PRESS: Com service wants to mute online walky-talky Zello

MOSCOW, Mar 26 (PRIME) -- The Russian communications service has recommended connection operators to block U.S. voice messenger Zello and sees muting it as an experiment, business daily Vedomosti reported on Monday, citing several sources.

The service analyzed the work of Zello and determined sub-networks that should be blocked to effectively degrade the messenger. In the list of 36 sub-networks, 26 units belong to U.S. e-commerce giant Amazon, and in total all these networks contain almost 15 million IP addresses, including 13.5 million units belonging to Amazon.

The sub-networks chosen by the communications watchdog are not all IP addresses of Amazon, but they account for a significant part of addresses from two big U.S. regions, where the company’s datacenters are located, a person familiar with Amazon’s infrastructure told Vedomosti.

Zello is an Internet walky-talky, making possible to instantly send out messages to a person or a group without typing or reading.

The program was blocked by the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media in April 2017 after it had failed to duly provide information to be added to the register of organizers of information distribution. Zello is well aware of the situation and advises users how to avoid muting.

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