Georgian censorship of Russian media sites expands to a second ISP

[UPDATED] Censorship of Russian media sites in Georgia continues to expand despite the winding down of hostilities. ONI and the Information Warfare Monitor confirms that filtering of Russian media sites resident on the .ru domain has spread to a second Georgian ISP. Subscribers of Caucuses on-line the largest Georgia ISP have been without access to russian media sites since 9 August. Yesterday a similar filtering regime was implemented on the Georgian Academic and Research Network (GRENA). The decision to filer was made by the director, although no reason was given at the time. ONI suspects that GRENA's decision was prompted by concerns of inflamatory information causing panic. GRENA is the ISP for most of Georgia's school system. ONI along with its sister project the Information Warfare Monitor are investigating if the filtering is the initiative of individual ISPs, or part of the governments introduction of a state of emergency. A slashdot report posted today claims that the filtering is implemented at the on DNS level. Earlier this year, ONI reported on internet filtering in neighboring Armenia as a result of the introduction of emergency measures that followed bloody clashes that broke out during contested elections. Updates on the continuing cyberwar between Russia and Georgia are posted at the Information Warfare Monitor web site www.infowar-monitor.net