News outlets are finding creative ways to get around the Kremlin's efforts to block independent reporting inside Russia, utilizing everything from carbon-copy websites to encryption tools and anonymous browsers, Axios' Sara Fischer reports.

Why it matters: While old-school circumvention methods like short-wave radio are being reintroduced, journalists trying to break through Russia's iron curtain for media argue sophisticated digital techniques can often be more effective and efficient.

• "The fact is, there are many digital channels that remain open and a lot can be done to reach people online," said Patrick Boehler, head of digital strategy at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Driving the news: Boehler and his colleagues at the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty have been mirroring websites for news sites being censored — making exact copies of them at new internet addresses.

Be smart: The Kremlin can block the mirrored domain once it's discovered, forcing news outlets to constantly shift to new domains.

• Placing mirror sites on content delivery networks (CDNs) that host other vital services make it much harder for the Russian government to shut them down, "because they rely on these CDNs for their own use," Boehler said.
• Encrypted messaging channels like Telegram or Whatsapp are often used by outlets to tell audiences which domains are active.

Between the lines: News organizations also using those encrypted channels to communicate with individual Russians on the ground who may provide photos and videos to Western outlets to verify and report on.

What to watch: News sites and social networks are also beginning to establish their own Tor networks, which encrypt internet traffic and reroute it through thousands of servers around the world, making it virtually impossible to track.

• Twitter last week announced its own Tor service that helps Russians access its site despite Russian government efforts to block it.

The big picture: Both VOA and RFE, which are funded by the U.S. government but editorially independent, have a lot of experience when it comes to circumventing censorship, but the speed of the crackdown in Russia took many by surprise, said Matthew Baise, director of digital strategy and audience development at the VOA.

"We're seeing that mass migration to circumvention tools, which is pretty new to the Russian market," said Nat Kretchen, senior vice president of programs of the Open Technology Fund, a government-supported nonprofit focused on advancing internet freedom.

• That migration began when the Kremlin began blocking major Western media outlets and social networks.
• Use of virtual private networks, or VPNs, which enable users to hide their locations to evade location-based restrictions, has skyrocketed in Russia.
• Even though Russia has long been a propaganda state, it "was not a high censorship market until a couple weeks ago," Kretchen said.

The Justice Department has asked the judge overseeing its antitrust case against Google to sanction the company for allegedly training employees to "camouflage" business documents from being revealed by legal disputes, Axios' Ashley Gold reports.

Driving the news: The DOJ filed a legal brief contending that Google teaches employees to request advice from counsel around sensitive business communications, thereby shielding documents from discovery in legal situations.

• Once counsel is involved, the company can treat the documents as protected under attorney-client privilege.

What they're saying: "Google has explicitly and repeatedly instructed its employees to shield important business communications from discovery by using false requests for legal advice," DOJ attorneys wrote in the brief, asking U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta to sanction Google and compel the disclosure of more documents.

• After DOJ prodding, "Google's outside counsel eventually deprivileged tens of thousands of documents initially withheld or redacted on the basis of privilege.

The other side: "Our teams have conscientiously worked for years to respond to inquiries and litigation, and suggestions to the contrary are flatly wrong," Google spokesperson Julie Tarallo McAlister said.

• "Just like other American companies, we educate our employees about legal privilege and when to seek legal advice. And we have produced over four million documents to the DOJ in this case alone — including many that employees had considered potentially privileged."

Separately: Google entered into a confidential settlement with six employees who allege they were fired for organizing.

Slack, which last week began the process of cutting off service to sanctioned Russian companies, said today it is completing that process and also blocking access in parts of Ukraine controlled by Russia.

Why it matters: Tech companies have been navigating a host of rules relating to sanctions and trade embargoes, as well as making their own calls on whether to continue doing any business in Russia.

Details: Slack said it has notified customers, where permitted, ahead of cutting off service and that non-sanctioned customers can regain access to their accounts and data outside of the embargoed regions.

• Slack will continue to be available to current users in Russia and multinational companies that have employees in Russia.
• However, paid customers will be moved to a free plan at the end of their current billing cycle and Slack will also stop accepting new customers in Russia, in line with parent company Salesforce's decision to exit the market.

President Biden reiterated prior warnings that the Kremlin could be "exploring options for potential cyberattacks" against the U.S. during an address on Monday, Axios' Julia Shapero reports.

The big picture: The White House previously sounded the alarm regarding the possibility Russia may launch retaliatory cyberattacks in response to U.S. economic sanctions following its ongoing and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

Driving the news: Biden urged the private sector to "harden your cyber defenses immediately," according to a White House statement.

• "You have the power, the capacity, and the responsibility to strengthen the cybersecurity and resilience of the critical services and technologies on which Americans rely," Biden said.
• "It's not just your interests that are at stake," the president later added in remarks at a meeting with the Business Roundtable, which represents some of the largest U.S. corporations. "It is a national interest at stake."
• Meanwhile, former government cybersecurity chief Chris Krebs warned that cybercrime emanating from Russia could increase as sanctions take their bite out of the economy.

Reality check: Last week, federal agencies convened more than 100 companies to brief them on potential cyber threats and provide hands-on support.

• Top U.S. intelligence officials, however, suggested there's no current evidence yet of any specific Russian cyberattack.

On Tap

• Game Developers Conference continues in San Francisco, while Nvidia's GTC takes place online.
• I'm interviewing Reshma Saujani at the Commonwealth Club (online) about her new book, "Pay Up" (Sign up for tickets here.)

ICYMI

• A number of Apple's online services, including parts of iCloud, Apple Maps and the iTunes Store, were down for hours on Monday amid a significant outage. (Axios)
• Match Group launched a dating app for single parents. (Axios)

Sometimes, AI doesn't seem all that "I."