WASHINGTON (AP) — A new study says Russia is succeeding in imposing a highly effective internet censorship regime across thousands of privately owned providers.
The study by the University of Michigan's Censored Planet lab says the model is easily exportable to other nations.
Released Wednesday and coinciding with a Russian government crackdown on online free speech, the study examines seven years of censorship based on a state blacklist provided to the nation's internet service providers.
The Kremlin has blocked hundreds of thousands of web addresses with increasing success, challenging the notion that decentralized internet service can prevent large-scale censorship of the variety imposed by Iran and China.
The effort is also aimed at making government snooping pervasive.