Russia wants all WiFi devices to be registered
By Darren Murph 
posted Apr 15th 2008 11:20PM
posted Apr 15th 2008 11:20PM
Sure, we've seen the occasional loony look down upon open WiFi access, but Russia is apparently out to really slow down wireless adoption with its latest directive. Reportedly, the Russian Mass Media, Communications and Cultural Protection Service (or Rossvyazokhrankultura for short -- no seriously, we swear) is looking to have every user of a WiFi-enabled device obtain permission and register said device before hopping on the world wide web. Even worse, it seems as if every single wireless transmitter and device must be registered, meaning that technophiles will be filling out heaps of paperwork in order to get their handset, laptop, DS Lite, PC and hacked-up Foleo online (legally) via their home-based access point. We're hearing that registering a single PDA or phone would take around ten days, while signing up a new home network would be even more painstaking. We'll spare you the snide In Soviet Russia... remarks, but feel free to concoct your own below.[Via Wi-Fi Net News]
In soviet russia, Wi-Fi sniffs you!!!
in soviet russia, wifi finds you!
In soviet russia, WIFI registers you!
What iz dis "freedom" dat you speak of komrade?
All your wi-fi are belong to us.
Putin to Russia: "Let's all register our Wi-Fi devices for the common good!"
Putin to Stalin: "Thanks for the idea buddy." ;)
In soviet russia, sucks to be you...
best soviet russia joke ever.
Yes.
in soviet russia, we dont need no stinkin--*BOOM HEADSHOT*
That's like 12 different tired memes rolled into one, that must have been an effort.
In America we have great decadence free wi-fi. we are sorrying comrades of mother russia
wait until I tell Moose and Squirrell!!!
I have to wonder how they're going to identify these devices. Mac addresses can be spoofed, and that's the only thing that can really be traced with any sort of accuracy.
one step closer to ingsoc
I don't think they had wifi in Airstrip One...
That's true, but it's one more tool for the FSB , and another small addition to the new Iron Curtain. This is something that's surely intended to snare dissidents and others who for good or bad run afoul of the "government". Savvy users should have no problem avoiding trouble, but this will certainly make users who don't know how to get around it think twice before speaking their minds.
you should watch the second half of zeitgeist. may not be true but makes you paranoid as hell for a week or two.
Well considering there really isn't much broadband outside of select major cities, and most pc users are in cafes, it doesn't seem like that big of a venture to register it all.
Rossvyazokhrankultura - Nice
in soviet russia, wifi connect to YOU
HAIL to the U.S.S.R.!!!!
In Soviet Russia, Wi-Fi devices register YOU!!
register or we will drop the iron Wi-Fi curtain. Like all other things the good boys will comply and the rest will continue to think outside the box.
in soviet russia, open wifi looks down at you
In Germany, you have to register your address for mobile numbers - even a PAYG SIM card needs registration. It's just a form in the store though, no 10 day waiting.
Just a little fun fact. Feel free to use it in those awkward silence moments.
That's to prevent terrorists from using them as bomb-detonators. I have my German cell phone, gave my address, and went on my merry little way. It took about 3 minutes out of my life.
Is that some rick rollage i see? I'm not clicking that!
What the hell is the point of requiring something like this? And why bring this about now? Wi-fi has been mainstream for a good number of years already...
Its like owning a dog in India. No one in their right mind will bother to get it registered, and pay a bribe to get things moving, will will cost more than the dog.
Just one more attempt but Putin and his cronies to restrict free expression and communication so that a full reversion to communist repression can occur quietly and without revolt. Beware the sleeping bear, he is ready to awake again enriched after this capitalistic venture.
wat
in soviet russia, i roll rick
in mother Russia, we register WiFi for tax money. Long live Lenin, and Stalin and ........
.....(poisoned by Putin)
I must be missing something on the bulk of the comments.
Yeah, me too. I think it's humor.
Google "Yakov Smirnoff".
In Soviet Russia, comments miss the bulk of you.
/see how it works?
//no, it's isn't funny anymore.
in soviet Russia, we claim to be democratic, but we really require the foolish peasants to register the 3 wifi devices in country.
Sucks to live in Russia as a geek...
"Sucks to live in Russia"
Fixed
it's cold up there. and cars are dirty.
Wow, looks like I was completely wrong...
I thought only old people like Yakov Smirnoff.
LOLZ!
Thank God I am Ukrainian, not russian, and my country doesn't require this.
Yes, they stated that they can confiscate *any* wi-fi device now, even though their law "on communications" (straight translation) says wi-fi devices don't need registration.
Mr. Karpov must have hit his head somewhere. He said, *every home wi-fi is a hot-spot and should be registered with a full set of documents, while wi-fi supporting devices can be registered on an individual and only used by this individual*. And yes, he said they'll confiscate it if you give your laptop or cell with wi-fi to anyone else. LOL!!!
