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СМИ об исследованиях

| 23 апреля, 2013

List of Reasons to Block Internet Sites Could Be Growing

'Vedomosti' publication.

By Maria Zheleznova, Irina Novikova

In-house experts from the Foundation for Development of Civil Society (FDCS), headed by the former Director of the Kremlin’s Department of Domestic Policy Konstantin Kostin, are advising the Russian Government on how other countries are filtering Internet content. Having analysed the practice of filtering such content abroad, the FDCS is offering its expertise on how this compares with Russian practice. The report will be presented in full, along with recommendations from the Foundation, in May.

At present Russian legislation, which came into force in November 2012, allows for an out of court agreement to block access to sites which propagate the use of narcotics, suicide and child pornography. Roskomnadzor (the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications) is in the process of composing a list of sites of this type which are to be blocked in Russia.

The report points out that it is not only countries with authoritarian regimes that are restricting access to undesirable information - Western democracies are also resorting to filtering Internet content. The Russian model, says Kostin, is similar to the British one - with the important distinction that in Britain it is non-profit organisations which compile a register of sites to be blocked. Kostin believes that Russia could employ a similar system. By involving representatives from the Internet industry and increasing the role of public experts, one would ensure a balance of interests and assuage the wave of controversy surrounding those sites which should be added to the blacklist.

Another suggestion from the Foundation concerns the technical side of blocking sites: at present the ban encompasses IP addresses, but the rule of ‘one IP – one site’ has long since become outdated. Nowadays dozens or even hundreds of sites can use one IP address. As a result, if one blocks a single problem site then many others may be blocked as well even though they have no connection with it. Therefore, one clearly needs to do a double check both on the address and the content says Kostin. For example, one such site is now being challenged in court: the ‘Book Publishing News’ site was connected to the IP address of the banned site ‘rastaman.tales.ru’ and so the Book Publishing News site was also blocked. They are now fighting this decision in court.

In addition says Kostin, the Foundation intends to propose another subject for discussion borrowed from the UK. Namely, that a short term ban on a certain site should be included in the blacklist if law enforcement organisations have received information that the site in question is planning a violent crime. The proposal to block social networks arose following the riots in August 2011 in the UK. This is not just a question of the occasional fist fight, says Kostin. We are talking about mass riots including activists. These sorts of measures would prevent such lawlessness and are therefore in the interests not only of the government but of the organisers of protests too.

But Ilya Varlamov, the blogger known as ‘tisyachnik’ believes that this sort of Internet block could be used for political purposes, both as a threat and as a means to put a stop to any social protest.

Irina Levova, an analyst from the Russian Association of Electronic Communications says that we should not be comparing ourselves to the British model at all. Their blocking of sites is on another dimension she says. Responsibility for the creation of a blacklist in Russia is better left to Government organs but the process should be transparent and clear. Controversial cases should be examined by members of an expert commission from Roskomnadsor.