Re: Russian blockade of common bitcoin sites, possible workarounds - Роскомнадзор заблокировал пять посвящённых биткоинам сайтов, возможные способы, чтобы избежать цензуры

[Anton Nesterov]

Mirimir:
> On 01/13/2015 09:57 PM, odinn wrote:
>> Mirimir, not everyone has access to VPN.  I should point out that by
>> September 2015 in Russia, there is some kind of "tokenization" law
>> that goes into effect, which actually was adopted in 2014, which
>> apparently is creating all kinds of hassles for everybody ~ something
>> about all data having to basically be localized and tokenized and
>> Russianized basically.  In other words, even worse than right now today.
>>
>> Don't ask me why Russian gov't is becoming probably even more
>> ridiculous possibly than China.  I can't tell you.  But you can see
>> what I mean by looking at this:
>> http://perspecsys.com/how-we-help/cloud-privacy/russia-data-privacy-laws/
>> I look at that kind of stuff and I'm just... :-0 hmmmm
> 

It's about heavy censorship.

I'm not sure how it will work, it seems really crazy, but following the
text, FB, Twitter, Wikipedia, Google, etc., basically any foreign
website which stores PD of at least one Russian citizen (by Russian
laws, PD is any data that can be used to identify a person, maybe even
IP in logs will be enough, maybe there is need for more info, but
profile in any social network will be enough for sure) should be blocked
on 1st September if they don't move their servers to Russia.

