Russian Duma proposal to create internet censorship

[William Gardella]

It is also, of course, worth pointing out that in cases like the
national Internet filter in Australia (ostensibly also implemented to
block access to sites suspected of hosting child pornography), the
temptation quickly arose to use the filter for other purposes, such as
blocking access to websites promoting "extremist" politics, and indeed
using the filter that way--and even to block such innocuous content as
websites advocating breastfeeding--was common practice until exposed by
WikiLeaks.  In the UK, where the government has outsourced such
domain-blocking powers to an NGO called the Internet Watch Foundation,
there have also been many cases of erroneous blockages, with no set
process for appeal (and with the result that Wikipedia has sometimes
been blocked in the UK, etc.).  There appears to be no country on Earth
with the ability to manage this power responsibly, and if there is, I
certainly doubt it is the Russian Federation.

Germany is a country with widespread media censorship that is
nonetheless unable to adequately monitor the real Nazi cells operating
within its borders, so the German example is telling, but not
necessarily in the way you suggest.  Crudely blocking domains stops
citizens, but not criminals.  And while you may be correct to suggest
that German censorship is not incompatible with a democratic process
(indeed, it is overwhelmingly popular), I would also say that it is
totally illiberal and has not achieved its stated goals of getting
extremist and exploitative content off of the German internet.

And the suggestion that Russian Wikipedia editors and others concerned
about handing this kind of power over to the Russian federal government
are part of some «педофильское лобби» is pretty ludicrous.  They're not
concerned about the text of the law but rather how they expect it to be
abused and selectively enforced on day one of its entry into force.

Anne Schumann <anne.schumann at TILDE.LV> writes:

> Dear colleagues,
>
>  
>
> a friend of mine posted 2 useful links on FB that I would like to
> share:
>
>  
>
> -          http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/
> %D0%92%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%BF%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%B8%D1%8F:%D0%97%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%82_%E2%84%96_89417-6
>
> (includes links to sites where notes of protest can be sent to Duma
> members and the president; I personally find the discussion page
> quite interesting)
>
> -          http://lenta.ru/news/2012/07/10/soft/
>
> with at least some information about the actual wording of the text
>
>  
>
> My friend also correctly pointed out that a similar discussion took
> place some years ago in Germany. What we can learn from this is, in
> my view, that an attempt to limit the proliferation of pornography on
> the internet per se is neither “crazy” nor “undemocratic” (and the
> NYT article, I think,  did not conclusively show that this new law is
> indeed meant to suppress the opposition). However, such decisions
> obviously need to be taken with care and it would be good to know
> more about the actual content of the proposed law.
>
>  
>
> This is from the lenta article:
>
>  
>
> “В новой редакции законопроекта, отмечает издание, государство сможет
> в досудебном порядке закрывать доступ к сайтам, содержащим детскую
> порнографию, пропаганду наркотиков и информацию о способах совершения
> самоубийства.“
>
> „Таким образом, из документа была исключена расплывчатая формулировка
> о "вредоносной информации", за которую раньше также предполагалось
> закрывать сайты без суда. “
>
> „Кроме того, в новой редакции законопроекта правительство оставило за
> собой право сформировать собственный механизм исполнения его
> положений. Ранее эти функции предлагалось возложить на "федеральный
> орган исполнительной власти", отмечает "Газета.Ru".
>
> „В ответ председатель комитета Госдумы по вопросам семьи, женщин и
> детей Елена Мизулина, один из авторов законопроекта, заявила, что по
> ее мнению за протестами стоит педофильское лобби, которое боится
> потерять свои прибыли.“
>
>  
>
> Criticism should be based on knowledge, not presuppositions.
>
>  
>
> Regards,
>
> Anne-Kathrin Schumann
>
>  
>
>  
>
>  
>
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