Russia Blocks Signal Messaging App (apnews.com) 47
Russia has blocked access to the encrypted Signal messaging app to "prevent the messenger's use of terrorist and extremist purposes." YouTube is also facing mass outages following repeated slowdowns in recent weeks. The Associated Press reports: Russian authorities expanded their crackdown on dissent and free media after Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. They have blocked multiple independent Russian-language media outlets critical of the Kremlin, and cut access to Twitter, which later became X, as well as Meta's Facebook and Instagram.
In the latest blow to the freedom of information, YouTube faced mass outages on Thursday following repeated slowdowns in recent weeks. Russian authorities have blamed the slowdowns on Google's failure to upgrade its equipment in Russia, but many experts have challenged the claim, arguing that the likely reason for the slowdowns and the latest outage was the Kremlin's desire to shut public access to a major platform that carries opposition views.
In the latest blow to the freedom of information, YouTube faced mass outages on Thursday following repeated slowdowns in recent weeks. Russian authorities have blamed the slowdowns on Google's failure to upgrade its equipment in Russia, but many experts have challenged the claim, arguing that the likely reason for the slowdowns and the latest outage was the Kremlin's desire to shut public access to a major platform that carries opposition views.
This just happened? (Score:4, Insightful)
Honestly, I'm surprised to hear they let Signal work in-country for so long - unless they couldn't figure out how to block it (what with most of their smart coders having fled in early 2022).
The tighter their grip... (Score:5, Informative)
The more it tells us they're afraid of losing it.
That Russia can't stop Ukraine from sparing enough forces to successfully (counter-)invade it for several days straight with as yet no signs of being driven back, and Putin can't risk any significant public resistance, then there's hope.
If only all the different groups being oppressed within Russia would get off their asses and make their separatist movements active, in the end a lot fewer people would die. But I suppose they're hoping to have none of their own die even if it means a lot more Ukrainians do.
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Ukraine invading Russia was a shockingly good tactic. Ukraine has to fight this guerilla style against a much larger and gnarlier opponent. And pandemonium is the friend of the guerilla.
Re:The tighter their grip... (Score:4, Interesting)
It means fewer Ukrainians defending where Russia's strongest and attacking... but yes, showing Russia that a pissed off bunch of Ukrainians can march across the border and Russia can do very little about it? That's great, because it weakens Putin politically and then, as he's forced to spread his forces out in defense rather than concentrate them in offense, militarily.
A relatively small number of Ukrainians poking the front at different spots could keep Russia from effectively attacking in one specific place. Which is very good for Ukraine.
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Ukrainians won't be able to march across the border even into what they claim is their own territory (Crimea and Donbas), they may be able to hold Russia back from the plains (Kiev etc) and with the right technology hit targets beyond it but the geography of those regions will prevent any army from making headway in either direction.
The areas of Donbas and Crimea has been thoroughly conquered oh, way back in the 1920s and 1930s when Lenin, Stalin etc systematically eradicated and replaced the Ukrainian popu
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Hi, Putin.
They literally just did.
Re: The tighter their grip... (Score:2)
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It's another puzzle piece helping draw a whole picture; Putin already has people being imprisoned for questioning the invasion or using anything but approved terminology to describe it.
This is an addition step being taken now, on top of the others, indicating they are more worried today than they were yesterday... And they weren't exactly unconcerned yesterday.
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Putin has been pretty clear wanting to rebuild the Soviet Union. This isn't surprising at all, this is how Lenin operated and Putin has been trained by the KGB from childhood and a staunch believer in socialist supremacy. Note that Putin was an adult officer in the Soviet army when the Soviet Union fell.
And all the people that said that Lenin's hold on power couldn't last more than 2 weeks, 2 months, 2 years, they were wish-casting, well, it lasted more than half a century.
What this really means is (Score:4, Insightful)
they have not found a way to backdoor/crack the encryption.
Re:What this really means is (Score:4, Interesting)
That and their adversary has a controlling interest.
You can install Signal.apk from their website without GMS but very few do.
It's obvious why (Score:5, Informative)
There is no way Putin wants the Russian people to know the extent of Ukraine's attack, especially not the up to 500 soldiers killed and wounded [bbc.com] in one strike alone [x.com]. Hundreds of prisoners have been taken, including conscripts. Roughly 400 square miles of Russian territory [forbes.com] taken under control by Ukraine, and the end isn't in sight.
