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#Mozilla silently banned addons for circumventing state censorship in Russia:

"I am one of the developers of the Censor Tracker add-on, which is listed on Mozilla’s add-on repository. We recently noticed that our add-on is now unavailable in Russia, despite being developed specifically to circumvent censorship in Russia.

We have not changed any visibility settings, nor have we received any emails regarding this action.

Our Russian users now see this message when they visit the page of Censor Tracker:

That page is not available in your region

The page you tried to access is not available in your region.

You may be able to find what you’re looking for in one of the available extensions or themes, or by asking for help on our community forums.

Can anyone suggest or explain what this is related to? Was there some request from the Russian authorities to make the extension unavailable in Russia or is there some other reason for this decision on Mozilla’s part?"

discourse.mozilla.org/t/the-ce

9 June at 20:33 | Open on wetdry.world
33 comments
FavoritoHJS

@cybertailor
with friends like these who needs enemies

9 June at 21:14 | Open on wetdry.world
Simon Müller :ablobcatcoffee:

@cybertailor

@mozilla a comment on this would be appreciated.

9 June at 22:42 | Open on wetdry.world
Oook

@cyrus @cybertailor

You may never hear about that by @mozilla if russia prevent them to talk about that. The fact that mozilla is US based doesn't free them from obeying foreign laws When serving russian users/customers it might have to abide to russian rules the same way a US company must comply with GPDR when serving euro citizens.

In that case mozilla may just have the choice between not serving any russian user at all and leave the market or obey to russian censorship.

10 June at 14:24 | Open on im-in.space
Irenes (many)

@cybertailor for our followers: we have no prior knowledge of these extensions and can't vouch for them, but yeah, at the very least there ought to be some sort of public explanation for something like this

9 June at 23:18 | Open on adhd.irenes.space
Angua :spinny_fox_disability:

@cybertailor@wetdry.world

This stinks.

I hadn't heard of you before, but frankly if someone's banning you in Russia you're worth a look.

You never know when it will spread and the UK has the "D-Notice" system, which buggers up knowing WTF the UK Gov is up to at times, at least IN the UK.

9 June at 23:43 | Open on mk.absturztau.be
Doctor LURK
MaxTheFox

@cybertailor @mynameistillian Annoying. But can't you use a VPN or proxy to bypass it, like basically every other Russia block?

10 June at 1:10 | Open on spacey.space
:neocat_scream: kittens!

@maxthefox @mynameistillian it's chicken and egg problem — if you don't already have such tool, you need to get it somewhere

10 June at 1:38 | Open on wetdry.world
MaxTheFox

@cybertailor @mynameistillian Plenty of places still around if you know where to look. But I agree it's shitty on Mozilla's part.

10 June at 2:01 | Open on spacey.space
Alex0007

@maxthefox @cybertailor @mynameistillian you can't use VPN, as global payment cards not working in Russia because of war, so you can't pay for it. And all free ones are blocked

10 June at 2:41 | Open on mastodon.social
MaxTheFox

@Alex0007 @cybertailor @mynameistillian I am currently using a free VPN and it works fine, not all are blocked, just gotta find the semi obscure ones.

10 June at 4:21 | Open on spacey.space
Alex0007

@maxthefox @cybertailor @mynameistillian while in my region government censor is testing Shadowsocks protocol detection, so my private VPN became blocked. I'm not even mentioning free VPN services which are blocked a long ago, especially those with Wireguard protocol

ntc.party/t/%D0%BD%D0%B5%D1%80

@maxthefox @cybertailor @mynameistillian while in my region government censor is testing Shadowsocks protocol detection, so my private VPN became blocked. I'm not even mentioning free VPN services which are blocked a long ago, especially those with Wireguard protocol

ntc.party/t/%D0%BD%D0%B5%D1%80

10 June at 9:00 | Open on mastodon.social
indyradio

@cybertailor Is it possible for Russia to have taken over distribution?

10 June at 2:57 | Open on kafeneio.social
Ada :v_trans: :v_pan:​

@cybertailor @ShadowJonathan censorship and sanctions are two separate things, mozilla is an American company bound by their laws.

When Russia decides to cause ~1million combined deaths with the most pointless war of our lifetime, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that certain things get blocked, as that is the point of said sanctions.

They legally have no choice but comply here, your anger is wholly misdirected.

10 June at 4:49 | Open on tech.lgbt
:neocat_scream: kittens!

@iamada you just completely missed the point :blobcatgooglyholdingitsheadinitshands:

Take, for example, "www.facebook.com". The Russian government can't control it, so it orders ISPs to block it entirely.

There are browser extensions to circumvent website bans by using proxies and/or anti-DPI measures, so people using such extensions can access "www.facebook.com" again.

Mozilla, without any notice, makes such extensions (and only them!) unavailable in Russia.

It's more likely that Mozilla did it to comply with Russian laws.

@iamada you just completely missed the point :blobcatgooglyholdingitsheadinitshands:

Take, for example, "www.facebook.com". The Russian government can't control it, so it orders ISPs to block it entirely.

There are browser extensions to circumvent website bans by using proxies and/or anti-DPI measures, so people using such extensions can access "www.facebook.com" again.

