Zharov about blocking Amazon and Google subnets: “They are now deciding whether they will work in the territory of the Russian Federation or not.”

In an interview with the Izvestia newspaper, Alexander Zharov told how Roskomnadzor’s technicians block Telegram, why they had to block subnets with millions of IP addresses, and how much pressure is now being put on Amazon and Google to stop working with Telegram (their business in Russia is under threat). because of locks).

The Roskomnadzor operation to restrict access to Telegram began on Monday at around 11:30 am, when the agency’s employees unloaded the Telegram IP addresses into the unified register of prohibited information. After that, the providers started blocking. There are about 4,200 telecom operators in Russia, so some began to actually block IP addresses earlier than others.

“At the first stage, we were aware of more than 9000 Telegram own IP addresses. And since this is not about blocking the page of the site, but of the entire messenger, we unloaded all four subnets belonging to it. The blocking from the operators took several hours, and already somewhere from 12:30 to 15:00 Telegram began to sharply deteriorate, as was seen on the diagram, ”said Zharov.
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Further events of yesterday remind a game of cat and mouse.

“Between 14:00 and 15:00 our technical specialists recorded the transfer of the messenger to a different set of IP addresses - this was a subnet of the American Amazon campaign, which included more than 600 thousand IP addresses. And here we faced a serious challenge. - recognized Zharov. - It was necessary to understand whether there are any respectable resources at these addresses. Therefore, our specialists promptly dismantled the subnet, and already around 18:00 we unloaded it to telecom operators. From 19:00 to 22:00 our specialists again recorded the degradation of the messenger in Russia. But then he switched to the Google subnet, which had 540 thousand IP addresses. Of course, such a large number of IP allows the service to migrate very quickly, such a transition occurs within two to four minutes, so it is pointless to unload individual addresses, only the entire subnet. ”

The head of Roskomnadzor stressed that “Mr. Durov and the Telegram administration are resorting to quite tough methods without taking into account the interests of respectable resources”. Now, to bypass the blocking, “about 20 subnets are used, the total number of IP addresses is more than 10 million. These are subnetworks of different levels: there are large, 11th level, they have more than 2 million IP addresses. But basically, these are small subnets of the 12–13–14 level, which include several hundred thousand addresses. ”

According to Zharov, Telegram puts up good resources.

Pressure on Amazon and Google

Zharov confirmed that Roskomnadzor intends to seek the removal of Telegram from the App Store and Google Play. In addition, "US companies must create technical conditions that will make the service unavailable in Russia." In other words, Roskomnadzor hopes that Google and Amazon will refuse to cooperate with Telegram, as they had previously refused to cooperate with the Zello mobile radio. She also used the Amazon cloud to bypass blockages in Russia, but after the threat of Roskomnadzor to block 15 million IP addresses, Amazon asked Zello not to use its platform as a “shield” to bypass blockages. Zharov explained that the terrorists also communicated through the radio Zello, as well as through the Telegram messenger. These are two well-known FSB tools for communicating terrorists.

Thus, it becomes clear why Roskomnadzor is now using fan-type locks with the inclusion of millions of IP addresses in the registry. In a sense, this is a kind of pressure on Google and Amazon: “If you look at a set of IP addresses, for example, Amazon’s 6 million IP is almost half of all that they basically have. In total, there are about 13 million. That is, by and large, they are now deciding whether to work in the territory of the Russian Federation or not, ”said Zharov.

For Zharov, it is important to emphasize that “collateral losses” in the form of locks of dozens of respectable resources are not the fault of Roskomnadzor, but the fault of Telegram , which Amazon and Google use, thereby provoking the blocking of ordinary websites. Limiting access to millions of IP-addresses, Roskomnadzor acts in strict accordance with the law, said Zharov.

Whatever Zharov says, but the blocking of foreign resources is a weak spot in the position of Roskomnadzor. Now the lawyers of Agora are preparing the Prosecutor General’s Office for verification of compliance with the lawfulness of Roskomnadzor’s actions .

Time will tell who in this situation will surrender first: Telegram, Roskomnadzor or Amazon with Google. If cloud hosting companies refuse to cooperate with Telegram, then the messenger has several alternative options for further blocking bypass: these are other cloud hosting, a P2P protocol for sending messages or using a proxy with VPN.

Proxy blocking

Zharov also mentioned the creation of a single registry "for proxying programs." The operator of each proxy will have a choice: connect to the unified registry of prohibited information and start filtering it — or be blocked. At the same time, Zharov acknowledged that it is impossible to block all proxies, because their “hundreds of thousands”, but some of the most popular ones are possible.

Zharov stressed that the approach of Russia and China to Internet censorship is softer for users than the approach of Western Europe and the USA: “Ultimately, in countries where the Internet is used, there are two approaches. The first one is like in China. This is blocking prohibited information on the submission of the authorized body. The second approach is used by Western Europe and the USA - this is punishment of the user. If you go to a torrent tracker or a pirate resource in Europe, with a 99% probability you will receive a notice of a fine of several hundred euros. If in the USA you even accidentally get on a site with child pornography, they will warn you for the first time, and in the second they will arrest you and put you in jail. ”

In addition to Telegram, the threat of blocking in the Russian Federation also faces other services, including Facebook. Alexander Zharov said that by the end of 2018, the department would conduct an inspection of the company and check several points: localization of databases of Russian citizens in Russia, removal of all prohibited information and compliance with other laws. “If none of this or any of this is fulfilled, or the Russian state is not informed about the intention to carry out such actions, then the question of blocking will obviously arise,” said the head of Roskomnadzor.

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