Mozilla has reinstated certain add-ons for Firefox that earlier this week had been banned in Russia by the Kremlin.
The browser extensions, which are hosted on the Mozilla store, were made unavailable in the Land of Putin on or around June 8 after a request by the Russian government and its internet censorship agency, Roskomnadzor.
Among those extensions were three pieces of code that were explicitly designed to circumvent state censorship – including a VPN and Censor Tracker, a multi-purpose add-on that allowed users to see what websites shared user data, and a tool to access Tor websites.
The day the ban went into effect, Roskomsvoboda – the developer of Censor Tracker – took to the official Mozilla forums and asked why his extension was suddenly banned in Russia with no warning.
“We recently noticed that our add-on is now unavailable in Russia, despite being developed specifically to circumvent censorship in Russia,” dev zombbo complained. “We did not violate Mozilla’s rules in any way, so this decision seems strange and unfair, to be honest.”
Another developer for a banned add-on chimed in that they weren’t informed either.
The internet org’s statement at the time mentioned the ban was merely temporary. It turns out wasn’t mere PR fluff, as Mozilla tells The Register that the ban has now been lifted.
“In alignment with our commitment to an open and accessible internet, Mozilla will reinstate previously restricted listings in Russia,” the group declared. "Our initial decision to temporarily restrict these listings was made while we considered the regulatory environment in Russia and the potential risk to our community and staff.
“We remain committed to supporting our users in Russia and worldwide and will continue to advocate for an open and accessible internet for all.”
Lifting the ban wasn’t completely necessary for users to regain access to the add-ons – two of them were completely open source, and one of the VPN extensions could be downloaded from the developer’s website.
I love how the developer’s name is “roskomSVOBODA” (svoboda means something like freedom) in contrast to the name of the censorship agency “roskomNADZOR” (supervision).
Forgive me if i got it wrong. My russian is terrible
You are absolutely correct, you got both of them right!
Yep. Correct. Also RosComSvoboda is Pirate Party without saying Pirate Party.
Special plugin operation.
Fuck Russia
Fuck Russian politics and policies* I like to believe that most Russians just want to live and drink vodka
I can’t imagine what it’s like to not to be able to live honestly without getting disappeared.
Feels lonely, most of all. I don’t fear the cops or ex-wagners I walk past every time I go to the store. It’s the radio silence in once popular channels whose owners were “disappeared”, and friends either in exile or too scared to even go out, that makes me feel devastated.
I think that’s the right thing to do, but they still gave in in the first place… Let’s hope they keep it that way.
They were afraid to lose 4% of the audience in Russia and the favor of the Russian government (probably some grants,idk). Now they are afraid to lose those who think that it’s “the right thing to do”.
Btw, it’s not that hard for the Russian government to block every VPN extension like they did with Nord VPN and Surfshark VPN let alone ban Mozilla. This action will help no one and it’s yet another act of virtue signaling
Oh OK, so they suck if they disable it, but they suck if they enable it because it’s pointless. Got it.
Heh, I wonder how the ml tankies are spinning this one and what browser they’re going to use instead of Nazifox or whatever stupid name they’re using for it now.
Guess it’s time to use it
You are confusing ml with twitter.
