar resources. The blocking affected the Russian services jahproxy.com, iphide.info, anonimno.biz ("Chameleon"), Bigmama.com, the angryfox.info anonymizer constructor, scripts for creating links to access sites through the anonymizer located on the katvin.com and 4seo resources .biz, the Ukrainian anonymizer anonim.com.ua and a number of other foreign services: megaproxy.com, unblockmyweb.com, vigoob.com, hidenseek.org, guardster.com, justunblockit.com, kproxy.com, 4everproxy.com, justproxy. co.uk, showvision.info, snoopblocker.net, aquaproxy.net, webanonymizer.org and webwarper.net. The publication notes that in general, judging by the file cabinets of court decisions, the largest number of decisions on blocking access to anonymizers was made by the Zheleznodorozhny court of Krasnoyarsk and the Uchalinsky district court of Ufa (ten and six decisions, respectively, one decision per site), and the Oktyabrsky district court of Stavropol by one decided to block access to 17 anonymizers at once. A number of anonymizers blocked several courts at once: for example, Jahproxy.com was banned by the decisions of the Kalininsky District Court of Ufa, the Kirovsky District Court of Saratov and the Ulyanovsk District Court of the Ulyanovsk Region, and Katvin.com was banned by the decisions of the Ulyanovsk District Court of the Ulyanovsk Region, the Zheleznodorozhny District Court of Krasnoyarsk and the Oktyabrsky District court of Stavropol.
On December 15, 2016, the prosecutor's office of the Ulyanovsk region reported that, following the claims of the prosecutor's office of the Ulyanovsk region, the court recognized as prohibited the information published on three anonymizing websites, which the department designated as "u...o, k...y and p...m " . The services provided the ability to access any sites that were previously blocked due to the placement of extremist materials on them. According to the agency, users of the services could view " information about the inferiority of citizens on the basis of their ethnicity, language and religion, without leaving data about their real location and IP address " and without registering on the site, which " contributes to inciting interethnic and interreligious hatred and enmity ."
On December 8, 2016, the Ulyanovsk Region Prosecutor's Office reported that the Ulyanovsk District Prosecutor's Office had identified 13 anonymizers ( "a...r", "s..y", etc.), which provide access to any sites previously blocked due to the placement of extremist materials on them. According to the agency, service users can view " information about the inferiority of citizens on the basis of their ethnicity, language and religion, without leaving data about their real location and IP address " and without registering on the site, which " contributes to inciting interethnic and interreligious hatred and enmity ." The prosecutor's office sent applications to the court to recognize the information posted on these 13 sites as prohibited.
On December 2, 2016, the prosecutor's office of the Saratov region announced that the court granted the application of the prosecutor's office of the Ozinsky district to block an unnamed anonymizer. The reason for the ban was that with the help of the service it was possible to go to the site www.skrewdriver.net (recognized as extremist and blocked by the Novy Urengoy city court in 2015) with information about the international neo-Nazi association "Blood and Honor" (Blood and Honor), activities which is prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation.
On November 28, 2016, the Ulyanovsk Region Prosecutor's Office reported that the Ulyanovsk District Prosecutor filed lawsuits to block six anonymizing resources ("4f…y", "p…y…y", etc.) due to the fact that "they provide the ability to access any sites previously blocked in connection with the placement of extremist materials on them .
On November 21, 2016, the official representative of Roskomnadzor, Vadim Ampelonsky, announced that over the past six months, the agency had blocked 74 anonymizing resources. At the same time, it became known that the Chameleon anonymizers (it was blocked by the decision of the Sarapulsky District Court of Udmurtia) and kproxy.com (banned by the Uchalinsky District Court of Bashkortostan) resumed their work. Both services stopped providing access to prohibited resources to users from Russia.
On November 10, 2016, it became known that the Russian VPN service HideMe.ru was included in the Unified Register of Banned Sites. The resource is included in the register based on the decision of the Uchalinsky District Court of the Republic of Bashkortostan dated May 18, 2016. The hoster of the site received a notification from Roskomnadzor about the need to remove prohibited information. Project representative Nikolai Gorbasenko suggested that this was a form of anonymizer. He added that HideMe.ru is ready to compromise and block access to extremist materials in the Russian version of the project. In case of blocking, the service intends to " move to another domain and create a dozen more" mirrors " ". The HideMe.ru resource was also banned in August 2016 by the Kirovsky District Court of Saratov.
