Like countless similar efforts across numerous countries, this is all framed as an utterly necessary step to thwart piracy, combat extremism and ensure the safety and security of the Russian people. But as with comparable proposals in the States and elsewhere, these proposals undermine encryption and essential security and privacy tools, making the general public notably less secure. They‘re also an expensive game of Whack-a-Mole as users looking for privacy simply flee to services like Tor or Zeronet, ensuring these services will be the demonized bogeymen of tomorrow.