The Russian Federation is reportedly considering a move toward more censorship in cyberspace, with the Federation Council Commission for Information Policy said to have discussed earlier this month the possibility of “normative” censorship “to fix issues prohibited for publication, thus making the court censor.”
Such censorship, if it comes to pass, is believed to be aimed also at compelling Russian Web sites to have supervising providers and obligatory licensing “to prevent creation of outlaw Web sites,” as described by Pravda, which said the government’s primary concern appeared to be attacking cybercrime and “hooliganism.”
“It is generally admitted that propagation of fascism and terrorism on the Internet must be prohibited, but people still stick to various opinions,” said Pravda, long known as the publication of the Communist Party in the old Soviet Union but since one of several newspapers in the post-Soviet Russian Republic.
“Champions of governmental control are sure that licensing is the measure to do with criminals and hooligans on the Internet. But communications experts warn that too much control over the Internet will stop development of this perspective economy sphere. Even if licensing is introduced, terrorists and hooligans will still use communication facility such as email, phone and the Internet.”
Some Russian lawmakers and analysts are not excited about the proposed new Net barriers, including Federation Council chair Sergei Mironov. Mironov told the Russian press there was no technical opportunity to impose restrictions on the Internet and thus it makes no sense to introduce strong censorship or toughened government controls. Council Commission for Information Policy chair Dmitri Mezentsei was more emphatic, saying there was no Net censorship and it would never be introduced.
Deputy Minister for Information Technologies Dmitri Milovantsev told reporters Internet licensing was more likely to provoke Russian Internet providers and webmasters pull out of Russia’s .ru domain and into the .com/.net domain world led by the United States.
