Roskomnadzor Plans to Block Scientific and Technical Information About VPN Services
Media outlets have reported that Roskomnadzor has prepared a draft order that would classify scientific, scientific-technical, and statistical information about VPN services used to bypass restrictions as prohibited in Russia. The only exception will be information about VPNs used to provide secure remote access.
On July 30, 2024, the document was published on the Federal Portal for Draft Regulatory Legal Acts and is now open for public discussion, which will end on August 5 of this year. The draft order proposes that the new rules will take effect on March 1, 2025, and remain in force until September 1, 2029.
It is worth noting that since March 1, 2024, a Roskomnadzor order has been in effect allowing the agency to block websites containing information about methods and ways to use prohibited resources, as well as advertising related software. However, the current criteria for inclusion in the list of prohibited resources do not apply to “scientific, scientific-technical, and statistical information about methods and ways of providing access to information resources and/or information and telecommunication networks, access to which is restricted in Russia.”
The new version of the order proposes to change this provision so that the criteria will not apply “to scientific, scientific-technical, and statistical information about methods and ways of exchanging information in information and telecommunication networks, including the Internet, when providing access to information resources and/or information and telecommunication networks using secure communication channels.”
Referring to Federal Law No. 149 “On Information,” which prohibits information “about methods and ways of providing access to information resources and/or information and telecommunication networks, access to which is restricted in the Russian Federation,” Roskomnadzor states that this also includes “VPN services that provide access to blocked information resources and/or information and telecommunication networks.”
“Thus, scientific and scientific-technical information describing the creation and structure of VPN services, whose purpose is to provide individuals with access to information resources and/or information and telecommunication networks restricted in the Russian Federation, should also be recognized as prohibited,” the authors of the new draft write in the explanatory note. “Based on the wording of subparagraph ‘m’ of paragraph 1, part 5, article 15 of Federal Law No. 149-FZ, access to such scientific and scientific-technical information should be restricted.”
At the same time, Roskomnadzor adds that “VPN services may be developed and used only to provide secure access to information resources and/or secure information exchange in information and telecommunication networks,” and such services are not intended for bypassing restrictions, but “are used to protect confidential information, including to prevent its leakage.”
“For these purposes, VPN services are used, in particular, by government agencies, local authorities, commercial enterprises, including financial organizations. In this regard, the draft order proposes to revise subparagraph 5 of paragraph 5 of the Criteria,” the explanatory note says.