Russian Wikipedia Goes Black To Protest Internet Censorship Bill

On Tuesday, the Russian language Wikipedia website blacked out its content for 24 hours to protest that could result in increased censorship of the internet in Russia.

The lower house of the Russian Parliament proposed the bill, which is due for consideration this week. Vladimir Medyeko, the director of the Russian Wikimedia foundation, told Computer World that the proposal, which would block websites on the IP or DNS level rather than the more targeted URL level, is dangerous for law-abiding netizens.

If there's just a single violating comment on a blog, the whole blog-service could be blocked, he explained.

The bill could be politically motivated since the internet has been a primary tool for activists who have organized recent protests against President Vladimir Putin. The Guardian reports that Putin's United Russia Party sponsored the legislation, arguing that it would help them target websites that promote drug use, suicide and child pornography.

Medyeko doubted that explanation. We are protesting because the proposed amendments are too inaccurate, and in its current form they can damage Internet development in Russia, he said.