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  "path": "/2026/04/13/whoops-russias-attempt-to-block-vpns-causes-major-banking-failure/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-13T12:24:12.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.techdirt.com",
  "tags": [
    "1",
    "telegram",
    "autocracy",
    "banking",
    "bans",
    "freedom",
    "outage",
    "russia",
    "spying",
    "surveillance",
    "vpns"
  ],
  "textContent": "VPNs (when integrity is maintained and the owners aren’t sleazy scammers) have long been the mortal enemy of shitty, surveillance-happy governments. And when shitty, surveillance-happy governments try to block or degrade the use of VPNs, bad things can happen. As Russia found out recently when a ham-fisted effort to block VPN users from accessing Telegram […]",
  "title": "Whoops: Russia’s Attempt To Block VPNs Causes Major Banking Failure"
}