Yes, they use rhetoric like "you saw that shit in Snowden's docs, we
must protect Russians from the NSA, it's for your own good, you don't
want that 'muricans to spy on you, don't you", but of course privacy is
not what they want in the country that have FSB boxes (SORM) installed
on every ISP's equipment by law.
> This is a different issue. As I read the Perspecsys piece, it's about
> protecting Russian users' data from the NSA etc, and not about censoring
> online activity.
> 
> | It requires [foreign cloud services that Russians use] to store all
> | Russian citizen data within the country – meaning any cloud services
> | that will house personal data of Russian citizens must have physical
> | servers located within the Russian Federation.
> 
> Good VPN services don't store any user data, and so should be exempt :)
> 
> But then again, maybe they'll just be blocked :(
> 
>> Now you mentioned VPNs and so for example there is Cryptostorm's free
>> VPN, which you can access here:
>> https://cryptostorm.is
> 
> Yes, the rebirth of CryptoCloud :)
> 
>> or
>>
>> https://cryptostorm.org/viewforum.php?f=58 (free! may take some
>> messing around with and not sure if plays well through Russia)
> 
> Also http://www.vpngate.net/en/ and http://www.securitykiss.com/
> 
>> or our CgAN VPN, yay! (it's free.)
>>
>> https://cyberguerrilla.info/howto-connect-to-cgan-vpn-server-from-a-linux-computer/
> 
> :)
> 
>> But, not everybody knows about such resources, and many may actually
>> be blocked from use of some of either the sites where they are
>> available or may find it difficult to find, download, and utilize the
>> software packages safely.
> 
> Well, VPN services have become more popular, and have proliferated
> enormously. Also Tor. But yes, many remain unenlightened.
> 
> One can tunnel OpenVPN through SSH, stunnel or obfsproxy to evade
> blocks. Obfsproxy has the most potential, I think, given the efforts of
> the Tor Project.
> 
>> Not to say a VPN isn't going to work but more decentralized systems
>> that also have some of the functionality of VPNs of today may be more
>> logical to consider.  Similar ideas, but new models, is what I am
>> saying. Think forward.  Fall forward.
> 
> At some point, it may be necessary to use covert channels :(
> 
>> I do think that the (general) model used by OpenBazaar and ZeroNet is
>> a very good one and which will hopefully help many people (and the
>> content they want to get out to the world) resist censorship.
> 
> https://openbazaar.org/
> https://github.com/HelloZeroNet/ZeroNet
> 
> I'm not so comfortable with sharing my participation in P2P networks
> with local observers. Even if adversaries couldn't censor me or see my
> activity, they would know what group(s) I'm part of. I'd rather make
> them work (at least a little) to see all that.
> 
>> Cheers
>>
>> -O
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Mirimir:
>>> On 01/13/2015 04:11 PM, odinn wrote:
>>>> Now banned in Russian Federation:
>>>>
>>>> bitcoin.org bitcoin.it coinspot.io btsec.com indacoin.com
>>>>
>>>> So how does one make some possible workarounds to this sort of
>>>> censorship?
>>
>>> Just use a VPN service.
>>
>>>> Well, one could make the sites be broadcast in different ways.
>>>> This is an effort that I will simply shown in a visual manner
>>>> here: https://twitter.com/anonycast/status/554853564880015360 
>>>> That's a lot of work but if you have your site(s) backed up to
>>>> all those places, it's hard to take them down.
>>>>
>>>> But what if they are literally blocked somehow anyway?
>>>>
>>>> Here's another workaround or method to avoid such censorship that
>>>> I saw emerge recently:
>>>>
>>>> "Zeronet - Decentralized websites using bitcoin crypto and
>>>> bittorrent network"
>>>>
>>>> In otherwords, for those that have bitcoin installation in Russia
>>>> (and there are full nodes in Russian Federation in various
>>>> places, as can be seen by a brief indication from
>>>> https://getaddr.bitnodes.io/ )
>>>>
>>>> However, you do not need to be full node to actually use Zeronet.
>>>> You just need to publish content in a decentralized way, see:
>>>>
>>>> https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2s72uy/zeronet_decentralized_websites_using_bitcoin/
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>> An explanation is available at:
>>>>
>>>> https://github.com/HelloZeroNet/ZeroNet/blob/master/README.md
>>>>
>>>> Объяснение можно найти на 
>>>> https://github.com/HelloZeroNet/ZeroNet/blob/master/README.md
>>>>
>>>> Essentially this comes right at the same time as the Cameron 
>>>> announcements of bans of encryption in UK (which will not work)
>>>> and right at same time as announcement of "New CISPA" in United
>>>> States... and right before a US Presidential announcement to come
>>>> in a week.  So expect more countries' "leaders" to throw out
>>>> annoucements saying that you can only have encryption if they let
>>>> you, or they get to decide what sites you visit, and so forth.
>>>> We must fight this.  They do what they will do, we do what we
>>>> will do, and we will win.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> News story from January 13 (text is shown below in English and
>>>> Russian) original link from:
>>>> http://tjournal.ru/paper/bitcoin-org-rkn
>>>>
>>>> Roscomnadzor blocked five dedicated Bitcoin sites
>>>>
>>>> Roskomnadzor introduced address Bitcoin.org - community of users
>>>> and experts in Cryptocurrency supported organization Bitcoin
>>>> Foundation - in the register of banned sites. In addition, the
>>>> sites were blocked bitcoin.it, coinspot.io, btsec.com and
>>>> Exchange indacoin.com. Information about this appeared on January
>>>> 13 on the website Roskomnadzora. - Editorial TJ tests buttons
>>>> UpToLike
>>>>
>>>> Updated at 17:13: added an excerpt from the court's decision.
>>>>
>>>> The reason why the site was inscribed in the register was
>>>> initially unknown. TJ verification showed that the site is no
>>>> longer open.
>>>>
>>>> There is information on the benefits of Bitcoins and how to use
>>>> it as individuals and companies, as well as links to community
>>>> dedicated Bitcoin. User-generated content on the website.
>>>>
>>>> According to Vladislav Zdolnikova taken after unloading from one
>>>> of the providers were also blocked sites Bitcoin.it (Wiki
>>>> dedicated Bitcoins) and Btsec.com (Russian-speaking community
>>>> Bitcoin). The reason was the decision of the court rendered more
