The Tightening Web of Russian Internet Regulation

November 2014
Authored by Andrey Tselikov

"The Tightening Web of Russian Internet Regulation," authored by Andrey Tselikov, tracks the recent growth of Russian legislation targeted at increasing restrictions on Internet users.

Over the past two years, systematic Internet regulation has increased more in Russia than anywhere else in the world. A series of progressively more restrictive legislative developments between the summer of 2012 and the summer of 2014 have increased the power of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office and federal agency Roskomnadzor to block or take down websites for a wide range of alleged infractions. New legislation has also mandated the registration of bloggers with the federal government and greatly increased Russian law enforcement access to user data, among other changes. This paper examines this growing web of regulations and explores how Russian Internet users and freedom of information advocates are responding through online and offline protests, circumvention, and a range of other tactics.

Download the full report as a PDF from SSRN: "The Tightening Web of Russian Internet Regulation"