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LOL, Russian Government apparently don't understand how Internet really works.

• btown 10y ago
  No LOL for the person subjected to "compulsory psychiatric care"...
• yaakov34 10y ago
  You underestimate them. They've created a web of vaguely worded, overbroad laws which everybody is violating all the time without even trying. It allows the government to demand any user's data at any time, to have all Russian ISPs block access to any site by administrative fiat, and to bring up on charges anyone they choose. It's been working quite well - not in hermetically blocking access to some stupid image, but in reducing traffic to opposition sites by 90% (I believe that this is what they boasted about when they first blocked access to Navalny's blog) and in distracting a number of people from their work with endless legal trouble. Not much of a LOL.
  • havetocharge 10y ago
    This is quite accurate. The developments have created a culture of fear, where speaking or acting against authority is while technically possible, is unwise (from the practical point of view of a single individual).
  • gozur88 10y ago
    Agreed. The value in this kind of censorship isn't that the government can put troublemakers in jail. It's in scaring everyone into considering how what they're about to view or write will look to the government years from now, before they view or write it.
• mikeash 10y ago
  More like, Hacker News reader doesn't understand how power really works. It's not about preventing anyone from ever seeing this image. It's about oppressing people who would share it. Somebody posts this online, gets a million views, and goes to jail? That's a win for the government, not a loss.