ASSOCIATED PRESS
Not everyone is buying the national security narrative. As the new laws went through the legislative process earlier this year,what they saw as attempts to censor the internet. The legislation's coming into force has provoked new criticism. Rachel Denber, deputy Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch,of creating conditions in which it"can directly censor content or even turn Russia’s internet into a closed system without telling the public what they are doing or why."
It won't convince their critics, but, apparently mindful of the way this looks, senior Russian officials have been at pains to stress that the new laws are not about increasing their ability to censor.insisting,"No firewall will emerge here."technology that permits the filtering of data. Why would the state want that? It depends who you ask. The Kremlin's supporters would point to the need to be able to keep out viruses or deliberate cyber attacks.