10 June at 5:16 | Open on wetdry.world
Ada :v_trans: :v_pan:​

@cybertailor they have to, otherwise they can/will be sanctioned, which would hurt the service for everyone.

This doesn't mean I agree, I'm just explaining why this is happening and why it's pointless being angry with Mozilla for it.

Mozilla, without any notice, makes such extensions (and only them!) unavailable in Russia.

They blocked tools to circumvent sanctions, for the sanction country... like, you don't get to ignore the wider context here just because it fits your narrative.

If you wish to be angry at someone, be angry at Putin and his cohort of yes-men for starting the war that caused the sanctions to begin with, not Mozilla for following the law.

@cybertailor they have to, otherwise they can/will be sanctioned, which would hurt the service for everyone.

This doesn't mean I agree, I'm just explaining why this is happening and why it's pointless being angry with Mozilla for it.

Mozilla, without any notice, makes such extensions (and only them!) unavailable in Russia.

10 June at 5:50 | Open on tech.lgbt
:neocat_scream: kittens!

@iamada what's more likely is that Mozilla received a letter from Roskomnadzor saying something like "remove these extensions or else we block the whole addons.mozilla.org".

In this case, Mozilla followed the law, but it was Russian law banning censorship circumvention technologies.

10 June at 6:19 | Open on wetdry.world
Ada :v_trans: :v_pan:​

@cybertailor you're saying that an American company subject to American law, based in America is more likely to bend over backwards for Russia, than to follow the American law?

...buddy... c'mon...

It's fair to be upset if it messes with your workflow, but maybe take a break and reread this in a few hours.

10 June at 6:29 | Open on tech.lgbt
:neocat_scream: kittens!

@iamada it's good old blackmailing. Websites are given a choice: either they remove content in question themselves, or the entire website becomes banned in Russia, as HTTPS requests only reveal domain

10 June at 7:36 | Open on wetdry.world
:neocat_scream: kittens!

@iamada

Russia decides

Russia doesn't decide anything, Putin does.

And how exactly does it help to stop the war, if a website decides to block visitors from Russia?

10 June at 5:23 | Open on wetdry.world
Ada :v_trans: :v_pan:​

@cybertailor

And how exactly does it help to stop the war, if a website decides to block visitors from Russia?

Are you asking how sanctions work?

If so, and in this case; by blocking tools to circumvent said sanctions, in order to increases pressure on the Russian people by removing luxuries like access to the global market and its products and services (like Facebook)

10 June at 5:52 | Open on tech.lgbt
:neocat_scream: kittens!

@iamada this doesn't answer why the same extensions were not removed by Google, of all things.

And "pressure on the Russian" people only causes frustration directed to the ones who imposed such restrictions.

By the way, Facebook was blocked by Russia, it has nothing to do with sanctions.

10 June at 6:17 | Open on wetdry.world
Yeshaya Lazarevich

@iamada this tool is to circumvent Russian state censorship, not sanctions.
@cybertailor

10 June at 13:10 | Open on hachyderm.io
Yeshaya Lazarevich

@iamada also, sanctions like the ones imposed on Russia are designed to pressure the war economy and the ruling class, not "the people"
@cybertailor

10 June at 13:11 | Open on hachyderm.io
Gold gab ich für Eisen

@cybertailor @iamada

Aha, Putin lays coordinates of every target, pulls every trigger and personally rapes every woman on this war. 0 days since somebody tried to sell us this old funny story.

Blocking visitors from Russia means excluding population heavily indoctrinated by Russian propaganda from normal resources.

Anyway it is a good idea to figure out why Mozilla did that. There could be different and very surprising answers.

10 June at 9:04 | Open on c.im
:neocat_scream: kittens!

@nanoelquant @iamada

1.

All political decisions are made by Putin, and armed forces implement his will.


2.

Russian people generally do not believe TV propaganda and do not have any opinion at all. That's what sociologists say.

10 June at 9:37 | Open on wetdry.world
Gold gab ich für Eisen

@cybertailor @iamada "Russian people (...) do not have any opinion at all"
So why do we need them here?

"That's what sociologists say"
Ahm... Sociology in Russia?

10 June at 15:20 | Open on c.im
DavidsCreation 🇵🇸

@cybertailor They were probably bribed.
The Russian Federation is a massive country with a reasonably sized economy, Google managed to bribe them, and if they can, anyone can.
I wouldn't at all be surprised if this is what happened, but it only makes everything more shit than it already is.

10 June at 6:33 | Open on wetdry.world
:neocat_scream: kittens!

@DavidsCreation i think blackmailing ("you ban some extensions or we ban all extensions") is more probable than bribe

10 June at 7:29 | Open on wetdry.world
Orca🌻 | 🏴🏳️‍⚧️

@cybertailor@wetdry.world The page looks a lot like if you access uBlockOrigin's page from China. (Because of a Chinese court ruling, Mozilla is required to block uBO and other adblockers from being downloaded by Chinese internet users)

Also the HTTP status code returned is HTTP 451 (unavailable due to legal reasons). A reference to Fahrenheit 451. ​:neocat_facepalm:​
10 June at 11:45 | Open on nya.one
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