Still reeling from the beating he had just received, Aleksandr Litreev could scarcely believe what he was being told: Russian officers had pulled a bag of MDMA from his car and he was being charged with possession.

Litreev had flown back to his homeland earlier that day, ahead of a conference. On the way from the airport to his hotel, his vehicle had been surrounded by more than ten cars filled with armed military police.

Although Litreev submitted to a body search, the atmosphere soured quickly when he refused to unlock his phone for the officers, who threw him to the ground and delivered a beating that pushed him to the brink of consciousness. It was only after he had been taken to the local police station that the bag of drugs materialized.

During the month in which he was imprisoned in early 2020, several additional charges were levied against Litreev relating to alleged extremism, hate speech and possession of foreign documents. Like the initial charge, Litreev says these allegations were all spurious. But given just 0.25% of people that faced Russian courts the previous year were acquitted , he knew his situation was desperate.

While under house arrest awaiting trial, he was able to establish a line of communication with the Estonian embassy, whose staff helped him escape over the Narva-Ivangorod border. Litreev declined to provide us with specific details, presumably for fear of endangering those who helped him escape.

The key to understanding why Litreev was a target of the Russian authorities, however, lies in events that took place a number of years prior.

Red Button

Litreev was born in 1996 and raised near St Petersburg, the second-largest city in Russia. His parents were engineers and both worked at the local nuclear power station.

Although Litreev didn’t follow in their footsteps directly, he did go on to study software engineering at the local university. It was during this period he became interested in cybersecurity , he told us.

Around the time Litreev concluded his studies, anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny formalized his run for president ahead of the 2018 elections. Litreev had been following Navalny’s movement closely and managed to convince the team he could assist with cybersecurity matters. Before long, however, he found himself on the front lines.

“The more I got involved helping Navalny’s team with cybersecurity, the more I got involved in the protests themselves,” he explained.

In 2017, Navalny’s foundation released a film exposing corruption at the heart of the Russian government, specifically relating to the behavior of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. The state dismissed the claims as nonsense, but the film sparked large-scale protests across the country that spanned many months, and many who participated were beaten and carted off by police.

In an effort to guard against the abuse of protesters in custody, Litreev developed a mobile app called Red Button, which he describes as “like Uber for lawyers”. Pressing the eponymous red button activates a GPS connection and sends an alert to both the person’s family and a community of lawyers, one of whom is dispatched to provide advice and assistance.

The app was an immediate success, flying to the top of app stores in Russia, and has since been used across multiple countries by hundreds of thousands of people living under oppressive regimes.

When we first spoke a few weeks ago, the app had roughly 1.1 million active users. But today, in the aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine, that number is on the rise.

"Red Button registered more than 4,000 illegal detentions in the last three days and this number is growing constantly,” Litreev told us over email, on March 7.

“People are going out in massive numbers to the streets and attending rallies against the war. We are also registering messages of police cruelty (tortures, humiliation and etc.)."

In the largest European war of the digital age, Litreev’s mobile app looks set to play an important role. However, while the popularity of Red Button and his involvement in the Navalny movement was likely what first brought Litreev to the attention of the authorities, these were not the sole reasons for his notoriety.

A gaping hole

In response to the momentum building behind Navalny and his anti-corruption campaign in 2017-18, the Kremlin began to pursue a policy of heightened internet censorship.

The body responsible for enacting this policy, Roskomnadzor, began to block access to news outlets, blogs and other media that contained anti-government rhetoric, effectively erasing Navalny from the public web.

While investigating the mechanism by which the state was blocking these kinds of services, Litreev discovered a vulnerability that would allow any Russian citizen to ban any resource for the whole population.

The exploit was tied to a list maintained by Roskomnadzor of banned domains, which were resolved into IP addresses by the internet service providers, who then blocked access for end users. By attaching the IP address of a legitimate service to a domain that featured on the list and was available for purchase, Litreev found that a malicious actor could take the service down across the country.

