Russian Judge Clamps Down on Internet Access

Russia, never to be outdone by China, has blocked or limited access to five sites by order of a Russian district court judge. One of the sites sites included the YouTube video service owned by Google. Google was not amused and criticized the judge’s ruling. It seems Big Brother is alive and well and presently residing in Asia.

Rosnet President Alexander Yermakov told national media that his company had declined to block access to the sites, saying the judge was "incompetent" and that he was determined "to go till the end, till the Constitutional Court." Google, which runs the world's largest search engine, also criticized the court's ruling which ordered Rosnet to block its popular YouTube video site for having posted a film clip which the judge said fomented ethnic hatred.