Considering Russia has said six times "everything is under control", to have the Russian people shown everything is not under control would be devastating on top of the humiliation Putin and his minions have so far received. If the muscovite midget thinks he can keep this all quiet, he'll have to figure out how to silence the nearly 5,000 evacuees streaming into Kursk and other Russian towns from saying what is really going on.
Re:It's obvious why (Score:4, Interesting)
to have the Russian people shown everything is not under control would be devastating on top of the humiliation Putin and his minions have so far received. If the muscovite midget thinks he can keep this all quiet, he'll have to figure out how to silence the nearly 5,000 evacuees streaming into Kursk and other Russian towns from saying what is really going on.
I'd like to think that the case, but predictably the little man will just say look, I told you Ukraine is a threat to Russia! And they will either believe him because they don't know any better, or they won't believe him but will keep it to themselves because to do otherwise can be bad for one's health.
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Russia is a massive country and this attack is taking place in an incredibly small part of it. Given that I dont see how an attack of this size would do too much to instill fear in the general Russian populous and that's not even getting into Russia's incredibly tight control of news media.
I would imagine this attack's main intent is to force Russia to pull troops off offensive action to better defend the broader border. The Ukrainians have been losing ground recently after all and thinning Russian attacks
Re: It's obvious why (Score:3)
Instilling fear in enemy's population during a war is a legitimate tactic and is not even close to a war crime. If you think that it is, then you need to check again your manual on war crimes.
Convincing Russians (in Russia) that country X is not a threat to them doesn't work. It's futile. Russians have thought for decades that NATO was an enemy which was going to attack them sooner or later, even during the period when NATO was an empty shell of itself, defunded, on the brink of disintegration (which can st
Re: It's obvious why (Score:3)
Continuing my response to the previous poster. Russia trying to convince anyone that Ukraine is a threat to it is just a self-fulfilling prophecy. It's like yanking a cat's tail and when it scratches you, complaining that the cat is a threat. Russia has already destroyed thousands of homes in Ukraine, it has demolished a huge part of Ukraine's infrastructure to such extent that if the war ends now, Ukraine will be very hard pressed to provide the basic necessities to its citizens without a large Western hel
Re:It's obvious why (Score:5, Insightful)
Ukraine has said explicitly that the purpose of this attack is to instill fear in Russians because "fear is all Russians understand."
Who gave you this bullshit? An unnamed Russian source?
That is pretty close to admitting to a war crime of killing civilians to terrorize them and with no military purpose.
I've seen Ukrainians trolling civilians in Kursk telling them to learn Ukrainian and prepare for referendums. I've seen hundreds of military men surrendering to the Ukrainian military. I've seen many dozens of dead Russian soldiers in a destroyed column. What I have yet to see was "killing civilians to terrorize them".
When Russia massacred civilians in Bucha we all got the receipts. When Russia launched precision guided weapons at civilian targets resulting in civilian injury and death on an almost daily basis we all get the receipts. When talking heads on Russian state media openly speak of genocide including drowning Ukrainian children we have the receipts.
Where are the receipts for "killing civilians to terrorize them"? Do you have a screw loose in your head such that you believe Putler himself is whispering this bullshit into your ear?
So yes, Ukraine's invasion and other attacks on Russian soil is confirming Putin's claim that a NATO armed Ukraine is a threat.
Ukraine is certainly a threat to Russia now. In case you were sleeping under a rock for the last two in a half years it's the prize you win for invading a country, displacing millions, razing entire cities to the ground, killing tens of thousands of civilians and hundreds of children. That kind of "fucking around" has a strange way of generating quite a lot of "find out".
You may believe NATO is no threat to Russia, but I doubt you would find the average Russian would agree.
NATO is very much a direct threat to Russia waging endless wars of conquests in Europe.
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Instilling fear into rival countries is not a crime in peace time, so it also won't be a crime in war time. Countries instil fear into their rivals by developing scary weapons, and demonstrating their intent to use force. There are entire books about it, see "The threat of force in international law" https://www.cambridge.org/core... [cambridge.org]
War crimes are not a magic category full of "things I don't like". War crimes are just a subset of crime, those crimes that are committed during a war; things such as murder, wh
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Yes yes fellow comrade from Ohio of Millserburg, Ukraine is well known threat to the peaceful peoples of Russia and most misunderstood generous leader Vladimir Putin!
Many many crimes ranging from something or another Nazis and hiding vicious international terrorist Moose and Squirrel. It it wasn't for Russia that evil Nazi Jew Zelenskyy would be riding tanks into Canada by now!
