The Kremlin is clamping down on internet freedom as Putin gears up for re-election

[BibleSteve]

https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/59kpp8/the-kremlin-is-clamping-down-on-internet-freedom-as-putin-gears-up-for-re-election

 

The Russian government has been widely accused of using the internet to interfere in elections in the West. Now, with President Vladimir Putin’s own re-election looming in March, a new report spells out how far the Kremlin has gone to make sure Putin won’t face the same kind of online vulnerability.

Russia blocked an average of 244 websites every day during 2017 as domestic internet censorship soars to new heights, according to a report released Monday by Agora, a Russian watchdog group composed of over 50 human rights lawyers.

 

This bit is worrying for our brothers and sisters living there;

 

This summer, a new law will take effect requiring cellular and internet providers to store all communications data in full for six months on behalf of the security services.

 

[Saffron]

Oh great.  I can see why this would be worrying for our brothers and sisters.. I'm not tech savvy in the least bit, but hopefully someone who is can come up with a way around this if necessary. 

[cricket246]

I never thought anout that! If they begin tracking all telecommunications actually communicating could get difficult real quick. Hmmmm 

[Omoyeme]

Quote

This summer, a new law will take effect requiring cellular and internet providers to store all communications data in full for six months on behalf of the security services.

 

Not to make light of this situation, but professional hackers could read this article and laugh.  For them, they will ALWAYS find a way to circumvent this law.

[Ben Fenner]

12 hours ago, Saffron said:

Oh great.  I can see why this would be worrying for our brothers and sisters.. I'm not tech savvy in the least bit, but hopefully someone who is can come up with a way around this if necessary. 

I might have...it's called paper.

Not making light of difficulties, however the printed word is a bit more difficult to censor once we have it. Unless authorities begin going door-to-door searching for Bibles we will always have God's Word to guide us IF we don't abandon the printed word in favor of only electronic gadgets.

 

Personally I use electronic media only as an occasional  convenience, and rely on the hard copy of The Holy Scriptures as my "go to" source of scriptural information.

[BibleSteve]

8 hours ago, Ben Fenner said:

I might have...it's called paper.

Not making light of difficulties, however the printed word is a bit more difficult to censor once we have it. Unless authorities begin going door-to-door searching for Bibles we will always have God's Word to guide us IF we don't abandon the printed word in favor of only electronic gadgets.

 

Personally I use electronic media only as an occasional  convenience, and rely on the hard copy of The Holy Scriptures as my "go to" source of scriptural information.

 

Brother its not the bible thats the problem as anyone can own a Russian orthodox version of the bible lawfully and although they have substituted Jehovahs name its easy to mentally put that back in place while reading. (and I am sure that most will have their new world translation well hidden somewhere)

 

The problem for the 185,000 brothers and sisters is the abundance of food provided by the faithful and discreet slave which I am sure you will agree is necessary to keep up with Jehovahs fast moving chariot, the videos, the online methods of researching subjects, etc etc etc, in Russia you can no longer own the huge paper library of past issues from the faithful and discreet slave without fear of you and your family being jailed for possession of banned so called "extremist literature"

 

You can guarantee that the authorities will use this new law to scrutinise all communication data of our brothers and sisters and they will act accordingly how they see fit (and it won't be in a pleasant way I am sure as their recent history shows)

 

 

As a sidenote personally I have put two old well thumbed and worn new world translation bibles in a glass container with a sealed plastic lid (from Ikea) and intend to bury them in the forest just incase they are needed in the future as we have no idea what changes will will come as we quickly approach the end of this wicked old system.

[Witness1970]

1.  Not only paper, but Bibles that are already downloaded on tablets are not affected by an internet block.

2  JW Library only needs to connect to the internet to update.  The information is already there.

3.  The society is reducing the number of printed, or electronic, publications.  We are seeing a move toward studying the bible without so much printed literature. Bible studies can be conducted, if necessary, with just the Bible and no Bible study aids. Just pick a topic for the study and use the Bible for the study.

Just random thoughts about what would occur without the internet.

 

[Saffron]

I have an actual Bible and a few books, but pretty much only use my tablet to study. We have been encouraged to do it this way.

 

Studying years ago was so much more difficult sitting at a table with a Bible, Insight books, magazine and whatever else was necessary. We are so spoiled now, but it's great- very easy to study anywhere. I can rarely remember scriptures, so that search feature gets a work out on my tablet.  Going without it would be tough. 

 

Maybe stuff like this is why we keep getting reminders to memorize bible verses and songs.. things can change in an instant and you never know when we will no longer have access to all that we are accustomed to having. 

 

[Qapla]

21 minutes ago, Saffron said:

I have an actual Bible and a few books, but pretty much only use my tablet to study. We have been encouraged to do it this way.

 

Actual Bible?????   That is what many in our territory say when they are referring to the KJV.

 

It doesn't make any difference if a Bible is in printed book form, a scroll, electronic or even chiseled into stone - if it is God's Word .... it is an "actual Bible"

 

 

When, who and why have "we" been encouraged to "do it this way" when it comes to studying?

 

I have never been told/encouraged to use a particular type of media to study with ........

Edited February 7, 2018 by Qapla

[Saffron]

Bad choice of words I'm guessing? Ashes and sack cloth, brother. 

 

Actual bible in my mind was a book that I see sitting on my shelf. One that I can touch and flip pages in. One that does not require electricity or internet. Hard copy. 

 

As for the use of our tablets, we ( meaning everyone in my congregation) have been encouraged by the brothers in my congregation to make use of it to save the society money on printing costs. Of course, if someone really needs an physical magazine or book (many of the elderly prefer this), it's not a problem, they keep some literature around for that, but yes, they absolutely prefer that we use our electronic devices whenever possible. 

 

I never thought twice about any of this. Made sense to me, and even if it didn't, it would be irrelevant as I always try to follow any direction that we have been given, big and small. 

 

Edited February 7, 2018 by Saffron
Correcting auto correct