Well, the funniest thing is that the head of the governmental agency that controls communications (mass media, personal info protection, giving frequencies ect, read as Russian FCC) is now headed by an engineer-metallurgist by education. I don't think he actually knows laws he needs to protect.
Yes, I agree with fontanka.ru - professional degradation is easy to see. And you know why? Because after soviet union fell apart, Ukrainian specialists went back to Ukraine and now work in EU and USA.
I'm really happy I'm not russian xD I actually pity them greatly, though its hard to notice xD
"Yes, I agree with fontanka.ru - professional degradation is easy to see. And you know why? Because after soviet union fell apart, Ukrainian specialists went back to Ukraine and now work in EU and USA."
sweet dreams, comrade, sweet dreams. Working in EU and the US - doing what? spreading their legs every now and then?
LOLZ? What is that? A corruption of LULZ? I don' think so...
2_Shinigami
Yeah, russians are stupid because all the Ukrainians left to work abroad... as a construction site workers... seriously, i understand your patriotism but think about what you are writing. I am russian but i'm glad i don't live there anymore. Our government is a bunch of corrupt idiots, who failed literacy tests. Democracy? oh yeah.....
this thing with Wifi really sucks, and it's obviously unlawful, but i think only big organizations will register, private users will just ignore all this.
In soviet Russia, laws mean nothing.
To Shinigami,
"Yes, I agree with fontanka.ru - professional degradation is easy to see. And you know why? Because after soviet union fell apart, Ukrainian specialists went back to Ukraine and now work in EU and USA."
I can understand "blind patriotism", but calling Russians stupid in every single post of yours is plain childish. I feel for all those poor Russians (about 50% of current Ukranian population) that are forced to deal with people like you.
Nu 4e vbIebnulsya ?
This is stupid...
The comments are not any better...
Let's hope Fearless Leader at Pennsylvania Avenue doesn't get wind of this
in soviet russia, wifi hacks you!!
wow. wtf Russia
is this really such a bad idea?
russians are notorious hackers/spammers/russans i think they need further restrictions
Yes AutoTom, you're right, and I think we should have the Jews registered as well, in case they repeat their attack of 9/11. [/sarcasm]
Auto Tom, formerly of Tom Oliveri fame,
Please stop commenting. You're "logic" is going to cause someone to have an aneurysm, then there will be blood on your hands.
In soviet russia, Waldo finds you!!
ok, i'm done.
The next step is bluetooth. I know how it works in these places of yonder....
No, the next step is mind control. They already control the mass media.
You mean the Nigerians have one less competitor now. Amen to Russian Hackers and Spammers
They are not russian hackers, they are Ukrainian programmers left without a job xD hire them into security-creating companies, give them enough and you'll have no problems with hackers in the future (as long as you don't fire them lol)
As anywhere else laws in Russia are behind technology progress. Anyway the whole story is a little bit incorrect. Actual registration is not required for inside the building access. If you want to set up a Municipal like Wi-Fi access then you got a problem. You have to obtain a license to broadcast any RF on a large distance. But in the end it's all about how some bureaucrat will interpreter this law.
Read the original version - home networks are same as hot-spots and need to be registered. Otherwise confiscation and fees may apply.
Well, I don't need to read the whole story from the fontanka.ru, I simply went and read the law itself, I am not going to simply trust what Internet says. It's stupid t trust blindly. The laws says clearly that Wi-Fi doesn't have to be register for home use. Some people mis interpreted the law and now everyone say that Russia is crazy. People get a life, especially those talking about democracy and free of speech.
Skill.
In Soviet Russia, you have to register Wi-Fi devices.
Looks like cops in Russia needed new laptops, so this nonsense was created. I have a feeling that it's either not going to be enforced or every government agency in Russia will be forced offline by angered Russian techie crowd.
That, or angered techies will start disappearing like angry journalists do.
In Soviet Russia, Government overthrows YOU!
Well, it will be a little harder to have "angered techies" disappear. Journalists are all about having public attention and being in the spot light, while techies prefer to stay low key. :-)
What about business travellers who are passing through or there for a meeting? Will they have to register their wifi devices?
Of course! Just don't tell anyone you have wi-fi there and turn it off for the time being
Ok, so this is just about the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard....I have spent 5 weeks each of the past two summers in Moscow, and my main way of connecting to the internet is a pay for access city wide (as city wide as you can get in a city of over 10million people like Moscow) WiFi network....so what I would have to register my laptop in order to bring it through customs? What about business travelers and their blackberries? You realize what sort of death to international business this could bring about????
