Russia debates internet blacklist
July 3, 2012 7:18 pm
By Charles Clover in
Moscow
A blacklist of internet
sites being debated by Russia’s parliament could create “real censorship” of
the internet, according to a human rights watchdog set up by the Kremlin.
“We believe it is very
important to stop the implementation of censorship on the Russian-language
section of the internet,” Russia’s Presidential Council for Human Rights said in
a statement on Tuesday.
A series of amendments to
existing laws, which taken together create a single register for websites containing
illegal content, was submitted to the Duma last month. Opponents claim that the
legislation is a veiled attempt to silence opposition voices and a creeping
attempt to implement a China-style censorship “great firewall”.
The council warned that
the understanding of what could be considered harmful material “could easily be
expanded” after the law was passed, and complained that the law was being run
through the Duma “without widespread public debate”.
The internet black list
would be managed by Roskomnadzor, the communications regulator. But according
to Ilya Kostunov, a deputy of the ruling United Russia party, the security
services would be able to place websites on the list that were determined to
have “extremist content”.
Two recent cases have highlighted
the extent to which the definition of objectionable content can be stretched.
Compromat.ru, a website devoted to publishing press reports of corruption, last
week was forced to relocate to a .net domain after its .ru domain was closed by
order of Moscow city prosecutor’s office. The same thing happened to
moscow-post.ru, a news website, which was forced to relocate to
moscow-post.com.
Vedomosti, a Moscow
newspaper, reported on Tuesday that both sites had lost their .ru domains
following court decisions. Both were accused of printing “unchecked
information”, which followed a complaint by a representative of president
Vladimir Putin’s administration. Vedomosti is part-owned by the Financial
Times.
Supporters of the
legislation say it is aimed only at widely prohibited content such as child
pornography, hate websites, drugs propaganda and information “provoking
children to act in ways which are harmful to themselves and their health”,
according to the text of the amendments.
However, opponents have
pointed out that it comes amid a series of legislative initiatives aimed at
curbing protest. These include a law sharply increasing fines for violations at
public demonstrations, passed last month. Another piece of legislation just
submitted would force non-governmental organisations receiving foreign funding
to register as “foreign agents”, which appears aimed at undermining their
credibility and exposing them to greater legal scrutiny.
Under the legislation,
internet providers will have to install equipment enabling the government to
block offending websites. The equipment, estimated by the council to cost
anywhere from $50m to $10bn, would be in addition to a system already in place
designed to monitor internet traffic and installed by providers at the behest of
the security services.
The Presidential Council
on Human Rights was created in 1993 and its opinions are rarely if ever
factored into Kremlin policy. However, its semi-official status gives it weight
in pointing out the shortcomings of government policy and legal matters.
Copyright The Financial
Times Limited 2012.
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