Bitcointalk has been blocked in Russia because of Gambling advertisement

[ShowOff]

-snip-

Illegal gambling in Russia is a form of government concern for their young population. This is because the rapid growth of physical casinos there is feared to be able to affect many young people who will later become a problem for the government and since then the government has set the status of gambling there as illegal. But I am quite curious about the actions of the government that blocked Russian  access to this bitcoin forum, I think this is ridiculous and I do not expect that the government there will also make illegal cryptocurrency. The government must block online gambling sites without having to block access to bitcoin or other cryptocurrency forum, imo.

[Granxis]

Russia's ban on this forum has disturbed me a lot, since yesterday I have noticed a decrease in Russian users, i think gambling in Russia is free, and there are a lot of Russian gamblers in this forum, and many of them are very good. Russia was failed by this ban, but Russian gamblers are able to find a solution to this ban.

[AicecreaME]

Maybe their Government ban the whole forum but there is a lot of alternatives to access this forum, and of those is using VPN, so technically, there is no point on banning the forum just because of those gambling advertisements. There is this saying says "If you really want something, you'll find a way"

-snip-

Illegal gambling in Russia is a form of government concern for their young population. This is because the rapid growth of physical casinos there is feared to be able to affect many young people who will later become a problem for the government and since then the government has set the status of gambling there as illegal.

Illegal or not, gambling is still gambling. If they truly care about their youth getting infected by gambling, they should turn down all of the casinos in their country, they might ban also the internet down since everything is in google nowadays, if you know what I mean.

[Saisher]

Russia's ban on this forum has disturbed me a lot, since yesterday I have noticed a decrease in Russian users, i think gambling in Russia is free, and there are a lot of Russian gamblers in this forum, and many of them are very good. Russia was failed by this ban, but Russian gamblers are able to find a solution to this ban.

The solution is easy if the Russian can subscribe to a VPN plan then he can have access there are free VPN so they can still access the forum , we have a lot of Russian brothers here and they are not here for the gambling sites only but more so on the technology and interest they have on Cryptocurrency which they get their source from Bitcointalk, I'm sure they will find a way.

[mu_enrico]

Illegal gambling in Russia is a form of government concern for their young population. This is because the rapid growth of physical casinos there is feared to be able to affect many young people who will later become a problem for the government and since then the government has set the status of gambling there as illegal. But I am quite curious about the actions of the government that blocked Russian  access to this bitcoin forum, I think this is ridiculous and I do not expect that the government there will also make illegal cryptocurrency. The government must block online gambling sites without having to block access to bitcoin or other cryptocurrency forum, imo.

It's like the Indonesian government blocking Reddit because of porn content there. Agree, it's ridiculous. Anyway, if only for accessing bitcointalk, I think any VPN would do fine. What will the government do? Arresting people for reading/posting on random threads here?

Anyway, AFAIK only online-gaming that is illegal in Russia, physical casinos are okay. https://www.casino.org/blog/russia-and-gambling-whats-the-story/

However, accessing gambling sites is a different matter; it's slightly more serious than just accessing bitcointalk.

[el kaka22]

Well, it makes sense in a way that Russia has been a strict government about gambling and its discussions, so it is not a shock that they would ban the whole website as well. However, Russian people know about VPN very well because their government likes to ban stuff here and there so they got to use VPN very commonly, a lot of people in nations that likes to ban websites actually use VPN very well, both free and paid versions, I personally live in a nation like that and I use 3 different free VPN because they have a limit and I use them in turns for example so that it never ends and restarts every month.

So, bitcointalk will probably not see all that much drop in users from Russia, maybe a bit of it decide to not come anymore but we will still see a lot for sure.

[ShowOff]

Illegal or not, gambling is still gambling. If they truly care about their youth getting infected by gambling, they should turn down all of the casinos in their country, they might ban also the internet down since everything is in google nowadays, if you know what I mean.

Yes, I know what you mean. Nothing is impossible, but government efforts are just a form of concern shown to the world that they reject and prohibit gambling activities both physical casinos and online. Regardless of whether or not they obey the rules by their citizens, I am sure there are still other ways to access gambling sites because they still have the internet. Nothing is impossible, maybe it is the right understanding at this time. But clearly I do not agree with the actions of the government there that blocked the crypto discussion site.

