Russian deputy minister says blockings in Internet ineffective

BEIJING, Nov 1 (PRIME) -- Blocking of content in the Internet becomes more and more ineffective because of the technologies that helps users skirt it, and the measure should be abandoned sooner or later, Russian Deputy Digital Development Minister Alexei Volin said on Thursday ahead of the Russia-China media forum in Shanghai.

“We think blockings’ effectiveness fades each day, and they are becoming a thing of the past. We’ll have to give them up sooner or later, because a rising number of people evade them without even noticing thanks to the technologies making that possible,” Volin said, adding that “there will be more of that in the future.”

Volin said that Beijing’s example of muting the Internet proves that any blocking can be cheated, and “Telegram and WhatsApp function in China even though they’re blocked here officially.”

Russia blocked Telegram after the popular messenger refused to share the decoding keys for users’ messages with the Federal Security Service saying it was technically impossible.

The deputy minister also said that Russia and China have some 100 media projects annually. “We’ve recently discussed with our Chinese colleagues further plans and agreed that we plan to focus on cooperation in the digital industry, in the media environment in the next several years,” Volin said.

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