According to the news agency Motherland, the government of the Russian federation intends to block Tor, a browser and network that anonymizes web traffic.
Certain domains have been blocked in Russia since 2012, when a blacklist law went into effect, but the current legislation relies on individual internet service providers to block these sites. Many citizens easily bypass the barriers with tools like Tor and VPN, or virtual private network, services, which allow them to tunnel traffic through alternative IP addresses and appear as if they are located outside of Russia, Motherland informs.
Vadim Ampelonskogo, the chief press officer for the country's federal authority on telecommunications, released a statement describing Tor as, "den of criminals" and "ghouls, all gathered in one place." He made it clear the government has the service in its sights, saying blocking it would be difficult but "technically possible," the article writes.
According to Jillian York, Director for International Freedom of Expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, it is unlikely Russia would follow through on such a massive undertaking. While VPNs are fairly easy to block, Tor is a different game.
