How can we block Russia?

Rosmolodezh received the right to block websites on the Internet. Our proposals for the development of this initiative

There is a meme on the Internet that Roskomnadzor blocked something wrong for itself. This observation looked fresh last year, when officials hunted Telegram. They blocked 18 million IP addresses, disabled third-party services, including financial and gaming ones, turned people against themselves, but they could not break the messenger. Stakeholders comfortably followed Roskomnadzor’s efforts to block Telegram directly on the Telegram channel of IT specialist Philip Kulin.

Since the fall, the agency has taken a pause in its holy war against technology and is now regrouping with the support of Senator Klishas and his "sovereign internet" bill. There is no doubt that there will be a second wave: Telegram will no longer be fought by attempts to block tens of millions of IPs, but by filtering traffic and worsening the connectivity of the Network.

That is, the systematic destruction of that rather advanced telecommunications industry that has been built in Russia in recent decades. Frustrated officials will take revenge.

There are obvious advantages in the tragic lack of professionalism of Roskomnadzor - for the department itself. If you ask any schoolchild what Alexander Zharov's subordinates are doing, we will get a confident answer: they block the Internet. Roskomnadzor has turned from an industry regulator into something like a digital atlas, propping up Russian legislation on its shoulders, which is being bombarded with exabytes of data from the global Web.

Blocking is very convenient to report to the authorities, there is a clear KPI (so many sites were blocked yesterday, the plan for the next week is to block such and such sites). Since something is constantly being blocked, no one will say that there are idlers in Roskomnadzor. In addition, since Roskomnadzor received the de facto powers of a law enforcement agency capable of blocking information and interfering with business on the Internet, it has become one of the country's main newsmakers. After all, almost all events in the country are connected with the work of the repressive machine. If you want to create a reason for news - put on shoulder straps.

In this context, one can explain the latest news about the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh), which received a new right by a government rescript:

to block sites to protect the interests of children and youth, that is, by and large, to carry out any arbitrary censorship on the Internet.

The official scope of powers is as follows: it will be possible to block if information is noticed on the site that “is aimed at inducing or otherwise involving minors in committing illegal acts that pose a threat to their life and (or) health, or to the life and (or) health of others persons". In short, this is about opposition rallies and, in general, about all uncoordinated public life - it is now recognized as "harmful for children."

Recently, Rosmolodezh has been going through hard times, no one will immediately name its current leader, and it is rather difficult to determine the scope of the department's activities. With new powers, the life of the agency will sparkle with new colors. Blocking sites where children are offended will allow Rosmolodezh to report on the work done and explain what they do there.

Up to this point, in addition to Roskomnadzor, the Ministry of Internal Affairs could also block the Internet (it’s clear here: where there are shoulder straps, there are blockings), the Federal Tax Service (it is fighting Azino Three Axes and its clones), Rospotrebnadzor, which for some reason was delegated the fight against suicide methods , as well as Rosalkogolregulirovanie, which blocks information about the illegal trade in alcohol.

Looking at the experience of Rosmolodezh, the future of the Russian state apparatus as a whole becomes obvious: each department should have the right to block something on the Internet.

For example, Oreshkin's Ministry of Economic Development could block information about the country's lack of economic growth. Medinsky Ministry of Culture - jokes about laundries and American films. And the Vasilyeva Ministry of Education - facts about Russian history that are not listed in a single standard textbook.

In this case, firstly, no one will have questions about what the Russian state is doing: it is blocking. Secondly, the prestige of the work of officials will sharply increase; they could justifiably be given uniforms with epaulettes.

Finally, the meme mentioned above would come true. By consistently increasing the degree of entropy, officials would eventually block each other. And we would find ourselves in the beautiful Russia of the future.