With Coercion and Black Boxes, Russia Installs a Digital Iron Curtain

Russia has made the boldest move yet to censor the internet. Russia’s censorship technology, “the black boxes,” sits between companies that provide internet access and people who are browsing the web on a phone or laptop.The telecom companies had no choice but to step aside as government-approved technicians installed the equipment alongside their own computer systems and servers. Caged behind lock and key, the new gear linked back to a command center in Moscow, giving authorities startling new powers to block, filter and slow down websites that they did not want the Russian public to see. The process, underway since 2019, represents the start of perhaps the world’s most ambitious digital censorship effort outside of China…. (Excerpts from the New York Times)