Rostelecom tested a service that can selectively limit access to content on YouTube

The Russian Provider Rostelecom tested the service that will allow you to close access to one or another content on YouTube. This was reported by the project “We can explain” the head of the Internet Protection Service Mikhail Klimarev.

Rostelecom sent a letter to its employees in which he asked to test the “internal access to YouTube”. The site is located at ytonline.ru. Now he is unavailable. However, judging by the web archive , on August 18 the service functioned. Outwardly, it resembles YouTube.

As Klimarev noted, any content that is on YouTube - including the investigation of Alexei Navalny, was available on the site.

“But, as I see, this is only the beginning. Technically, if you have your own scrapper, then you will be easy to arrange a little censorship, ”Klimarev believes.

The expert explained in the commentary for “we can explain” that this service can be used as a filter for content.

“Direct access to YouTube will be blocked, but you can watch the video from it through the“ gasket ” - this portal of Rostelecom. Only not everything is: Kotikov and cooking - please, but he will not miss the seditious from the point of view of power, ”says Klimarev.

Technically, it may take about two months to launch such a service - it is not a difficult and does not require serious financial costs, the expert said.

“We can explain” interviewed two more IT specialists, and they confirmed that just such a scenario follows from the letter of Rostelecom.

In early August, the Securitylab project announced problems with access to the VPN protocols OpenVPN and Wireguard. The problem was recorded by customers of completely different communication operators - MTS, Beeline, Megafon, Tele2, Yota, Tinkoff Mobail. Presumably, this was caused by a wave of the locks of Roskomnadzor.

As Mikhail Klimarev explained to Novaya Gazeta Europe, there were no clear patterns of locks.

“In some operators, in some regions, some subscribers on Sunday (we are talking about August 6, 2023. - Approx. Ed.) WPN of different suppliers began to fall off. At the same time, there is no clear picture - the same operator has the same operator, in one region there is also locks, and nobody actually affected. <...> Some have the problem herself is treated after some time, ”the expert said.

The project “In touch” suggested that Roskomnadzor conducted the next exercises, but there was no talk of full blocking.

Submitted at 17:03 Moscow time - Information about recent VPN locks was added.