>>>> September 30, 2014.
>>>>
>>>> Press secretary Vadim Roskomnadzora Ampelonsky confirmed TJ,
>>>> that dedicated Bitcoin sites are blocked on the basis of the
>>>> decision of the City Court Nevyansk Sverdlovsk region. Details of
>>>> the decision he did not elaborate.
>>>>
>>>> On the Court's website states that view the text of judicial
>>>> decisions is temporarily unavailable. TJ sent to the court a copy
>>>> of the request for extradition of the judicial act to limit
>>>> access to these sites.
>>>>
>>>> The court was told that copies are only actors, but it is clear
>>>> that the defendant does not take part in the process. In the
>>>> city prosecutor's office offered to send an appeal to the
>>>> District prokurara on the official form by fax to the media, but
>>>> this proved impossible due to the lack of TJ media registration
>>>> and fax.
>>>>
>>>> Block were also Russian-speaking community coinspot.ru and
>>>> Exchange indacoin.ru. Coinspot.ru representatives stated that
>>>> they have never been contacted directly, and they said the
>>>> decision to block the site was taken unilaterally. After they
>>>> changed the lock on the domain coinspot.io.
>>>>
>>>> - From the latest government initiatives to regulate Bitcoins
>>>> can distinguish the bill prepared by the Ministry of Finance for
>>>> the proposed fine for Bitcoin mining, loading mayningovyh
>>>> programs and even spreading of information on how to
>>>> Cryptocurrency sale. However, the document was published by the
>>>> Ministry of Finance October 3 - later than the decision was made
>>>> Nevyansk court.
>>>>
>>>> Later Roskomnadzor published excerpts from the decision Nevyansk
>>>> City Court. Apparently, the court was guided by a statement of
>>>> the Central Bank on 27 January 2014, in which Cryptocurrency
>>>> equated to money substitutes. However, on March 4 at the Central
>>>> Bank explained that it is not prohibited Cryptocurrency in
>>>> Russia.
>>>>
>>>> In accordance with Art. 27 of the Federal Law "On the Central 
>>>> Bank of the Russian Federation," the official monetary unit
>>>> (currency) of the Russian Federation is the ruble. Introduction
>>>> in Russia of other monetary units and production of money
>>>> substitutes is prohibited.
>>>>
>>>> In such circumstances Cryptocurrency, including "Bitcoin" are 
>>>> money substitutes, contribute to the growth of the shadow economy
>>>> and can not be used by citizens and legal persons on the
>>>> territory of the Russian Federation. of solutions №2-978 Nevyansk
>>>> City Court
>>>>
>>>> Роскомнадзор заблокировал пять посвящённых биткоинам сайтов
>>>>
>>>> Роскомнадзор внёс адрес Bitcoin.org — сообщества пользователей и 
>>>> специалистов по криптовалюте, поддерживаемый организацией
>>>> Bitcoin Foundation — в реестр запрещённых сайтов. Кроме того,
>>>> заблокированными оказались сайты bitcoin.it, coinspot.io,
>>>> btsec.com и биржа indacoin.com. Информация об этом появилась 13
>>>> января на сайте Роскомнадзора. — редакция TJ тестирует кнопки
>>>> UpToLike
>>>>
>>>> Обновлено в 17:13: добавлена выдержка из решения суда.
>>>>
>>>> Причина, по которой сайт был внесён в реестр, изначально была 
>>>> неизвестна. Проверка TJ показала, что сайт перестал открываться.
>>>>
>>>> На сайте опубликована информация по преимуществам биткоина и
>>>> способах его использования как отдельными людьми, так и
>>>> компаниями, а также ссылки на сообщества, посвящённые биткоину.
>>>> Пользовательского контента на сайте нет.
>>>>
>>>> По информации Владислава Здольникова, взятой через выгрузку у
>>>> одного из провайдеров, заблокированными оказались также сайты
>>>> Bitcoin.it (вики-энциклопедия, посвящённая биткоинам) и Btsec.com
>>>> (русскоязычное сообщество Bitcoin). Причиной стало решение суда,
>>>> вынесенное ещё 30 сентября 2014 года.
>>>>
>>>> Пресс-секретарь Роскомнадзора Вадим Ампелонский подтвердил TJ,
>>>> что посвящённые биткоинам сайты блокируются на основании решения 
>>>> Невьянского городского суда Свердловской области. Детали решения
>>>> он не уточнил.
>>>>
>>>> На сайте суда говорится, что просмотр текстов судебных актов
>>>> временно недоступен. TJ направил в суд просьбу о выдаче копии
>>>> судебного акта по ограничению доступа к указанным сайтам.
>>>>
>>>> В суде рассказали, что копии выдаются лишь участникам процесса,
>>>> однако очевидно, что сторона ответчиков не принимает участия в
>>>> процессе. В городской прокуратуре предложили направить обращение
>>>> на имя окружного прокурара на официальном бланке СМИ по факсу,
>>>> однако это оказалось невозможным ввиду отсутствия у TJ
>>>> регистрации СМИ и факса.
>>>>
>>>> Заблокированными также оказались русскоязычное сообщество
>>>> coinspot.ru и биржа indacoin.ru. Представители coinspot.ru
>>>> заявили, что с ними никто не связывался напрямую, и по их словам
>>>> решение о блокировке сайта принималось в одностороннем порядке.
>>>> После блокировки они сменили домен на coinspot.io.
>>>>
>>>> Из последних государственных инициатив по регулированию
>>>> биткоинов можно выделить законопроект, подготовленный
>>>> Министерством финансов, по которому предлагалось штрафовать за
>>>> добычу биткоинов, загрузку майнинговых программ и даже за
>>>> распростренение информации о способах продажи криптовалюты.
>>>> Однако документ Минфина был опубликован 3 октября — позже, чем
>>>> было вынесено решение Невьянского суда.
>>>>
>>>> Позже Роскомнадзор опубликовал выдержку из решения Невьянского 
>>>> городского суда. Судя по всему, суд руководствовался заявлением 
>>>> Центробанка от 27 января 2014 года, в котором криптовалюту
>>>> приравняли к денежным суррогатам. Правда, 4 марта в Центробанке
>>>> разъяснили, что не запрещали криптовалюту на территории РФ.
>>>>
>>>> В соответствии со ст. 27 Федерального закона «О Центральном
>>>> банке Российской Федерации» официальной денежной единицей
>>>> (валютой) Российской Федерации является рубль. Введение на
>>>> территории России других денежных единиц и выпуск денежных
>>>> суррогатов запрещается.
>>>>
>>>> При таких обстоятельствах криптовалюты, в том числе «Биткоин», 
>>>> являются денежными суррогатами, способствуют росту теневой
>>>> экономики и не могут быть использованы гражданами и юридическими
>>>> лицами на территории Российской Федерации. из решения №2-978
>>>> Невьянского городского суда
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>
>>
>>
> 


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