The authorities have all the tools to disconnect you from the global Internet. And there are many reasons to do it now

Try to play it safe with the help of the Medusa instructions

During the “march of justice” by Wagner PMC, Roskomnadzor announced its readiness to limit the operation of the Internet in regions in which a counter-terrorism operation (CTO) regime was introduced. This regime is already in effect in Moscow, the Moscow and Voronezh regions. The supervisory agency also blocked a number of resources related to PMCs, including the group’s page on VKontakte. In addition, users in Russia are experiencing disruptions in the operation of Telegram, the main channel for distributing messages from Yevgeny Prigozhin. According to experts, the escalation of the conflict could push the Russian authorities to a shutdown (that is, shutting down the Internet throughout the entire or significant territory of the country), as well as to mass blocking of VPN services. Meduza, based on advice from Roskomsvoboda and other organizations, has compiled instructions on how to prepare for such a scenario and maintain access to the network.

Will the authorities definitely be able to disconnect Russians from the Internet? How does this even work?

Cyber ​​lawyer and co-founder of the Roskomsvoboda community Sarkis Darbinyan answered this question in March 2022:

We must understand that we cannot disconnect from the global Internet overnight. Technically, you can turn off all points of delimited transmission - and that will be the end [and there will be no global Internet in Russia], but from the point of view of economic factors, it is difficult to imagine that the shutdown will be instantaneous. The entire Russian economy is tied to the global network, its shutdown is a blow much worse than the sanctions that are now being introduced and are already affecting the economy.

But it is possible to create an intra-Russian - or “sovereign” - Internet, which involves creating a copy of the global Internet within Russia, with a national domain name system, with a national address registry and with national Russian services with the domains “ru” and “рф,” Darbinyan said:

With a “sovereign” Internet, you can access any resource. [When it is introduced] the database of domain names, which is responsible for the connectivity of IP addresses, is copied, and until Roskomnadzor includes a particular site in the registry, it will work. But if it is blocked, then the providers will limit direct access, and in such situations, VPN will definitely not help. In this case, the entire infrastructure will be very easily controlled - and then Russia will plunge into digital darkness.

After the previous story with the blocking of Telegram, Roskomnadzor worked on the mistakes. And today he has much more technical means to restrict access to various resources. But it probably won’t be possible to do this 100%. Following the example of Kazakhstan, we can say that users have the opportunity to send proxies to each other through SMS gateways .

For example, Telegram is tenacious, but, naturally, if Roskomnadzor starts targeted blocking, the ping will take a long time, everything will work poorly, and many users will encounter connection problems.

What can you do to stay connected?

Download as many tools as possible that will help you stay online as long as you have at least one channel of communication with the outside world. Here is what the Roskomsvoboda project and other experts recommend doing:

• Install Tor , Psiphon and Lantern on your gadgets (yes, all three services at once). For example, in Belarus in 2020 they worked alternately.
• Download and save bridges for Tor Browser, this can be done through a bot in Telegram ; website (in the Russian Federation it opens only when the VPN is turned on); by email bridges@torproject.org (you need to send an email to this address from Gmail with the subject “get transport obfs4”). In your email, please include the name of your operating system (for example, Windows, macOS, or Linux). A bridge is a Tor node that is not in the public list of nodes. ISPs or governments trying to block access to Tor will not be able to block all bridges.
• Download the Ceno browser - it creates small networks to connect first with each other, and then with a bridge outside the shutdown zone. After one Ceno user gains access to a web service (for example, the Meduza website), the page is cached and distributed within the blocking zone via a peer-to-peer p2p network.
• If you have older relatives in Russia, try to calmly talk to them and offer to do the same. These tools seem complicated only at first glance, but in fact it is quite possible to understand them, even if you have no such experience.
• Most likely, in the event of a global shutdown, messengers will not work. But you can try installing services that could hypothetically help you stay connected in the event of blocking, for example, Briar and Bridgefy . The latter will work on the principle of “good audibility in the line of sight” (up to 100 meters, but most likely less), Briar will only be able to help if it is installed and used by many people.
• Look for VPN services that will resist blocking and try to remain accessible.

Here is a list of these services

• Amnezia VPN is a free and simple VPN service that allows you to use Cloak, a protocol that is currently immune to protocol blocking.
• Amnezia VPN Free is a telegram channel in which, depending on the type of blocking, the necessary instructions and settings will be posted.
• RedShield VPN is a commercial VPN that is one of the few that successfully resists blocks and has tools to bypass DPI blocks.
• Xeovo VPN is also a commercial VPN service that provides the ability to configure DPI-resistant protocols.
• It may make sense to prepare for restrictions in mobile communications. Keep a notebook in advance with contacts of relatives and friends who still have home telephone numbers.
• Prepare for the fact that during a complete shutdown, all these tips may not work - and you will still be left without the Internet.

"Jellyfish"