Not really surprising given the direction that Russa has been heading under Putin. With few exceptions free press is gone in the country. Pervasive Internet censorship is the next logical step in locking down power.
Would you mind if your goverment ban something like "al-Qaeda's official website"? When somebody is talking about killing citizens of your country, it has nothing to do with freedom.
My government (the US government) does not currently block or censor any internet website. They may throw their weight around from time to time where some say they shouldn't, but no - there is no direct filtering of internet traffic - nothing is banned. In the US free speech is free speech - even if that free speech is anti-US or anti-government.
Since when did a government stay up late at night worrying about its people inciting others to suicide and porn? The fact that Suicide and Porn websites are part of the items on the blacklist is almost proof that this blacklist's primary purpose is to be re-tooled to contain everything BUT those items.
The items to be added to the list are whatever the government wants off the internet. Anything that makes the government look bad, anything that reports on corruption, anything that spreads truth rather than the government sponsored truth-narrative.
I wonder what happens if the bozo at the command-and-control internet console accidentally adds asterisk into the blacklist? Does the entire Internet get completely shutdown?
> what happens if the bozo at the command-and-control internet console accidentally adds asterisk into the blacklist?
The list is almost certainly on paper, and it will take long path through bureaucracy to the service providers, which will be ultimately responsible for enforcong it.
> Since when did a government stay up late at night worrying about its people inciting others to suicide and porn?
Well, since about the dawn of time. I doubt this wont have severe consequences for Russian internet freedom, but at least preventing suicide is something governments are doing. Sadly, they don't understand the internet and they don't seem to understand why freedom is better.