To test the theory, Litreev plugged an IP address associated with Google into one such domain. The result was that Google Search became temporarily unavailable for 70% of Russians, he claims.

Litreev reported the vulnerability to the Russian government, but later made the details public when his initial disclosure went unacknowledged. Once word of the issue spread, people began buying up these available domains and performing the same trick to take down various popular services.

Later, in 2018, Litreev had another run-in with Roskomnadzor when the organization attempted to block messaging service Telegram, which was home to many anti-establishment communities, including a rather large one run by Litreev himself.

To preserve access to the service for Russian citizens, Litreev spun up “a hell of a lot” of proxy servers that allowed locals to bypass the restrictions. The system was funded largely by Litreev himself, but Paul Durov, the founder of Telegram, also began to donate in support. Soon, practically all Russian Telegram users were accessing the messaging app via Litreev’s proxy network.

When Roskomnadzor eventually abandoned its attempts to ban Telegram, Litreev turned the underlying infrastructure into a traditional VPN service, which he ran out of Estonia for a couple of years under the brand name Vee Security.

However, a perpetual thorn in the side of Roskomnadzor, Litreev’s luck soon ran out. While living in Estonia, he was safe, but as soon as he returned to Russian soil, the government seized the opportunity to attempt to neutralize him.

VPN, but different

Since escaping Russia with the help of the Estonians, Litreev has turned his attention to a new project, drawing on his experience working with Navalny and fighting against the dictates of Roskomnadzor.

Last year, he established a new company called Solar Labs, which is working in collaboration with another firm, Exidio, to offer a decentralized VPN (dVPN) service on top of the Sentinel blockchain - and even a dedicated router that links directly into the network.

Unlike traditional VPN vendors, which operate large-scale server farms across the globe, the Sentinel ecosystem allows anyone to offer up their excess bandwidth to the network by creating their own VPN node. Someone looking to access the internet via an IP address in a certain location then pays the node provider directly in crypto tokens, which can be later exchanged into regular currency.

Although the Sentinel dVPN cannot compete with the likes of ExpressVPN or NordVPN from a performance perspective, the beauty of such a system is that the network is far more resilient to takedown attempts, says Litreev.

“VPNs are most important in countries that suffer from problems with democracy and freedom of speech, like in Russia, China, Belarus, Venezuela etc.” he told us. “But governments are banning many traditional VPN services.”

In Russia, for example, the government has banned a host of the world’s most popular VPN services, Express and Nord included. And in the aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine, more are sure to follow.

“With Sentinel, however, we are able to guarantee the user will always be able to access the internet, because there is no single legal entity behind the network” explained Litreev. “The community spins up a hell of a lot of nodes and the government doesn’t have the resources to ban them all individually.”

“We believe decentralization will become an important cornerstone of the VPN industry, something that will emerge as a major trend in the near future. Without taking VPN to the next level with blockchain, the big name providers will see their services come under threat in countries in which they are needed most.”

Mistakes and misconceptions

As many will know, Navalny was ultimately denied the opportunity to run for president due to a previous criminal conviction, which he claims was trumped up for political reasons. Instead, Vladimir Putin assumed office for his fourth term.

In 2020, Navalny was poisoned with Novichok nerve agent, the same substance responsible for the Salisbury poisonings in the UK. Although he survived the attack, perpetrated in all likelihood by the Russian state, he was swiftly jailed on return to Moscow - and in prison he remains.

The intolerance of dissent is something the Russian people have become accustomed to over the years. Worryingly, though, the Kremlin is now extending its tendrils further into digital society, the last remaining space in which dissent might flourish.

Since the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has blocked both Facebook and Twitter in an effort to prevent the spread of unsanctioned war imagery and cut off lines of communication that could be used by protesters to organize. The government has also rubber-stamped a bill that makes the spreading of “fake” news reports punishable with up to fifteen years in prison.

Asked about misconceptions held by people in the west about the lives of those living under autocratic rule, Litreev said something that rings painfully true in the aftermath of the attack on Ukraine.

