Among other things, this law prohibits usage of software and hardware solutions that facilitate access to the Internet resources blocked in Russia. 276-FZ of July 29, 2017, amending the Law “On Information, IT and Information Security”, which will enter into force on November 1, 2017. In two months’ time, this list will be expanded by yet another piece of legislation: the Federal Law No. Recently, the 6th Convocation (2011-2016) of the Russian Parliament passed a long list of laws curbing online freedom of expression. In his words, the efforts to counter violent extremism can be the “perfect excuse” for governments to restrict free expression and control access to information. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, David Kaye, alerted the global community of these developments.
On many occasions, countering the threat of extremism is cited as a reason behind government censorship. The Russian Federation has always had a peculiar political and business regime, stemming from its post-Soviet legacy, which manifests considerable difficulties with regard to media freedoms (see this post for further references).The country’s authorities constantly “test the limits” of online regulation and of possible legal restrictions in the cyberspace, to make sure that the criticism of the regime does not become too vocal online.
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