Russian lawmakers have passed controversial legislation that would dramatically expand the governments ability to punish internet users -- not for sharing forbidden content but for simply looking it up. The new measures, which sailed through the
Russian parliament and will take effect in September, will introduce fines for people who deliberately searched for knowingly extremist materials and gained access to them through means such as virtual private networks, or VPNs. VPNs are already
widely used in Russia to circumvent the many blocks on websites. Russia defines extremist materials as content officially added by a court to a government-maintained registry, currently with about 5,500 entries, or content produced by extremist
organizations ranging from the LGBT movement to al-Qaeda. Until now, Russian law stopped short of punishing individuals for seeking information online; only creating or sharing such content is prohibited. The new amendments follow remarks by
high-ranking officials that censorship is justified in wartime. Similar legislation passed recently in neighboring Belarus, Russias close ally ruled by authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko, and has been used to justify prosecution of government
critics. The fine for searching for banned content in Russia would be about a $65, while the penalty for advertising circumvention tools such as VPN services would be steeper -- $2,500 for individuals and up to $12,800 for companies.
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