Russia moves to ban net anonymity

Vladimir Putin has signed a new law preventing Russians from using the anonymous web browser Tor or virtual private networks (VPNs) that disguise web users' identities.

The rules, which come into force on 1 November, target technologies that "help internet users gain access to websites that have been blocked by the government and surf the web anonymously", the Moscow Times says.

Leonid Levin, head of the Duma's committee for information policy, said the measures were meant to restrict access only to "unlawful content", the BBC reports.Human Rights Watch said last month that Moscow has "introduced significant restrictions to online speech and invasive surveillance of online activity and prosecutes critics under the guise of fighting extremism".

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

However, last month, Human Rights Watch said Moscow had "introduced significant restrictions to online speech and invasive surveillance of online activity and prosecutes critics under the guise of fighting extremism".

Yulia Gorbunova, a researcher at the human rights group, said: "These laws aren't just about introducing tough policies, but also about blatant violation of human rights."

Moscow's move follows a similar crackdown on the use of VPNs and other similar technology in China, which led Apple to remove a number of privacy-enhancing apps from the China App Store.

VPNs and the Tor network are designed to allow internet users to hide the location and identity of the device they are using to access the web.