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Russia Blocks Access to Major Independent News Sites

eff.org

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Re: Russia Blocks Access to Major Independent News Sites

#51

Post by democracy »

spenvo wrote: post #3

The greatest instrument used in the societal tragedies of the last century has (undoubtedly) been state delivered propaganda. Japan (Empire of the Rising Sun), Nazi Germany, Maoism (and the following Cultural Revolution), in America: Red Scare (age of McCarthyism, ending as a consequence of JMc.'s untimely death), the Red Peril (the predecessor of the Red Scare) -- the list goes on. The efficacy of those at the top t…

Also in Germany there was a very good (for Hitler) historical context that didn't need many of out-of-@ss facts (you can get from mass media these days). Anyway, J. Goebbels was the god of propaganda and still is I guess a role model of some political journalists even these days.

Re: Russia Blocks Access to Major Independent News Sites

#52

Post by raquo »

siculars wrote: post #40

Here's an idea. Every organization that believes in freedom may consider repurposing their websites to allow access to censored sites. Let's say you're in Russia and instead of configuring a proxy you simply go to eff.org or nyt.com or columbia.edu and you go to a special page there that then lets you go to all the sites that are censored in that country. The net result is that that country would then need to censor…

They'll just blacklist every single one of these sites for enabling access to illegal materials and you won't even be able to read EFF from Russia. And if a Russian citizen creates a public proxy, they'll convict him on anti-terrorist charges. That'll deter the rest.

I am not convinced that pushing Putin to exercise his dictatorial abilities is a good idea when his approval ratings among the general population are so high. I mean, if people already hated him, that might have pushed them over the edge. But as it stands now, general population is more likely to rationalize blocking than admit that Putin is evil.

Re: Russia Blocks Access to Major Independent News Sites

#53

Post by hueving »

thirsteh wrote: post #4
mike_esspe wrote: post #2

The law, that created internet block list in Russia, was promoted as a measure to stop child pornography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Restriction_Bill

"Won't you think of the children" indeed.

I think it's more "stop thinking of the children, you pervert".

Re: Russia Blocks Access to Major Independent News Sites

#56

Post by jevinskie »

1gor wrote: post #37

While the press freedom is important there are different priorities during the wartime. Russia today is ready to go to war with the West in order to keep Ukraine from joining NATO. "Russia regards this as an existential threat and will do whatever it takes to prevent it happening. ( http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26566452)" The banned sites are considered enemy propaganda outfits by Kremlin.

When you start to justify things with "... during the wartime" you end up with atrocities like the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII.

Re: Russia Blocks Access to Major Independent News Sites

#60

Post by RomanPushkin »

I'm from Russia, and you know, average Russian didn't feel that major independent news sites are blocked. May be they're blocked, but we actually don't give a f..k about them. We have other independent news sites. So my position is like the West is trying to force hysteria.

Please don't think that we don't have freedoms here. We have much more freedom that you can ever imagine. As well, we don't need to be protected by the bulwark of democracy - US.

We're just fine!

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