“Nothing is changing legally.” The media yuerist - about why to utter "paper" and buy advertisements safely

Virtual Private Network is a safe encrypted user connection to the network with which he can bypass local restrictions and maintain confidentiality.

There were already such cases: for example, Roskomnadzor blocked two VPN services in the summer of 2021, and in the fall of 2021, NordvPn, ExpressVPN and four more VPN services fell under the lock.

On March 12, the site " Paper " blocked Roskomnadzor. Over the past three weeks, sites of many independent publications have fallen under blocking: Medusa, Echo of Moscow, The Village, BBC News, Taiga.info, 7 × 7.

"Paper" continues to work - we can still buy advertising or send us a donat, it is legal and safe. The media, Svetlana Kuzevanova tells how sites block in Russia and why this does not affect the activities of the company and its partners.

Why can Roskomnadzor block the site? ↓

- Today, the law has about 20 grounds on which you can block the resource: not only the media website, but also any site on the Internet. Starting from calls to participate in the riots and ending with the spread of fakes, drug propaganda, indications of suicide methods and many other types of information.

There are mechanisms in which they are blocked by court decision, for example, when information on drug promotion is distributed or the method of suicide. And there are cases when the lock occurs without a court decision, at the request of the General Prosecutor's Office.

For example, if, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office, there is obviously inaccurate information on the site, it can be blocked immediately. This is how information is blocked that can pose a more serious danger to society: the materials of “undesirable organizations” and everything related to extremism and participation in the riots.

There are two methods of blocking, the first - restriction of access to a specific page. The Prosecutor General’s Office discovers prohibited information on the company's website, issues a requirement [on its removal], lowers it to Roskomnadzor. He sends this information to providers and operators, they send it to the owner of the site, he must also block the prohibited information. If a person manages to do this on time, access to his site is not limited. If the resource is still blocked, then after removing the page you are restored to access to the site.

The second, more common option is when the site is blocking the whole. At the same time, the site owner may not send a notification with an explanation of which pages contain prohibited information, and the requirement to delete them. So it was, for example, with “paper” and “ 7 × 7 ”. They were simply not given the opportunity to unlock - this is a violation of the blocking procedure.

Now everyone is blocked on one basis - inaccurate information about the alleged attack of the Russian Federation on Ukraine or the invasion of Ukraine. The law states that this is an information that causes a panic, which in turn can cause a violation of the interests and health of a person and public safety. ” But it is clear that not all publications on the site are about this, so blocking the entire site [without specifying pages with prohibited content] is completely illegal.

Why does the site lock not make it “forbidden”? ↓

- Blocking the site of the organization does not bear any legal consequences for her. Even if all its online pages are blocked, this does not impose any restrictions on the company's work. There is no special regulation of its activities or additional obligations. The organizations of the “foreign regents” and “undesirable organizations” have certain restrictions, but the site blocking is not equated with these statuses.

Blocking means that the resource or a specific page becomes inaccessible in Russia - that’s all. Accordingly, a page or site will be available from other countries or through circuits bypassing systems, that is, VPN .

This [site blocking] does not prohibit the activities of the organization and individuals who work in it. “Paper” , for example, can still conduct social networks, arrange events, make newsletters, cooperate with advertisers, collect donations, and so on.

Read information on a blocked site through a VPN, exchange it or use it is not prohibited. VPN is just a technology. I would like to believe that the state will not arrange a VPN hunt, but we understand that this is, perhaps, a matter of time. If VPN is banned at the legislative level, it is not clear how to control that every specific person does not use it. It is very difficult. Maybe that's why VPN is not prohibited. Most likely, they [state] will now block individual VPNs, new, and so endlessly.

Are there any risks to equate the blocked site or place advertising there? ↓

- Legally, nothing changes for the company, just its site becomes unavailable in Russia. Therefore, cooperation with her does not bear any risks for partners and everyone who wants to support her financially.

What else to read:

• How to read and maintain "paper" without a mirror and VPN? We tell in our material