Agree, it's ridiculous. Anyway, if only for accessing bitcointalk, I think any VPN would do fine.

I think VPN will also help Russian users access the forum as usual. But still the governments policy of blocking crypto discussion sites like bitcointalk is a mistake for me personally. They must reconsider this blocking and of course all forum users from Russia want the same thing and they want to get the freedom to be able to access the forum and have discussions.

What will the government do? Arresting people for reading/posting on random threads here?

LOL, even if the government has to take decisive action against anyone who violates it, then I dont think the government will arrest, pursue the perpetrators or other anticipatory actions and I dont think this is the right step to take. Accessing the bitcointalk forum is not a crime and I dont think they should do it. Hopefully Indonesia does not do the same thing.

[bakasabo]

This how Russia ban web-pages. Same was done with larges torrent tracker rutracker.org. It was banned by government on Russian territory, and in few hours tracker released a guide how to visit the page and use vpn or other services. That ban was discussed for months and was evaded in just 2 hours lol.



As it is said, everything was already shown in Simpsons 

[leowonderful]

Well, it makes sense in a way that Russia has been a strict government about gambling and its discussions, so it is not a shock that they would ban the whole website as well. However, Russian people know about VPN very well because their government likes to ban stuff here and there so they got to use VPN very commonly, a lot of people in nations that likes to ban websites actually use VPN very well, both free and paid versions, I personally live in a nation like that and I use 3 different free VPN because they have a limit and I use them in turns for example so that it never ends and restarts every month.

So, bitcointalk will probably not see all that much drop in users from Russia, maybe a bit of it decide to not come anymore but we will still see a lot for sure.

Agreed. I visited China a bit more than a year ago and I also recall having problems viewing a number of international websites during my stay there that I managed to almost immediately circumvent with the several paid VPN applications I use, though I did have some problems occasionally because the government's always working to stop VPNs whenever possible. There's generally a pretty high amount of people that use VPNs in countries that have restrictive internet access  even though most of them usually stay quiet about it.

I still find it absolutely ridiculous that an entire forum was banned on their end for just one thread, though. I have no idea what their government's opinion towards cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin is, but I guess it wasn't very positive in the first place for this to happen.

[Vishnu.Reang]

I have visited Russia and in every major city, in every nook and corner you can find illegal casinos. The ban on legal gambling is just one of the tools for the government to get bribes. Most of the illegal casino operators are foreigners (mostly Turks and Azeris) and they pay a certain amount of bribes to the authorities every month, so that they can operate without any harassment from the cops.

[ololajulo]

The ban will be temporal, it is important to have a moderate lifestyle at the moment. Lets put our money to use on what we keep us alive and those around for this period, after now we can go back. Government benefit from gambling in one way or other and Russia has lots of gamblers. After the pandemic is over and we see no relax move by government then I could have a different opinion.

[leea-1334]

I guess it makes sense that somebody in Russia had to do something to make it look like he or she had a job to do;) I mean, should they ban Yahoo because it also has some forums where gambling happens? Or should they ban also Facebook because it has groups also dedicated to gambling? I guess,,, it has to do?

[noormcs5]

Read a lot of article about Russia planning to banned cryptocurrency in their country!

Main reason? just because or maybe they are afraid that the banks are cannot handle the regulation of the cryptocurrency in their country.

The banned might not be cause by the gambling advertisement but could also be the factor here but it would be useless if the cryptocurrency is already banned in their country.

They will only ban crypto if they want to be left behind in the world. All the nations who are adopting bitcoins will have a much better future than those who are planing to impose bans.

Use TOR or private socks5 and nothing is blocked.   

This ^^

There are always ways around restrictions like this. Quite petty by Russia to ban the whole site but they have form for these kind of draconian measures.

Why do they ban the things which can never be ban in the modern digital world 

[dothebeats]

The Russians have always acted compulsively when it comes to cryptocurrency. Remember the times when they aren't sure whether to allow bitcoin or not, but discusses the possibility of their own CryptoRuble? I remember. They do this because bitcoin gives financial freedom to those who wields it, and can act in their own volition, buy whatever they wanted without being monitored by the government 24/7. As for the case of gambling advertisement and the forum blacklist, I'm pretty sure or Russian friends would always find a way to access this site and continue doing what they're doing as if nothing happened.