“The US and EU still think it is possible to negotiate with dictators like Putin or Xi Jinping. But the Russian people know there is no possible way to reach an agreement that will not be violated by the Russian government,” he said.

“It is ridiculously stupid to attempt to agree on something with Putin, because he does not stick to his agreements. It is naive to expect him to behave politely or push for positive change in his country when there isn’t a single case of him doing so [in the past].”

Litreev also says that people underestimate the extent and strength of the resistance movement inside Russia, which has been formed in large part in the online communities threatened by the clampdown on internet activity.

By preserving access to the free and open internet for people living under oppressive regimes, not just in Russia but across the globe, Litreev hopes to carve out a space for anti-establishment voices and for alternative sources of information that cut through the rhetoric and propaganda.

“There are a lot of people in Europe who think that most Russians support Putin, but that’s not true at all; support for Putin is at a historically low level right now. The Russian people don’t want war with anyone, or to be censored,” Litreev told us.

“I personally think we can consider the Russian government as an occupier of Russian territory. They commit crimes against the Russian people.”

Should I buy the Ecobee SmartThermostat with voice control?

Ecobee is one of the biggest names in smart heating. Born from a desire to reduce the amount of energy heating and cooling a home that’s unoccupied uses, Ecobbee has produced several models of smart thermostats over the years.

It currently offers two smart thermostats: the Ecobee3 Lite and the Ecobee SmartThermostat with voice control. The latter is the newer of the pair, has the most features, and is the thermostat we’ll be focusing on for this article.

At $250, the Ecobee SmartThermostat is a close rival to the Nest Learning Thermostat , and offers a similar range of features, including smart home integration and a claimed ability to lower your energy bills by smartly and automatically adjusting the heating and cooling of your home.

So how does it actually stack up against the best smart thermostats you can buy right now, and crucially should you be buying one?

Best smart thermostat deals

Read on to find out whether you should buy the Ecobee SmartThermostat, or if you already know which model you want to control your heating and cooling system, check out the best prices right now.

Price

With a retail price of $250, the Ecobee SmartThermostat is a fairly expensive device. It costs the same as the latest, third-generation Nest Learning Thermostat, while being significantly more than the $60 Amazon Smart Thermostat . However, that model has a less premium design, fewer features and only works with Alexa.

But, while the Amazon thermostat requires an Alexa smart speaker, like an Echo, somewhere in your home to enable voice control – the Ecobee has Alexa built-in. Thanks to an integrated speaker and microphone, the Ecobee works just like an Echo speaker, with the Amazon assistant able to answer your questions, play music, set timers, adjust the heating, and control all of your other smart home devices.

The Ecobee SmartThermostat also comes with a wireless SmartSensor for monitoring the temperature and occupancy of a certain room, away from where the thermostat itself is located, and keeping the heating and cooling at a comfortable level. One sensor is included with the thermostat, and additional sensors are priced at $100 for two. Ecobee thermostats can accommodate up to 32 sensors.

Design

The Ecobee SmartThermostat is a similar size and shape to most of its rivals. It measures 4.29 inch square and is 1 inch thick. The included trim plate (used to hide any holes or marks left by the removal of your old thermostat) is 6.24 inch square and 0.34 inch thick.

Unlike the Nest Learning Thermostat and its various colour options, the Ecobee is only available with a white body and black front. That front panel houses a glass touchscreen display that prominently shows the current temperature next to a slider used to raise or lower the target temperature with a swipe. Below this are icons for accessing the settings menu and other features. The system is powered by a quad-core processor, and there’s dual-band Wi-Fi to ensure a good connection to your router.

The Ecobee works with radiant heating systems, multistage and dual-fuel heat pumps. It is powered by a dedicated power supply using a Common wire (also known as a C wire). A so-called Power Extender Kit is included in the box, allowing for installation in most homes without a C wire.

Ecobee says installation should only take an amateur around 45 minutes, although a professional can be hired if you so wish.

