Russia Fully Blocks WhatsApp (reuters.com) 31
An anonymous reader shares a report: U.S. messenger app WhatsApp, owned by Meta Platforms, has been completely blocked in Russia for failing to comply with local law, the Kremlin said on Thursday, suggesting Russians turn to a state-backed "national messenger" instead. "Due to Meta's unwillingness to comply with Russian law, such a decision was indeed taken and implemented," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, proposing that Russians switch to MAX, Russia's state-owned messenger.
Which platforms now? (Score:1)
What app should I download now to be eKaterina-fished by hot Saint Petersburg babes?
Re:Which platforms now? (Score:5, Funny)
The government-sponsored Maks chat engine, which is linked to the State Services portal.
It is very neat, as you can not only find the St. Peterburg's babes videos, but also see your kid's grades from school in it, submit a report on your neighbors' enemy activities, apply for a stormtrooper slot in the Special Military Operation and even send your farewell video to your widow up to the very moment that drone kills you.
It is a great service, the greatest service that was ever designed.
Re: Which platforms now? (Score:3)
I wish the EU would do the same (Score:4, Funny)
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Meta could also be blocked in Europe (Score:4, Interesting)
Out of Greenlad solidarity we should do the same in Europe. US Tech is a danger to the liberties in our societies. It is a small measure we could take against the Trump regime and hiis backers.
Re: Meta could also be blocked in Europe (Score:2, Offtopic)
No no it's only the chinese who are bad. Meta is fine, openai is fine, apple is fine, microsoft is fine, look they are even listed on the stock market.
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I assume he really means Big Tech.
Re: Meta could also be blocked in Europe (Score:2)
Itâ(TM)s bit of a stretch calling /. âoetechâ. See: it canâ(TM)t even handle simple text!
VPN (Score:2)
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They are blocking VPNs since way before the war embargoes and escalations (I presume there are some state approved VPNs but they would be worse than no VPN). They're blocking TOR too, and both aren't just regular DPI content inspection (that can be faked fairly well currently) but also actively going after the entry points and blocking them completely. This isn't trivial to bypass, as you somehow need to give people the nodes that are available for connection, and you don't know which one is a snitch. Of co
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This is what I mean by "that can be faked fairly well currently" followed with "but also actively going after the entry points and blocking them completely".
Re:VPN in Russia (Score:2)
I had to deal with this recently. OpenVPN did not work even with obfuscation. A configuration which works in China did not work in Russia.
What worked was an SSH tunnel.
ssh -D 8888 myuser@somehost-outside-putinland.com
chromium '--proxy-server=socks://localhost:8888'
This is your time to shine ... (Score:2)
PGP your message as you never know when the device/server will be compromised
Which law? (Score:2)
I assume probably the one that says you got no privacy and if you post opinions ruled to be anti-Soviet (oops, I mean anti-Russian) you get jailed, but the summary should say so.
Re: (Score:2)
Would be useful if they said what law was violated.
oh, they did, but reuters for some reason didn't pick that up, and you wouldn't expect even basic journalistic practice from slashdot editors, right?
so:
- data localization: meta refuses to comply with russian law moving servers to russia, which is a general concern across much of the world
- law enforcement cooperation: also a global classic national security concern. ofc that compromises user communications privacy and raises controversy
- meta was already designated as an "extremist organization" which is w
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Every country would want the data of their people to be local, and be on servers physically in their countries. Law enforcement cooperation too is required: what makes it controversial is the extent to which a country's laws goes after real criminals vs people who the government just doesn't like. Also, if a social media platform makes it a point to censor views supportive of a country's position - in this case Russia's, it's not surprising that the country in question would have problems allowing them to
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hey! i was wondering about the noticeable absence of your usual rabid drool lately, i feared you im krankenhaus for chewing on glass or something ... happy to see you wanking off in public again, in full swing and without a shred of any sense of ridicule as always!
How? (Score:2)
How are they blocking WhatsApp? Is there a Great Firewall of Russia?
The article mentions DNS removal, essentially DNS filtering. But, DNS filtering is an inconvenience, far from a "complete block".
So, what's up with WhatsApp in Putinstan.
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How are they blocking WhatsApp? Is there a Great Firewall of Russia?
The wall has a window. If you run an ISP and don't block WhatsApp you will find yourself falling out of it.
Not true, their trolls are still allowed to use it (Score:2)
If you work as Russian government troll spreading propaganda in the west you can still use WhatsApp in your work.
The idea is to make it harder people from the West to reach people in Russia, not trolls in Russia to reach people in the West...
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Remember Boris and MAX, your tormentors (Score:2)
" Meet Boris: he is blind, but relies heavily on his sense of touch, and Max who believes everything zat he reads on ze New York Post