On November 8, 2016, the prosecutor's office of the Republic of Crimea announced that the Central District Court of Simferopol had satisfied the claim of the city prosecutor to block the anonymizer, with which it was possible to access prohibited resources, including those containing extremist content.
On September 1, 2016, the prosecutor's office of the Ulyanovsk region reported that the prosecutor's office of the Ulyanovsk region had identified six anonymizers (including "" p...y", "a...m.pro", etc. "), which provide the ability to access any sites previously blocked in connection with the placement of extremist materials on them. According to the agency, service users can view " information about the inferiority of citizens on the basis of their ethnicity, language and religion, without leaving data about their real location and IP address " and without registering on the site, which " contributes to inciting interethnic and interreligious hatred and enmity ." The prosecutor's office sent applications to the court to recognize the information posted on these six sites as prohibited. On October 21, 2016, it became known from a new message from the prosecutor's office that the court blocked these anonymizers.
On August 30, 2016, the prosecutor's office of the Chechen Republic announced that the Leninsky District Court of Grozny had satisfied the claim of the prosecutor's office of the Staropromyslovsky district to restrict access to the anonymizer site, "through which users can get full access to all prohibited sites, materials, including extremist and terrorist, by anonymous access and spoofing user addresses ".

Sources

At the request of the prosecutor's office of the Staropromyslovsky district of Grozny, access to the anonymizer site was restricted // Website of the Prosecutor's Office of the Chechen Republic. 2016. August 31.
The prosecutor's office of the Ulyanovsk region organized counteraction to the functioning of "anonymizer" sites that contribute to inciting ethnic and religious hatred on the Internet // Website of the prosecutor's office of the Ulyanovsk region. 2016. September 1.
The prosecutor's office of the Ulyanovsk region organized counteraction to the incitement of ethnic and religious hatred on the Internet // Website of the prosecutor's office of the Ulyanovsk region. 2016. October 21.
The Prosecutor's Office of Simferopol took measures to block an anonymizing website that provides access to extremist Internet resources // Website of the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Crimea. 2016 November 8th.
Albert Khabibrahimov. Roskomnadzor added the Russian VPN service HideMe to the register of prohibited sites // vc.ru. 2016. November 10.
Case card No. 2-2408/2016 ~ M-1931/2016 // Website of the Uchalinsky District Court of the Republic of Bashkortostan. 2016. November 10.
Anna Balashova, Denis Bondarev. Anonymous assistants of Roskomnadzor // RBC. November 21, 2016.
The prosecutor's office of the Ulyanovsk region is taking measures to counteract the work of "anonymizer" sites that contribute to inciting ethnic and religious hatred on the Internet // Website of the prosecutor's office of the Ulyanovsk region. November 28, 2016
The prosecutor's office of the Ozinsky district monitored the Internet in order to identify materials whose distribution is prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation // Website of the Prosecutor's Office of the Saratov region. 2016. December 2.
The prosecutor's office of the Ulyanovsk region is taking measures to counteract the work of "anonymizer" sites that contribute to inciting ethnic and religious hatred on the Internet // Website of the prosecutor's office of the Ulyanovsk region. 2016. December 8.
The prosecutor's office of the Ulyanovsk region stopped the activities of three "anonymizer" sites that contributed to inciting ethnic and religious hatred on the Internet // Website of the prosecutor's office of the Ulyanovsk region. 2016. December 15.
Igor Korolev. The Russian authorities began a massive blocking of anonymizers // Cnews. 2016. December 27.
Prosecutor of the Pachelma district seeks to block "anonymizer" websites in order to restrict access to extremist materials // Website of the Prosecutor's Office of the Penza Region. 2016. December 28.
Roskomnadzor blocked the VPN service for its capabilities // Interfax. 2017. January 12.
The prosecutor's office of the Zavodskoy district filed a lawsuit to block anonymizer sites // Website of the Prosecutor's Office of the Saratov region. 2017. March 7.
