The Mozilla Foundation, the organization behind the popular web browser Firefox, has recently made the decision to block several censorship circumvention add-ons for its browser. These add-ons, including ones specifically designed to help individuals in Russia bypass state censorship, were blocked at the request of Russia’s federal censorship agency, Roskomnadzor.
“Following recent regulatory changes in Russia, we received persistent requests from Roskomnadzor demanding that five add-ons be removed from the Mozilla add-on store,” a Mozilla spokesperson explained. “After careful consideration, we’ve temporarily restricted their availability within Russia. Recognizing the implications of these actions, we are closely evaluating our next steps while keeping in mind our local community.”
“It’s a kind of unpleasant surprise because we thought the values of this corporation were very clear in terms of access to information.”
Stanislav Shakirov, the chief technical officer of Roskomsvoboda, a Russian open internet advocacy group, expressed his hope that Mozilla’s decision was made hastily and will be reevaluated.
Developers of digital tools designed to circumvent censorship observed that their Firefox add-ons were no longer accessible in Russia. Add-ons like Censor Tracker and Runet Censorship Bypass, which aimed to help users bypass censorship, were among those blocked.
Roskomnadzor, the Russian federal censorship agency, is responsible for monitoring and overseeing telecommunications, information technology, and mass communications in the country. Recent reports indicate that Roskomnadzor has been actively restricting access to censorship circumvention technologies, such as VPNs.
The Mozilla Foundation, known for its commitment to an open and accessible internet, also operates a VPN service called Mozilla VPN. However, this service is not available in Russia.
Despite the blockage of these add-ons on Firefox, they remain accessible on other web browsers like Google Chrome. This discrepancy raises questions about the consistency of censorship policies across different platforms.
Overall, the decision by Mozilla to block these add-ons has sparked concerns about internet freedom and access to information in Russia. It remains to be seen how this situation will evolve and whether Mozilla will reconsider its stance in the future.
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