Russian City Bans YouTube; ISP Doesn't Comply

Based on the content of one video clip that it said disseminated extreme views, a Russian court has ordered Internet provider Rosnet to block access to YouTube in the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur. Rosnet President Alexander Yermakov appealed to reverse the order and declined to enforce it, calling the judge “incompetent.” Google Russia’s Alla Zabrovskaya said that the ruling was an “obvious violation of the right to obtain information.” The ruling is a textbook scenario of a longstanding human rights concern in Russia: that the state may gag a media outlet simply by accusing it of spreading extreme views.