For some reason, the small burg of Chyorny Yar, which based on our very limited knowledge of Russian geography sits appears to sit above the Arctic Circle in the Ostrovnoy municipality of Murmansk Oblast, has a judge who has an issue with pot.
Therefore, the court also has an issue with Wikipedia.
To be more specific, a court in this small middle-of-nowhere town ruled that Wikipedia s page on charas, which is a variety of hashish made from the resin of the cannabis plant, contained banned content. And remember, we re not talking about the cannibis – we re talking about Wikipedia s reference to it.
In any case, that egregious action and the court s reaction to it prompted Russia s Internet and media watchdog, Roskomnadzor, to order Internet providers throughout the country to ban all access to Wikipedia. Here s the page they were upset about:
A slight over-reaction, you ask? Well, this is Russia and this is 2015.
In any case, it was off to the races, according to a post by AP:
The Russian communications watchdog sent out notifications to Internet providers late on Monday, instructing them to block the access to Wikipedia in Russian after a provincial court ruled that its entry on hashish contains banned information.
But as quickly as you can say Ðе Ð’Ð¾Ð³Ð°Ñ Ñ , Ñ Ñ Ð¾ ÑовмеÑÑ Ð½Ð¾Ðµ , мой Ð´Ñ ÑƒÐ³! * the ban went away.
The agency removed Wikipedia from the list of banned websites early Tuesday morning, saying that the information in the article had been edited thus complying with the court decision.
Russia s Federal Communications Agency has come under fire before for what has been described as attempts to stifle dissent online. The agency has blocked access to opposition websites as well as blogs of popular opposition leaders like Alexei Navalny.
So what gives? An interesting post by investment-news site ValueWalk said that while it was unclear why exactly the court had ruled the way it did, you can rule out one thing: The village itself has no reported major issues with drug abuse, nor does it have cannabis fields.
The Wikipedia s page defines charas as hashish form of cannabis which is handmade in India, Lebanon, Pakistan, Nepal and Jamaica. There is no mention of Chyorny Yar or any other Russian village.
A court in the village endorsed the prosecutor s order to delete the page on charas from Wikipedia back in June. Roskomnadzor reviewed the ruling of the court and ordered the online encyclopedia to remove the Russian-language page.
Wikipedia refused to comply with the order. And because the Russian version of Wiki uses the secure HTTPS protocol, which means individual pages cannot be banned, Roskomnadzor had to order to ban the entire website.
And now, of course, the whole affair has been put to rest, because within hours of issuing the ban, the same authorities lifted it.
As explained by Roskomnadzor, the charas page violated Russian rules regulating inappropriate content. The strict rules are a part of Russia s , which continues tightening its grip on Russian content creators.
Wikimedia, the parent company of the website, said that censorship of Wikipedia content runs contrary to the Wikimedia vision: a world in which everyone can freely access the sum of all knowledge.
Earlier this month, Russia banned Reddit over a thread that contained tips on how to grow magic psilocybin mushrooms. Just like Wikipedia, Reddit uses the HTTPS protocol and was banned only briefly.
* Don t Bogart that joint, my friend.
Credit: Wikipedia logo via MCT archives
