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Russia Blocks Access to Major Independent News Sites

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Re: Russia Blocks Access to Major Independent News Sites

#61

Post by Asparagirl »

RomanPushkin wrote: post #60

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…

And the feminist punk bands, the homosexuals, and the murdered journalists -- how are they doing lately?

Re: Russia Blocks Access to Major Independent News Sites

#62

Post by avmich »

akater wrote: post #50
smm2000 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a good joke

Sorry but unless you live in R. as well, I know better. Internet users of the West have plenty of ways to fight back, and yet they don't really use any. They don't value the freedom they have — so they will soon lose even that. The strategy I suggest is completely valid. It worked in the past, and it would work now if executed properly.

I guess, if you live in an oppressive regime and have to use whatever means are available, you get a good training. Alternatively, if the society is comparably more free and you don't use your rights, you tend to forget about them - why, most of the time it works by default. But when suddenly something doesn't work - you don't know what to do.

Compare to approaches Russian opposition is taking. They have to know law, often know (much) better than judges which don't follow the law anyway - but at least the opposition reasoning and their logical constructions could be heard. I guess, not anymore - state-controlled media isn't going to provide objective coverage of "criminals" in courts.

Re: Russia Blocks Access to Major Independent News Sites

#63

Post by avmich »

sologoub wrote: post #11

Well... I was expecting a more impressive list then these: - www.grani.ru - www.kasparov.ru - www.ej.ru - http://navalny.livejournal.com Not even sure why they bothered to block Kasparov. I have yet to talk to someone who actually lives in Russia and cares about what he has to say. While not a good move, it doesn't quite live up to the EFF headline. This is the official site that lists all blocked sites, but it looks…

You don't get a more impressive list because these are the only remaining sources. The rest are suppressed - by various means. Echo of Moscow could be the last - and might be closed not because it's oppositional but just because it's more balanced than government-influenced media.

Re: Russia Blocks Access to Major Independent News Sites

#64

Post by avmich »

raquo wrote: post #52
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…

One can just wait - dictatorial approach always becomes clear, as the people's life suffer, but it takes time to distinguish propaganda from reality.

The hope is this time it wouldn't take that long. However there should be reasons to change the society faster - and that requires efforts.

Re: Russia Blocks Access to Major Independent News Sites

#65

Post by avmich »

spoiledtechie wrote: post #48

1. Create laws to shut down public knowledge. 2. Use those laws to shut down public knowledge. 3. Invade a country to see how the rest of the world responds. 4. This is the most important step. We respond with strength or we respond with diplomacy. 5. If we respond with diplomacy step 6 would be for Putin to invade another country. If we respond with force, it would lead Putin to respond with backtracking... The choi…

Actually, soft force could be quite powerful. There is somewhat relevant Iran example.

I think the West has plenty of opportunities here. On the other hand, those won't come free - and I understand the hesitation. Yet again, to some - smaller - extent we have a situation, which is similar to what happened already about 80 years ago in Europe.

Re: Russia Blocks Access to Major Independent News Sites

#66

Post by dangerden »

I'm from Russia. Yes, sure, it is a plan to control the media. Especially when Internet media are so popular. We still have access to all other western medias. It is pretty simple to compare the facts. Of course these happenings are tightly linked to the Ukraine crisis. I could say that western people also do not get the whole picture as national medias cover the crisis in a very biased way. One more time we see that medias are being controlled by someone imposing "national" interests.

Re: Russia Blocks Access to Major Independent News Sites

#67

Post by blogytalky »

RomanPushkin wrote: post #60

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…

Please don't speak on behalf of an "average Russian" because "we actually don't give a f..k about them" is simply not true at all.

Re: Russia Blocks Access to Major Independent News Sites

#68

Post by [deleted] »

Steko wrote: post #25
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…

It's a good thing the Mongols didn't have modern _state delivered propaganda_, otherwise some real atrocities might have taken place in the areas they conquered.

[deleted]

Re: Russia Blocks Access to Major Independent News Sites

#69

Post by beedogs »

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…

> We are witnessing (again [0]) a complete lack of attempted narrative on the part of the US/UK mainstream press. There isn't the slightest reason to not give this story ample coverage -- it is anti-Putin/Russia (which, we can all agree is the current fetish in the media), and it is absolutely newsworthy -- even by their standards (they covered when the Russia Today anchors quit and spoke-out). SO WHAT GIVES? This is the dereliction of duty in "journalism." Shame. And it is greatly affecting the movement for an Uncensored and Open Internet.

It's obvious. People will start drawing parallels between Russia's actions and that of the Western governments and their press. They'd rather not have folks figure out we're just as bad as the rest of 'em.

Re: Russia Blocks Access to Major Independent News Sites

#70

Post by bmelton »

ender7 wrote: post #18
baddox wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Consider current-day North Korea, Venezuela, or countless Middle-Eastern countries (which regulate education as well as the internet) Doesn't the United States also regulate education and the Internet, and particularly the former? It seems like you're still likely to get labelled a kooky conspiracy theorist if you claim that modern Western governments actively engage in blatant propaganda campaigns, but it's consid…

US education has both private and public aspects. Private schools are, surprisingly, almost unregulated in terms of the content that they must teach (high school students are required to take one class in American History). Public education is administered at the county level (if you can believe it). States have a decent amount to say with regards to what schools teach; the federal government does not. This system is…

> Public education is administered at the county level

Admitting that as being partially true, and/or not wanting to quibble over where it isn't, it's worth pointing out that will be a fallacy should Common Core become widely adopted.

It's also worth noting that public schools have been used for indoctrination for a very long time now. You'd have been hard-pressed to find a college grad in the early thirties who believed that the government had the Constitutional authority to implement Obamacare, while you'd be hard-pressed to find one now that believed it didn't.

While much of that is attributable to the actual practice of legislation, and the past 80 years of precedent, education, particularly history, is continually being "updated" to reflect modern sentiment, and applies that to the distant past.

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