Re:It's obvious why (Score:4, Insightful)
Ukraine has said explicitly that the purpose of this attack is to instill fear in Russians
It is a war. Both sides should feel fear, not just one.
That is pretty close to admitting to a war crime of killing civilians to terrorize them and with no military purpose.
The actual indicted war criminal in this conflict does that all the time striking cities well behind the lines. Seems the Ukrainians are rightly concentrating on killing Russian Soldiers. I hope they kill many.
Ukraine's invasion and other attacks on Russian soil is confirming Putin's claim that a NATO armed Ukraine is a threat.
Ukraine was not a NATO member. Finland is now though, so ha ha (in my best Nelson Muntz voice).
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There is no way Putin wants the Russian people to know the extent of Ukraine's attack, especially not the up to 500 soldiers killed and wounded [bbc.com] in one strike alone [x.com]. Hundreds of prisoners have been taken, including conscripts. Roughly 400 square miles of Russian territory [forbes.com] taken under control by Ukraine, and the end isn't in sight.
Considering Russia has said six times "everything is under control", to have the Russian people shown everything is not under control would be devastating on top of the humiliation Putin and his minions have so far received. If the muscovite midget thinks he can keep this all quiet, he'll have to figure out how to silence the nearly 5,000 evacuees streaming into Kursk and other Russian towns from saying what is really going on.
An old soviet era joke.
A Russian and American meet in Berlin, the American says "you know your news is all propaganda". The Russian responds "Dah, you know your news is all propaganda". The American looks enraged and perplexed when the Russian says "the difference is, we don't believe our propaganda".
I doubt there is going to be a popular uprising against Putin unless things get really bad. Another old soviet era joke "what's 200 meters long and eats cabbage, a Moscow bread line". If they didn't riot
You're on the losing side (Score:2)
when you're scared of your own people learning the truth
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Tell us more Komrade! Perhaps there is a truth social post you could link?
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Well you said it yourself, "terrorists", with quotes. Which these days in Russia means anyone spreading any fact they don't like, or even wearing a color they don't like.
"organize covert activities against the Russian war effort" aka letting people know that the situation is not in fact under control, and that Putin is, again, getting his ass kicked and by "ass" I mean the men he is using to cover his ass. It's almost like this whole invasion thing, sorry, I mean special self-destruct operation, was a colos
Re:AP? (Score:4, Informative)
AP and Reuters are very neutral news aggregators, with pretty good journalistic standards.
The Youtube stuff is total bullshit, it's all part of Russia trying to prevent news of how poorly the war is going from reaching the average Russian on the street.
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Sure, Comrade.
What do the Russian media even say about the Ukraine invasion onto Russian soil, or the new jet fighters Ukraine has taken delivery of? Nothing, that's what.
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> AP and Reuters are very neutral news aggregators, with pretty good journalistic standards.
I used to think the AP was a straight shooter, but I just happened to see live and in its entirety President Biden's new conference in February (2/8/2024). That's the one where he tried to defend himself against the special counsel's report that he was mentally incompetent. During the news conference he made a number of statements that proved the special counsel was right.
I read the AP report about the news c
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AP also does not have a story for every time Trump lies (that would be daily stories). They aren't dedicated to covering every tiny thing going on in U.S. politics. Same with Reuters. They cover bigger stories around the world.
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This is such incredible projection. A totalitarian state would love to have press that are as servile as Reuters and AP.
There is irony that the average Russian citizen with whatever propaganda they receive is much more close to the truth of how near Ukraine is to collapse and surrender, much more so than the majority of commenters here. Russia censors things, bans platforms, and persecutes people over speech--then why are we trying to be like them?
Reuters and AP, which absolutely are propaganda outlets that
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Well that's all lies, so ofc AP and Reuters won't "carry it". Bet the Russian news sources aren't talking about the Ukraine invasion into Russian territory, hey Comrade?
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You are at best a useful idiot.
You sir are the worst! (Score:2)
You sir are the worst Russian shill I've ever heard of!
Thank you for the confirmation! (Score:1)
Thank you for the confirmation and vote of confidence in Signal actually being pretty good, security-wise.
When dictators and other scum block or make illegal things, it's almost always because they are actually good for the people.
So again, thank you Russia, for confirming that Signal is good!
Putain and Russia (Score:2, Flamebait)
Overkill (Score:2, Insightful)
Why not just use the American way - make some topics verboten, have government enforcers meet weekly with social media companies to tell them what to take down, etc.?
Much less obvious ... sheesh.