I'm not surprised that they will go to the extreme to the point that they will ban the only hub wherein bitcoin is prominent. It is really a given, IMO.

[bittraffic]

I have no idea online gambling is illegal in Russia. But b;locking a crypto forum is a lot like killing the crypto information than the online gambling. There are lots of Russians here Vitalik and Sasha of Waves is Russian. Now they'd have to use VPN to access.  Wouldn't stop them from coming here though Russian section is a big community.

[Granxis]

I have visited Russia and in every major city, in every nook and corner you can find illegal casinos. The ban on legal gambling is just one of the tools for the government to get bribes. Most of the illegal casino operators are foreigners (mostly Turks and Azeris) and they pay a certain amount of bribes to the authorities every month, so that they can operate without any harassment from the cops.

In Iran, Azerbaijan, and Turkey gambling is completely prohibited as far as i know,  these countries have been shuttling gambling tourism since a very long time, these people are going to gambling to former soviet countries and Russia, and they are spending money in these countries, gambling income is as important as tourism income.

[FlightyPouch]

I have no idea online gambling is illegal in Russia. But b;locking a crypto forum is a lot like killing the crypto information than the online gambling. There are lots of Russians here Vitalik and Sasha of Waves is Russian. Now they'd have to use VPN to access.  Wouldn't stop them from coming here though Russian section is a big community.

Yeah. It is funny how governments just ban sites they find illegal and people would just use VPN to continue doing what they are doing. If this is the case then I think some sites like YouTube would ban advertisements about online gambling too, but still, Russians would still be able to access these sites since we have a lot of ways to cover ourselves like VPN and proxies.

[leowonderful]

The Russians have always acted compulsively when it comes to cryptocurrency. Remember the times when they aren't sure whether to allow bitcoin or not, but discusses the possibility of their own CryptoRuble? I remember. They do this because bitcoin gives financial freedom to those who wields it, and can act in their own volition, buy whatever they wanted without being monitored by the government 24/7. As for the case of gambling advertisement and the forum blacklist, I'm pretty sure or Russian friends would always find a way to access this site and continue doing what they're doing as if nothing happened.

I'm not surprised that they will go to the extreme to the point that they will ban the only hub wherein bitcoin is prominent. It is really a given, IMO.

That's what I thought; I don't hear much about cryptocurrencies from Russia very often, but I do know a few people in the country that do use BTC. The other major Russian crypto-related piece of news I remember was BTC-e being seized by the US authorities, though that was back in 2016 and it was just one incident.

[TopTort777]

Strange to hear such news. Why not ban gambling page only? And why not then ban google, as it shows lots if reference links...

This is so stupid to ban only connected page, but not banning main threat? And why not ban every gambling page that refuse to payout? Im confused...

Is it possible to have bitcointalk.org unblocked? Anyone heard roscomnadzor unblock pages?

[LTU_btc]

Wow, censorship in Russia at it's finest. It's just ridiculous. Following Roskomnadzor logic, they should ban Google too, because they had advertisements of scams. But I wouldn't be surprised - I remember they tried to ban Telegram, banned LinkedIn and many other websites.
BTW, I see that decision to ban Bitcointalk was made in 2071 and they banned it just right now. What a fast reaction!

I have no idea online gambling is illegal in Russia. But b;locking a crypto forum is a lot like killing the crypto information than the online gambling. There are lots of Russians here Vitalik and Sasha of Waves is Russian. Now they'd have to use VPN to access.  Wouldn't stop them from coming here though Russian section is a big community.

AFAIK, gambling in Russia isn't illegal, there is so many online casinos and sportsbooks in Russia. But this one  wasn't legitimate and it was reason of ban.
I'm sure that your mentioned people always use VPN or TOR to access websites including Bitcointalk, so this ban won't affect them. It mainly affect ordinary people. Offcourse, they can use VPN, but obviously, not all are going to do it.