The prosecutor's office of the Staropromyslovsky district of Grozny demands to restrict access to the anonymizing website // Website of the Prosecutor's Office of the Chechen Republic. 2017. March 17.
At the request of the prosecutor's office of the Abinsk district, the court banned anonymizer sites // Website of the Prosecutor's Office of the Krasnodar Territory. 2017. March 22.
The prosecutor's office of the Tatishevsky district took measures to block the site of the anonymizer // Website of the Prosecutor's Office of the Saratov region. 2017. April 7.
The prosecutor's office of the Tsilninsky district takes measures to counteract the work of "anonymizer" sites that contribute to inciting ethnic and religious hatred on the Internet // Website of the prosecutor's office of the Ulyanovsk region. 2017. April 10.
The prosecutor's office of the Leninsky district of Ulyanovsk is taking measures to counteract the work of "anonymizer" sites that contribute to inciting ethnic and religious hatred on the Internet // Website of the prosecutor's office of the Ulyanovsk region. April 25, 2017
In the Kirov region, the prosecutor's office took measures to block an Internet resource that allows viewing extremist materials already banned by a court decision // Website of the prosecutor's office of the Kirov region. 2017. May 3.
At the request of the prosecutor's office, the court decided to restrict access to anonymizer sites // Website of the Prosecutor's Office of the Perm Territory. May 11, 2017
The court satisfied the demands of the prosecutor of the Kirovsky district to restrict access to the anonymizer site // Website of the Prosecutor's Office of the Saratov region. May 22, 2017
The prosecutor's office of the city of Saratov conducted an audit on the issue of posting information on the Internet, the distribution of which is prohibited in the Russian Federation // Website of the Prosecutor's Office of the Saratov region. May 29, 2017
The prosecutor's office of the Rivne region during the monitoring of the Internet revealed a resource containing information prohibited for distribution // Website of the Prosecutor's Office of the Saratov region. May 29, 2017
The prosecutor's office of the Krasnokutsk district took measures to block the anonymizer // Website of the Prosecutor's Office of the Saratov region. 2017. June 21.
The prosecutor's office of the Voskresensky district took measures to block the anonymizer // Website of the Prosecutor's Office of the Saratov region. 2017. June 22.
Roskomnadzor will block anonymizer Hideme.ru // Russian newspaper. 2018. July 25.
At the request of the prosecutor's office of the Mostovsky district, the court banned 4 anonymizer sites // Website of the Prosecutor's Office of the Krasnodar Territory. 2017. July 10.
The prosecutor's office of the Pavlovsky district takes measures to counteract the work of "anonymizer" sites that contribute to inciting ethnic and religious hatred on the Internet // Website of the prosecutor's office of the Ulyanovsk region. 2017. July 12.
The prosecutor's office of the Zheleznodorozhny district of Ulyanovsk is taking measures to counteract the work of "anonymizer" sites that promote incitement of ethnic and religious hatred on the Internet // Website of the prosecutor's office of the Ulyanovsk region. 2017. July 26.
The prosecutor's office of the city of Magadan revealed a violation of the law on countering extremism // Website of the Prosecutor's Office of the Magadan Region. 2017. July 28.
The court satisfied the claims of the prosecutor of the Osinsky district on the recognition of prohibited information contained in the Internet // Website of the Prosecutor's Office of the Irkutsk region. 2017. September 4.
The prosecutor's office of the Tatishevsky district during the monitoring of the Internet revealed information prohibited for distribution on the territory of the Russian Federation // Website of the Prosecutor's Office of the Saratov region. 2017. October 26.
In Bashkiria, the prosecutor's office demanded to block 19 anonymizer sites // UfacityNews.ru. 2017. October 31.
The prosecutor's office of the Tatishevsky district took measures to block the site of the anonymizer // Website of the Prosecutor's Office of the Saratov region. November 16, 2017
Shumerlinskaya interdistrict prosecutor's office revealed violations of the law on countering extremist activity // Website of the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Chuvashia. November 27, 2017
The prosecutor of the Ozinsky district took measures to restrict access to resources containing materials of extremist content // Website of the Prosecutor's Office of the Saratov region. 2017. December 19.