Features

Like other intelligent thermostats, the Ecobee learns your heating and cooling preferences, then makes recommendations on how to lower your energy bills while maintaining a comfortable temperature. It also adjusts to keep your home comfortable in high and low humidity, and aims to heat or cool when energy is cheaper.

A built-in occupancy sensor automatically adjusts the temperature to save money when you go out, then warms or cools the home to your preferred level when you return. By using the included SmartSensor (and more can be purchased for other rooms) the thermostat can be set to only heat or cool the rooms that are being occupied, in a further bid to lower your energy bills.

A major highlight of the Ecobee SmartThermostat is how its integrated speaker and microphone turns it into a smart speaker with voice assistant. Alexa works natively and requires no additional hardware, while Siri can also be used, but this requires you to have at least one Apple HomePod or HomePod Mini as part of your smart home. Either assistant can then be used in the normal way, speaking aloud from the thermostat itself.

Asking questions to your thermostat, or requesting it to play music, might seem strange, but if it’s located in a commonly used area of the home it could well be useful. You can use it to broadcast announcements to the home, for example, where a message is played through every compatible Alexa or Siri speaker in the property, or make hands-free phone calls. Of course, you can also ask the assistant (on the thermostat itself or any other compatible device) to adjust the temperature.

As well as the aforementioned temperature sensors, Ecobee also sells sensors for doors and windows ($80 for two). With these installed, opening a door or window for more than five minutes will switch off the air conditioning and send you a notification via the Ecobee app in a bid to reduce energy waste.

Should I buy the Ecobee SmartThermostat with voice control?

The Ecobee SmartThermostat is a feature-packed product that ticks a lot of boxes. It is nicely designed, with an attractive user interface, the ability to lower your energy bills, and broad smart home integration. Having Alexa built in, and the ability to use Siri in an Apple-focused smart home, is also a nice bonus that sets the Ecobee apart from rivals like the Nest Learning Thermostat.

All that said, at $250 it is as expensive as its Nest rival. Both cost considerably more than the $60 Amazon Smart Thermostat, which also claims to intelligently lower energy bills.

So long as the Ecobee is within budget, it should appeal to almost all smart home builders. This is thanks to it working with all major home automation and voice assistant systems. It will especially appeal to those who use the Alexa or Siri voice assistants to control their smart home devices, and having access to these on the thermostat itself could be useful in some households. But this will depend on where in the home the thermostat is located.

Those on a tighter budget should look elsewhere, at either the $60 Amazon Smart Thermostat or $130 Nest Thermostat (or the Nest Thermostat E in markets where that is available). The Ecobee will also be less appealing to those who do not use Alexa or Siri as their primary voice assistant. While the thermostat can still be controlled by speaking to the Google Assistant on another device, like a Nest Audio smart speaker, the Ecobee’s own speaker and microphone would go unused.

We also think the Ecobee’s voice assistant tech would be wasted in homes where the thermostat is hidden away, such as in a hallway where Alexa would probably go unused.

Best Samsung Galaxy S22 cases

If you're in need of one of the best Samsung Galaxy S22 cases, there's no shortage of options. That's why we've picked out some of the top choices so you don't have to spend ages trying to work out what would suit you.

No one wants to see their precious new phone damaged due to the slightest of knocks or bangs, and that's why a case is so essential.

We've looked at the many cases currently out there for the exceptionally classy Samsung Galaxy S22 and picked out ten of the very best options for it. Each is sure to keep your phone safe while looking smart and stylish too.

The Casetify Impact Crush series is a fun range of cases. Looking cute and colorful, this Acid Smiles case is also fairly durable. Providing drop protection of up to 6.6 feet (2m), it should withstand most daily tasks, although some people may need more durability.

It's made sustainably too, with 65% of its materials made from recycled or plant-based materials. The recycled materials partially come from upcycled phone cases thanks to the company's RECASETiFY program, so it's quite a good cause. Also, the case offers an antimicrobial coating that eliminates 99% of bacteria and keeps everything clean.

