iPad in Russia

[William Gardella]

Konstantin Kudinov <kudichster at GMAIL.COM> writes:

> Peter is right,
> I would never take an iPad to Russia with me. The use of apple
> technologies is strictly prohibited and officially illegal without
> special permission signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The
> punishment for that is severe and depends on device model you have (
> de iure) and mostly on local judge's mood (de facto). In general
> adult people go to prison-like settlements in Siberia for 1-2 years,
> depending on iPad/iPhone/iPod model the person has.
>
>
> The reason for that is simple: russian authorities just want to be
> unique people using apple products in the country. Actually, ban on
> apple devices caused all protest events on Moscow streets and across
> the country. Pussy Riot band members are in prison because they were
> using unauthorized apple devices to capture video of their
> performance in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. Another
> well-known example is the death of Alexander Litvinenko. While
> western media were kept focusing on espionage assassin paranoid
> versions everyone in Russia knows real reason. Litvinenko managed to
> get newer model of iPhone than Putin had at that time. So he was
> lectured for his insolent behavior.

[...]

> Of course there are some ways to bring in an apple technology. If you
> still have enough courage to do so, I would recommend the simplest
> one: when you go through passport control in the airport just have
> 2-3 hundred dollars in cash in your passport and say “I have a
> present for you”. Usually, it helps to get rid of hard-bitten
> attention of kgb agents.

You, sir, are a treasure.  It took a second reading to catch all the
whoppers in this post (Litvinenko killed for iPhone possession, "the
kgb" at airports)--brilliant.

> 2013/5/9 Peter Ruki <0000list at gmail.com>
>
>     Unfortunately civilians are not allowed to use Apple technology
>     at this moment.
>     --> http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/05/
>     russia_war_on_internet_freedom
>    
>     I absolutely do not recommend to bring your gadgets with you
>     unless you don't want to prolong your stay for some years in
>     Siberia.

I can only hope that this was also a joke, as your citation doesn't seem
to have anything to do with the banning of Apple products, but rather
discusses the Unified Register of banned websites (which couldn't care
less what type of device you're connecting with) and the government's
efforts to implement a comprehensive Internet surveillance system.  In
case you were serious, see https://www.apple.com/ru/buy/.

Posts of this kind are what hacker communities call "FUD" (Fear,
Uncertainty, and Doubt), a form of misinformation that spreads farther
and faster than active government efforts at disinformation, which are
so transparently false as to discredit themselves.  FUD often comes from
a well-meaning and trusted source who thinks he's being helpful.
There's enough genuinely bad stuff happening with regard to Internet
users' rights in Russia and elsewhere that there's no need to spread FUD
all over it.

The main thing that Americans bringing mobile devices into Russia need
to be aware of is that it's a GSM country, and their devices must be
GSM-capable (to my knowledge, that's all cellular-equipped iPads in
existence except for those sold by Verizon).

--
Regards,
WGG

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