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> This is not about 'authoritarian control' whatever that might mean, it's "just" about copyright enforcement It is in Russia, it's more like an excuse to blo

> This is not about 'authoritarian control' whatever that might mean, it's "just" about copyright enforcement It is in Russia, it's more like an excuse to block Twitch. Sberbank, the parent company of Rambler, is also a Kremlin's right hand and has been doing this kind of stuff since forever. For example, this was the company to which Yandex was forced to sell the controlling "golden share".

dunkelheit 7y ago
This seems like a common knee-jerk reaction lately - if something comes out of Russia, it must be the government doing its authoritarian stuff. But you are reading it backwards. Russian government doesn't need any "excuse" to block something - if they want to, they just go ahead and do it. Instead, it is rambler that is using its connections to government as a credible threat to extort bigger settlement. > Sberbank, the parent company of Rambler Sberbank is not the parent company of rambler, they have recently bought 46.5%.
SiempreViernes 7y ago
Why would the Moscow want to prevent gaming fans from seeing their countrymen do well in fortnight or whatever? What's so suspicious about greedy actions by a company working for a corrupt regime that you suspect an ulterior motive?
- zzzcpan 7y ago
  Russian government more than once voiced concerns over gamers doing things online without government involvement and control. Sberbank is not just greedy business, it's greedy only when it serves Kremlin.
LessDmesg 7y ago
Sberbank is also behind recent Nginx extortion raids.
- gdy 7y ago
  Any proof?
simias 7y ago
It's possible but, applying Occam's razor, it's not super uncommon these days to have IP holders manage to censor websites. Given the amount of money involved in those broadcasting licenses I can definitely imagine that they would seek to block twitch pirates heavy-handedly, with or without Kremlin support.
gdy 7y ago
"It is in Russia, it's more like an excuse to block Twitch" Any proof?

dunkelheit 7y ago

This seems like a common knee-jerk reaction lately - if something comes out of Russia, it must be the government doing its authoritarian stuff. But you are reading it backwards. Russian government doesn't need any "excuse" to block something - if they want to, they just go ahead and do it. Instead, it is rambler that is using its connections to government as a credible threat to extort bigger settlement. > Sberbank, the parent company of Rambler Sberbank is not the parent company of rambler, they have recently bought 46.5%.

SiempreViernes 7y ago

Why would the Moscow want to prevent gaming fans from seeing their countrymen do well in fortnight or whatever? What's so suspicious about greedy actions by a company working for a corrupt regime that you suspect an ulterior motive?

zzzcpan 7y ago
Russian government more than once voiced concerns over gamers doing things online without government involvement and control. Sberbank is not just greedy business, it's greedy only when it serves Kremlin.

LessDmesg 7y ago

Sberbank is also behind recent Nginx extortion raids.

gdy 7y ago
Any proof?

simias 7y ago

It's possible but, applying Occam's razor, it's not super uncommon these days to have IP holders manage to censor websites. Given the amount of money involved in those broadcasting licenses I can definitely imagine that they would seek to block twitch pirates heavy-handedly, with or without Kremlin support.

gdy 7y ago

"It is in Russia, it's more like an excuse to block Twitch" Any proof?