Roskomnadzor has proposed new measures regarding scientific and technical information about VPN services. According to the draft order published on July 30, scientific, technical, and statistical information about VPNs used to circumvent blockades will be recognized as prohibited in Russia.
The draft order will come into force on March 1, 2025, and will be valid until September 1, 2029. It proposes to amend the existing criteria so that exceptions apply only to information on methods of data exchange in secure communication channels, and not to VPNs providing access to blocked resources.
In accordance with the proposed amendments to the law "On Information," which prohibits information on methods of circumventing blockades, VPN services that allow circumventing restrictions and accessing blocked resources are also prohibited. Thus, scientific and technical materials describing the creation and operation of such VPN services will be recognized as prohibited.
The draft order states that VPN services can be used to provide secure access to information resources and data exchange, which is permissible and necessary to protect confidential information, including state and commercial needs. In this regard, it is proposed to exclude from the ban information about VPNs used exclusively for data protection.
Earlier, www1.ru reported that journalists asked the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Peskov, about problems with the slowdown of YouTube. Peskov replied that everything works fine on his phone. To a follow-up question about which VPN he could recommend to Russians, Peskov noted that everyone should independently choose which service to use.
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