Russia blocked Georgian media source Sova.News.

The Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media in Russia blocked analytical media source Sova.News founded in Georgia. According to Sova.News the basis for the blocking was an article prepared on August 22, 2016 under the headline: "Military Minister of Islamic State Tarkhan Batirashvili Left a Will to Maidahs". The regulatory body blacklisted Sova.News based on the decision of the General Prosecutor's Office of Russia. The decision itself is based on the Law on Information, Information Technology and Information Protection in Russia. According to Sova.News, Russian legislation obliges mass media sources that each time when the terrorist group Islamic State is mentioned in the news it should be followed by the reference that the mentioned organization is prohibited in Russia. In the article prepared about Tarkhan batirashvili it was not mentioned.

"It is not clear for us why exactly this article became a reason for blocking, because in other articles of ours where the Islamic State was mentioned, no farther descriptions have been made either". More

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Russia banned VPN and TOR.

On friday, July 21 the state Duma adopted a number of important laws with a third sitting. Messengers will be blocked in case of refusal to identify the users by phone numbers. Also the proxy and VPN services will be required to restrict access to banned sites in Russia. However, in fact, the VPN services themselves, as well as the anonymous Tor network, might be banned. The law obliges owners of special programs and applications to restrict an access to the sites banned in Russia. The wording of the document is maximally blurred, so that all the proxy and VPN services, special browser extensions, and anonymous Tor network fall under this category. More

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Internet shutdown in Turkey’s Southeast following mayor’s detention.

A full internet shutdown lasting almost 12 hours has cut off Turkey’s Southeast regions, following protests against the detention of Diyarbakir mayor and co-mayor Gültan Kışanak and Fırat Anlı on terrorism charges. Connectivity issues began at 10:30AM local time affecting cities including Diyarbakır, Mardin, Batman, Siirt, Van, Elazığ, Tunceli, Gaziantep, Şanlıfurfa, Kilis and Adıyaman. Internet connectivity started coming back at 10:00PM. Limited information coming from the region indicates that banks and point-of-sales terminals have all been rendered inoperable due to mobile and broadband internet shutdowns, with the incident ongoing as of early afternoon. More

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