I'm sure there is a statute for temporary visitor's access. That, or this is an excuse to confiscate sensitive data-carrying devices used by business travelers without the wherewithal to keep their WiFi on the DL.
Hmmm.... I live in Russia, and this is the first place where I see this news %) Really, it must be a late April Fools joke, the silly one, really.
Ahh, I get it. ...So you're saying the opposite of what you really mean so you don't get your door busted down and a permanent vacation in Siberia?
The old whatever I say after "I live in Moscow/Russia" trick. Very clever.
I've got the source here: http://www.spbgid.ru/img/publ/rsocwifi.html
All in all, there's 2 points: if you want use wi-fi devices for profit, then you must 1) license to use the radio spectrum and 2) register all hardware that use this spectrum. So, no big deal for a common folks.
ough main gosh! my doent nohw huw too speal wright :-(
*Confucius asks:
If I post a bad link and people click on it, I've rick-rolled them.
If I post a legitimate link and people don't click on it, does that mean I've rick-rolled them???
In Soviet Russia, playing Doom will blend your future robotic overlords.
Lol guys. I live in Moscow. And I tell you this is bullshit. :) Of course there is no such thing and never will be. This is just stupid.
Ah... If only Ron Reagan was alive...
"Mr. Gorbachev tear down that firewall"
hahaha
LOL, well... that's more appropriate with China and news about them being forced to take down their filtering during duration of Olympic games. :-)
>> "Mr. Gorbachev tear down that firewall"
now that was funny!
In Soviet Russia: all your wi-fi are belong to us!
Putin may have left the KGB, but the KGB never left Putin.
This is another attempt by him to roll the country backwards straight into a dictatorship. If you disable the peoples' ability to communicate, all the easier to control them.
Fuck Vladimir Putin.
You read what Alex said (this only applies to public hotspots, well, you can't broadcast FM radio for the city, can you? but you can use fm to transmit from your player to car audio).
Plus this is just that some stupid guy said who understand nothing in technology. It happens from time to time, but it's never gonna happen and of course never gonna affect home users (not corporate).
"Honey disconnect the phone
I'm back in the USSR
You don't know how lucky you are, boy
Back in the US
Back in the US
Back in the USSR"
Are you kidding?
"russians are notorious hackers/spammers/russans i think they need further restrictions"
you must be on the ban all artists committee too. you're soo afraid they might do something naughty to your country.
As far as I know, wifi devices already have to be registered to the authorities with their MAC address and point of installation. I bought a wifi-adapter a couple of weeks ago in Moscow, and I had to fill out a form (in two copies) about in which house I was going to install it. The funny thing is, though, that the whole registration-system is paper-based. I'd love to see the bureaucrat in the other end of the system who gets thousands of registrations every day...
Putin is another Stalin killer clone
Stalin killed over 25 million people during his rule and I haven't heard of any recent massacres of such size during Putin presidency. So please shut up about Putin.
The scale of what Putin is doing is nowhere near what Stalin did. But Putin is firmly in power still regardless of title, and he doesn't need to consolidate power with a massive purge.
The murdering of dissidents and journalists and the impunity that the hitmen and those who employee them have is sickening. Everything's not all right in Russia contrary to what some will say.
Relax, guys. It's true, ... BUT applies only to big-powered wi-fi spots not (just like cell-phone base stations). It's NOT about client devices or office/home hot spots.
So are you calling ernest a liar?
Will one of you please record your next purchase of a WiFi device for us?
You CAN buy wi-fi smartphone or wi-fi router, for example, for home or office use and no registration required. Sometimes you have to fix your MAC address if provider asks you. It's normal. There are millions of wi-fi devices in a country and its impossible to register all of them. Just imagine that! It's unreal!! The official document tells only about commercial "strong" equipment.
In Soviet Russia, Internet accesses YOU!
Whatever!!
Save your anti-Russian ignorance for the Russophobes.
Actually, the Russian internet is booming. Go take a look at www.odnoklassniki.ru for one example.
President-elect Medvedev actually is a big proponent of the internet and I highly doubt such registration will ever come into effect.
By the way, I'm writing this comment on a wi-fi network right now.
Thus ends the "the Democratic era" of Soviet history and begins a new Communist regime.
This is not true, has been sensationalized and should be edited to reflect the true nature of the issue. Refer to (in Russian) the laws in question:
http://www.tks.ru/news/law/2004/10/18/0003
http://www.tks.ru/news/law/2007/08/01/0010
The latter is an addendum which contains descriptions of standard consumer wifi devices, such as those in laptops and handhelds, which have been added as exceptions to the registration process.
Only big adapters are affected by this.
This is the real shit. Anyone who reads Russian, enjoy:
http://www.spbgid.ru/img/publ/rsocwifi.html