Russia's communications regulator, Roskomnadzor, intends to block Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) starting March 1, 2024, according to Senator Artem Sheikin of the United Russia party. more
France's forthcoming SREN Bill could mandate web browsers to block websites deemed illicit by the government, setting a precarious standard for digital freedoms, warns Mozilla Foundation in a recent blog post. more
Iran has disrupted mobile internet access for some three hours on 19 January 2023. Real-time NetBlocks metrics show that mobile networks were disrupted for three hours on Thursday morning, while fixed-line services were largely unaffected. more
Due to increased legislative interest in this topic, CENTR says there is a pressing need for comprehensive educational material on the technical capabilities of the DNS, ccTLDs and their role in the internet ecosystem. more
Russia's Ministry of Communications has announced that it has successfully tested a country-wide alternative to the global Internet and that general users did not notice any changes. more
Iran has almost entirely shut down internet access across the country amid protests over an increase in fuel prices. more
Chinese citizens will be required to let telecommunications carriers to scan their faces in order to sign up for internet access or to get a new phone number. more
The online digital rights group, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) on Tuesday published a post warning ICANN's latest move requiring the use of Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) for .org domain names is a "bad fit." more
While in most developed nations, foreign telecoms are interconnected with local and other international Internet exchanges, in China, there are no foreign carriers detected within china's borders. more
The internet fragmentation practiced by various countries have, for the most part, been alternations to the information flows on top of the internet architecture, not the architecture itself. China, for instance, still relies on the global DNS and is yet to unplug from major internet exchange points. more
President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday signed an "internet sovereignty" bill into law that further expands government's control of the Internet. more
The Indian government has proposed a bill to suppress online content in the country, increase control over messaging and trace messages to their origin. more
Speaking at a private event hosted by Village Global VC, tech luminary and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt predicted that the internet will split into Chinese-led and US-led versions by 2028. more
Neustar, the registry operator of the .US domain and NTIA have reversed course, allowing the inclusion of previously restricted "seven dirty words" from future .US domain name registrations. more
European authorities proposed new laws today subjecting internet companies like Google, Twitter and Facebook to big fines if the extremist content is not taken down within one hour. more