This past week the Russian government announced a new law making it clear they’re no longer going to allow their tech savvy citizens to view restricted websites using services that help them circumvent the system.

For many years Russian residents have been banned from viewing tens of thousands of websites, mostly those sharing copyrighted material. But many residents decided not to bend to these new rules willingly, rather opting for virtual private networks to help them surf online anonymously.

Now all of this is about to change.

A new bill just signed into law by President Vladimir Putin requires every service provider that allows people to view blocked domains to stop. If they don’t, they will be blocked too.

A growing trend

The use of virtual private networks, or VPNs, to circumvent government or other types of restrictions online is in no way restricted to Russia.

On the other side of the world, Australia is fast becoming an unlikely hotspot for digital disobedience after Google started removing illegal streaming sites following a court order. Two production studios, including Village Roadshow Pictures — producers of such blockbusters like The Matrix trilogy and the Ocean’s series — took the search engine to court earlier this year in a bid to have 61 sites removed.

“Taking legal action to stop an unlawful activity continuing is a sensible and necessary approach,” Melbourne-based entertainment lawyer Shaun Miller told news.com.au. “Australians don’t realise that illegally downloading content is nothing short of stealing, and this has a detrimental effect on Australia’s creative communities,” he added.

However, many tech experts warn that merely banning these sites and restricting access is not enough because it can be bypassed in seconds using a VPN. And ever since the court order, companies providing VPN services Down Under have reported a boom in sales with more and more Australians hiding their IP addresses and moving their illegal viewing off shore.

So how can VPNs still be legal in so many countries if can so easily aid and abet unlawful online activity?

What exactly is a VPN?

VPN connectivity overview (Credit: Wikipedia)

 In the most basic of terms, a VPN allows for a private network to extend across a public network so that users of the internet can browse freely without their IP address (the code that uniquely identifies your web connection) being known. The benefits of using a VPN includes the protection of your privacy, but it also offers a way to escape geo-filters and other methods used by governments to block certain websites.

If you use a VPN service, it creates a secure, encrypted connection, almost like a tunnel, between your computer and a third-party server. There are various security systems that VPNs use to secure your connection, with the most common being a Secure Shell (SSH) connection. This type of connection makes it possible to circumvent government filters and geo-filters since your IP address is hidden.

VPNs and piracy

Understandably, governments and enforcers of copyright laws are frustrated that VPNs allows users to easily sidestep restrictions. Professor Nicolas Suzor of the University of Technology in Queensland called site blocking “basically like ‘whack-a-mole’,” explaining that it’s more of a “symbolic victory over piracy” rather than a sustainable solution.

On top of that, many users — especially Australians — feel they have an intrinsic right to access content if it’s not easily available through legal channels or too expensive. “There are no realistic means for an ISP to stop people using a VPN to visit sites,” confirms Finder.com.au’s Angus Kidman. Because the very use of a VPN makes it impossible for your ISP to know you are using one — or see what sites or content you are accessing through it.

Google, too, added their voice to proceedings, writing that “whole-site removal is ineffective and can easily result in censorship of lawful material. This would jeopardise free speech principles, emerging services, and the free flow of information online globally and in contexts far removed from copyright.”

However, on the flip side of the coin Screen Producers Australia chief executive Matthew Deaner not only feels that banning illegal streaming sites is the right way to go, but that VPN users that circumvent geo-filters should also be stopped. “By getting around geo-blocks that enforce licence conditions, you’re undermining international financing and licensing of film and television content. This, together with increasing levels of piracy, means producers struggle to get a return on their hard work.

“It’s death by a thousand cuts.”

The Russian situation

Unlike Australia, the Russian government is not about to idly stand by and be defeated by VPNs in their effort to stop online piracy. The former Soviet Union is swiftly becoming the world leader when it comes to blocking unlawful websites, with tens of thousands already outlawed on copyright infringement grounds alone.

With this new bill signed into law, telecoms watchdog Rozcomnadzor will keep a list of all these banned domains along with a list of sites, services, and software that can potentially provide access to them. It’s understood that Rozcomnadzor will then contact the operators of these services, urging them to stop giving users access or face being banned themselves.

TorrentFreak reports that under the new law, search engines will also be required to remove links to blocked resources from their results to prohibit citizens from being encouraged to visit them. Failing to comply with the new requirements could lead to a $12,400 penalty per breach.

“We believe that the laying of responsibilities on search engines is superfluous,” a spokesperson of Yandex, a local search giant in Russia, told the outlet. Even if the reference to a banned resource does appear in search results, it does not mean that by clicking on it the user will get access because it was already blocked by the ISP, he explains.

From the outset, international watchdogs have condemned the Russian government for what they perceive to be restrictive policies possibly infringing on civil liberties and freedom of speech. Many also feel that the new law is broadening the scope of banned material so much that it will likely start to censor criticism of the government as well.

“Laws that criminalize the use of privacy-enhancing technologies like VPNs are incredibly dangerous and will restrict rights to privacy, free expression and access to information,” Jim Killock, executive director of the UK digital rights campaign Open Rights Group told CNBC.

The singing of the new anti-VPN bill in Russia follows closely on the news that tech giant Apple was recently forced to remove major VPN apps from its app store in China. Earlier this year China’s ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced a new law requiring all developers offering VPN services to obtain a license from the government.

“We have been required to remove some VPN apps in China that do not meet the new regulations,” Apple said in a statement.

For now, it seems that the balance between securing the internet against piracy and allowing its users the right to privacy is still being debated. While the use of VPNs remains legal in countries like Australia for the time being, its days are likely numbered.