See the Casetify Acid Smiles case here

The OtterBox Defender Series Pro is ideal if you're clumsy or have a physical job which means your new phone could get damaged. It protects your phone for four times as many drops as the military standard while also covering for scrapes and basic falls. Alongside that, its port covers keep the phone safe from dirt, dust, and lint on the inside, while the case has antimicrobial additives to keep it clean on the outside.

There's a holster if you'd prefer to keep your phone attached to your belt, and the same clip works as a hands-free kickstand too.

See the OtterBox Defender Series Pro case here

The Spigen Tough Armor Case treads the middle ground between being slim yet more durable than most. It isn't the most rugged option here so some people may need more, but for the average user, this does the job. The case uses extreme impact foam under durable layers so that it can protect the phone while staying slimline.

Its sleek duallayer design passes military-grade protection and raised edges further protect the camera cutout. It also has a built-in kickstand which should prove useful.

See the Spigen Tough Armor Case here

The OtterBox Commuter Series is a sleek and stylish case that still packs in a decent amount of protection. It covers users for up to three times as many drops as the military standard requires. Alongside that, it has a dual-layer design that means the inner slipcover is soft while the hard outer shell absorbs and deflects impacts.

The case also offers an antimicrobial coating so your case is that bit cleaner. The only real downside here is that the case is made from only 35% recycled plastic so it could be a bit more environmentally aware.

See the OtterBox Commuter Series here

If you want to show off your new phone (and who doesn't?), the Spigen Ultra Hybrid Case is a great bet. It offers a slim, hybrid structure that means you can still see the phone through the crystal clear back. Due to the design of the case, it also promises longer-lasting clarity so it won't go yellow any time soon.

In addition, it has an easy-to-hold grip and offers military-grade protection. We're just not sure how well it would handle a really rugged lifestyle.

See the Spigen Ultra Hybrid Case here

The Urban Armor Pathfinder Series case looks like it means business because it does. It's remarkably slim for a rugged case but its low-profile perimeter edge belies strong drop protection. Able to withstand a drop of up to 16 feet, it has an impact-resistant core that keeps your phone safe.

Its look is very distinctive but may not suit everyone. However, if you need slim yet tough, this is the solution.

See the Urban Armor Pathfinder Series case here

The Mous Limitless 3.0 case looks delightful. If you just want the back part of the case, rather than something that wraps entirely around your phone, it's a good choice. The leather-style look gives it some extra class, while the impact-absorbing technology keeps your phone safe.

At this price, you wouldn't really expect real leather and it still feels good in your hands. The case also includes an extra SIM card holder plus there’s an eyelet so you can attach a wrist strap if needed.

See the Mous Limitless 3.0 case here

The Spigen Crystal Slot Case has a big selling point - you can place your bank card in the case to keep it safe alongside your phone. Less bulky than a full wallet case, it's a useful compromise. Also, because of its clear (but glittery) design, you can still see your phone clearly.

The only downside is a contentious one - it has embedded buttons. That won't disappoint everyone but for some, it may be a deal-breaker.

See the Spigen Crystal Slot Case here

Want a phone case that uses Kevlar material? You need the Urban Armor Monarch Kevlar. It's sure to be excessive for some people but if you have a strenuous job, it will keep your phone safe. It uses a five-layer construction with a soft impact-resistant core and a protective screen surround to boot. With up to 20 feet of drop protection, your phone should be safe.

The trade-off here is that this is a pretty bulky case. It's not bad looking but it's definitely going to take up room.

See the Urban Armor Monarch Kevlar case here

The Speck Presidio Perfect keeps things simple yet fashionable. The Clear Ombre case means you can see your beloved phone while enjoying a change of colors that looks fashionable. Its looks won't suit everyone but it's nicely subtle rather th garish.

On top of that, it provides antimicrobial technology and it's drop resistant for up to 13 feet. That should keep everyone happy.

See the Speck Presidio Perfect case here