War censorship exposes Putin’s leaky internet controls

By FRANK BAJAK and BARBARA ORTUTAY
AP Technology Writers

BOSTON (AP) — Russia’s increasingly strict online censorship measures have paradoxically exposed major shortcomings in the Kremlin’s efforts to make the Russian internet a powerful tool of surveillance and social control akin to China’s so-called Great Firewall. Any Russian with a modicum of tech smarts can circumvent Kremlin attempts to starve the population of fact. That has put foreign providers of internet bandwidth and associated services in a bind. They face public pressure to punish the Russian state for its war on Ukraine. But they are wary of helping stifle a free flow of information that can counter Kremlin disinformation.