Information

Geographic restrictions

Habr has functionality for geographic restrictions.

Sometimes the authorities of some countries don’t want their residents to have access to certain publications that, in their opinion, violate current legislation and should be blocked on their territory. So the authorities issue an order to the website or media to remove the publication from public access. Habr is no exception and also receives similar orders and is forced to obey them.

How does it work?

After receiving an authority order that a particular publication should be blocked in the territory of a particular country, Habr will impose a geographical restriction on this publication, indicating the country where it is valid. For this purpose, the HTTP protocol even has a corresponding status code - 451 - “Unavailable For Legal Reasons”.

The visitor's country is determined by public information provided by the owner of the visitor's IP address in the Regional Address Register (RIR) database. The publication is inaccessible to visitors from a country with a current restriction - instead they will see a stub page with information about the restriction, but visitors from other countries will not notice the restriction.

When a restriction is imposed, the owner of the publication receives a notification about it, as well as useful information about next steps. If the restriction is successfully canceled, Habr will remove the restriction as soon as it receives confirmation of the restriction being canceled.

What types of publications support geographic restrictions?

All types of publications.

What should the owner of the publication do to remove the blocking?

First you need to find out the details of the restriction: by which authority, when and on what basis it was imposed. Habr will provide this information.

Using the information received, you must independently study the procedure for canceling the restriction or contact legal counsellor. Depending on the country, the type of restriction and the authority who implemented it, the procedures may differ. It is important not to forget that there are usually deadlines for filing complaints and applications, missing which may end up with your application won't be accepted for consideration.

As soon as it becomes known that the restriction has been canceled, you should contact Habr support with confirmation — the restriction will be taken off.