In Ukraine in three years will block Russian resources Mail.ru, Vkontakte, Odnoklassniki, Yandex, and other sites. The decision of the Council of national security and defense on may 15 signed by the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. While the sites are working, but providers promise to close the access during the week.
Some sites will lock and when?
In the decree lists the sanctions against the Russian developers of antivirus software, Kaspersky Lab, Dr. Web, all the resources of “Yandex”, including “Kinopoisk”, software developers ABBYY and 1C, Vkontakte, Mail.ru and “Classmates”.
Director of corporate communications “Ukrtelecom” Mikhail Shuranov said that the blocking of sites has already begun. The rest of the week all of the resources listed in the decree, the provider will block. In “Kyivstar” also said that the company is technically prepared to implement the decision of the national security Council.
“The process is very difficult and time consuming, considering the large number of resources. Work has already begun. They will be conducted in phases and according to preliminary estimates will take from two days to a week”, – said Mikhail Shuranov.
In the Council of national security and defense still do not know how to work the ban. On the website of the national security Council explained that the sanctions imposed against the Internet resources, as they threaten the information security of the country. The mechanism of blocking of sites should offer the security Service.
Is it possible to circumvent the ban?
In the “Ukrtelecom” commented that block only “normal” access to the site. This means that directly at the Russian sites access will be closed, but will be able to circumvent the restrictions.
To ban access to sites Ukrainian providers can’t say to the Internet Association of Ukraine. Even keep track of who bypasses the blocking is impossible, because you can change the user’s credentials. For full closure, access providers will have to change the hardware and software. According to estimates of the Association it takes a year or two and $ 1 billion. If such a requirement, most operators will leave the market, and the price of Internet access will grow with the fall of quality, experts predict science.
Photo: TASS
“In Ukraine there are no structures similar to the Roskomnadzor. There is no technical possibility to block specific addresses. Those who write these ordinances don’t think how they will be implemented. It is necessary to pass hundreds of Internet service providers, starting with the largest, and the largest is the Russian capital (“Kyivstar” — aka “Vympelcom”) and start to tell them that they need to block specific addresses. In General, it will be fun,” responded the former Director “Yandex. Ukraine” Sergey Petrenko.
Consultant and trainer at digital security Nicholas Costigan believes that Ukrainians will quickly find a way to circumvent the ban. Blocking sites the government will only create a precedent, because the state did not use such a tool.
“It’s an ugly move on the part of the state. But it is not the fact that all the block out. If this happens, it will be a precedent – Ukraine may block and prohibit online. In his time in Russia has limited access to “Events”. His attendance is not particularly changed. Only on the home page, a description of the bypass prohibition. In Ukraine, the blocking of inappropriate sites. Generally, it is the road to nowhere. With the same success the government may prohibit access to other resources, and for other purposes. I am a supporter of free Internet,” commented Nicholas Costigan.
The reaction of “Yandex”, “Vkontakte” and “Classmates” on the ban
Russian search engine and social networks are the top 10 most visited Internet resources of Ukraine. Some of them have already responded to the sanctions.
“The business of the group companies Yandex, of course, very large, and the sanctions will not affect. But we consider Ukraine to be an important part of our work and regret that the sanctions nullify all long-term efforts of our team. The main victim of the sanctions is Ukrainian,” – said the press service.
Communications Director of “Classmates” Anastasia zhbanova said that the company will try to keep in touch 9.5 million Ukrainian users: “We hope that the interests of our users will be in the first place. Together we will find a way to stay connected, and 9.5 million Ukrainian users OK, our partners and advertisers will be able to use the social network as they used to,” she commented.
Communication Manager of “Vkontakte” Ukraine Vlad Legotkin noted that the social network is visited monthly by 16 million Ukrainians, and she was always out of politics: “Ukrainians for ten years, communicate with their friends and family to come together in community personal and professional interests, share photos and thoughts. We, the team of “Vkontakte”, always avoided party politics. We believe that the Internet inherently has no boundaries. We have defended and will defend the interests of all our users.”
