“…Just as the DDOS attacks subsided, a high-ranking figure in the Russian state security forces — formerly known as the KGB — announced that his agency favored shutting down “foreign” Internet communication hosts such as Skype, Gmail, and Hotmail. These services, he said, use encryption technology that is difficult for the KGB to break, and therefore pose a direct threat to Russian national security.
Putin’s moves to shut out contact between Russia and the outside world appear deranged when you know that Russia is facing a massive and increasing shortfall in foreign investment. With little domestic savings to speak of, Russians depend on foreigners to float their boat, yet their government is doing all it can to prevent them from understanding the needs and concerns of foreigners, which only further alienates foreign money from the Russian market.
And Putin’s goons are going much further. The security forces are already openly bragging about reading the e-mail of opposition leaders, openly storming the offices of opposition publications at will, and openly seeking to bribe LJ bloggers to toe the Kremlin line. They are, in other words, practicing not just to destroy the Internet’s ability to influence the next presidential “election” in Russia, but to bring about a sea change in the way Russians get information from the Internet — permanently rendering the web useless as a means of challenging the Kremlin’s power.” Read more here:PJM