Putin signs law that prohibits VPNs in Russia to prevent access to banned websites

President Vladimir Putin has signed a law that prohibits technology that provides access to websites banned in Russia, the government’s website showed on Sunday.

[caption id=“attachment_3658943” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Vladimir Putin. AP[/caption]

The law, already approved by the Duma, the lower house of parliament, will ban the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) and other technologies, known as anonymisers, that allow people to surf the web anonymously. It comes into force on 1 November.

Leonid Levin, the head of Duma’s information policy committee, has said the law is not intended to impose restrictions on law-abiding citizens but is meant only to block access to “unlawful content,” RIA news agency said.

**Recently** , Apple had blocked ExpressVPN, most commonly used VPN in China, from the Chinese App Store since China sees use of VPN as ‘illegal’. Moreover, Chinese telecoms carrier have begun closing virtual private networks and other tools that can bypass the so-called Great Firewall, which state authorities use to filter and block traffic between Chinese and overseas servers. Also, the VPN services say they are bracing for further blocks in the run-up to the Communist Party Congress. President Xi Jinping, who has overseen a marked sharpening of China’s cyberspace controls, including tough new data surveillance and censorship rules, is expected to consolidate his hold on power at the Congress, which takes place every five years.