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Comment by martin293 | Hacker News Reader

I wonder what exactly were they worried would happen if they denied the request?

If they have any contributors within the territory I think there is reason to be concerned for their long term safety. The original capitulation may have to been to have time to check.

yeah Putin's totally gonna throw some Firefox contributors out a window because of a checks notes browser extension

Don't know about windows, but they have jailed people for as much as liking a social media post.

Or holding up a blank piece of paper.

Or holding up an imaginary piece of paper (I'm serious, look it up)

It's absolutely comical https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW3W_lYO4DY

Going off reporting, it's not as far-fetched as you're suggesting.

Is this your first time encountering an authoritarian regime? This would not be unexpected, surprising or out of the ordinary.

I mean, why not? Terrifies people and he has no negative repercussions.

I hate to break it to you, but yeah. There are, sadly, many countries in the world that rely on petty and punitive action on harmless things online in order to frighten would-be "troublemakers".

It's not just Russia, either. The UK does this almost three times as often.

Putin personally won't. Local police bureaucrat angling for a promotion and needing +1 in his "serious crimes solved" very well might. There are a lot of people in Russia being prosecuted for social media posts and expressing dissent, somebody helping with circumventing censorship is an even more juicy target.

> yeah Putin's totally gonna throw some Firefox contributors out a window because of a checks notes browser extension

Putin routinely throws people in Gulags for much less than that.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/brittney-griner-putin-pa...

Russia often bans entire websites and IP ranges, making it harder for non-tech people to get certain software.

Mozilla was likely hoping that nobody from the West would notice that they complied and removed the addons.

Just goes to show you how all those "values" they stand for only matter when it doesn't make them lose any users.

>"In alignment with our commitment to an open and accessible internet, Mozilla will reinstate previously restricted listings in Russia," the group declared. "Our initial decision to temporarily restrict these listings was made while we considered the regulatory environment in Russia and the potential risk to our community and staff.

Translation: "We hoped it would go quietly and not ruffle anybody's feathers, but it got a real lot of bad press, and we aren't ready to sacrifice so much for Putin's pleasure, so we are rolling it back".

If I got a nastygram from the Kremlin I sure would spend some time figuring out if they have some leverage over me before I openly opposed it.

You're throwing out a speculative guess as to why they did something and using it as evidence to judge their actions

Is it about values or just complying with local government laws/demands?

If a western company for example bans sci-hub access because of US/EU demands then HN will be mostly, this is complying with local laws.

Eh, more likely a support person saw a government request and assumed it was something, something, court ordered take down and complied and forwarded it to the lawyer. Lawyer and CEO saw the press coverage and expedited the return.

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