Russia: Rector of ITMO University writes open letter condemning Telegram ban

The Rector of ITMO University (St. Petersburg) Vladimir Vasilyev published an open letter addressed to the advisor of the President of the Russian Federation Herman Klimenko, on behalf of the university, with a suggestion to stop the process of blocking the messaging app Telegram.

According to Vasilyev, the blocking of many IP addresses including some belonging to Amazon, Microsoft and Google, undertaken by Roskomnadzor to stop the functioning of Telegram, has lead to serious problems in the work of scientists and teachers at Russian universities. “Many aspects of the work of our scientists — above all, on projects done in cooperation with foreign colleagues — have actually been paralyzed due to the blocking of IP addresses of the above-mentioned companies,” Vasiliev writes.

Among the main problems encountered by ITMO University researchers as a result of Telegram’s blocking are the restriction of access to articles in international scientific journals, the difficulty of working with foreign colleagues on Google Drive and Google Docs, and the complete stoppage of the university’s online course “How to win programming olympics: the secrets of champions”, which was placed on the open education platform edX.

The actions of Roskomnadzor undermine the reputation of Russian universities and directly interfere with their effectiveness, says Vasiliev. “If Roskomnadzor continues its current policy, this will inevitably lead to ITMO University and many other leading Russian research and education centers soon losing their high positions in the field of international scientific research and open education, and they will be on the sidelines of global scientific and technological progress,” he writes.

The Rector of ITMO urges Herman Klimenko to intervene in the actions of Roskomnadzor “in order to prevent catastrophic consequences for the future of Russia arising from the present situation.”

Telegram is an instant messenger created by Pavel Durov in 2013. Restriction of access to Telegram began on April 16, 2018 due to the refusal of the company’s management to provide the FSB with encryption keys. Together with the Telegram servers, Roskomnadzor has included in its register of banned sites more than 18 million IP addresses of hosting providers such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Digital Ocean.

Translated from Edutainme: http://www.edutainme.ru/post/rektor-itmo-telegram/