СМИ об исследованиях

Russia Report Warns of Web’s Influence

В России издан доклад, предупреждающий о влиянии интернета

 

Российское правительство уже приняло меры для ограничения публичных акций протеста, ужесточило контроль над зарубежным финансированием НКО и даже пересмотрело понятие "изменник", сообщает в блоге на The Wall Street Journal журналист Лукас И.Алперт.

И вот теперь экс-чиновник Константин Костин, бывшая "правая рука" Суркова, издал доклад, предостерегающий от проникновения иностранных сил через Сеть. Доклад "Рунет сегодня" подготовлен новым аналитическим центром "Фонд развития гражданского общества", который возглавляет Костин.

Согласно документу, интернет вскоре станет в России базовым источником информации, и непомерно широкое присутствие иностранных компаний типа Wikipedia и YouTube повлияет на исход выборов в 2016 и 2018 годах.

Facebook, Twitter и YouTube названы в докладе "центральными инструментами координации и мобилизации оппозиционных сил". "С их помощью открыто распространяются материалы экстремистского и террористического содержания", - сказано в документе.

 

By Lukas I. Alpert The report, put out by a newly created think-tank called The Foundation for the Development of Civil Society, says that as Web access grows within the country, the outsize presence of foreign Internet companies like Wikipedia, YouTube Facebook and Twitter will ultimately influence the outcome of elections.

 “The Internet will become the basic source of information for Russia in a few years,” the report warned. “It can be argued that the election of deputies to the State Duma in 2016 and, even more so, the presidential election in 2018, will be held in a new information reality with the main role being played by the World Wide Web.”

The study, titled “The Russian Internet Today,” notes with concern that five of the top 20 sites visited daily by Russian Web surfers are foreign and that successful domestic Internet companies like the search engine Yandex and the social media site Vkontakte have registered “outside the Russian jurisdiction.” This puts Russia at risk of being manipulated by sinister overseas forces, the study warns.

“Global social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, have become central tools for the coordination and mobilization of opposition forces,” the report stated. “With their help, extremist and even terrorist material is openly disseminated.”

The organization behind the report is headed by Konstantin Kostin, the former deputy head of internal politics in Russia’s presidential administration and right-hand man to Vladislav Surkov, the Kremlin’s one-time top political ideologist whose influence was often likened that to Karl Rove. Mr. Surkov now serves as a deputy prime minister.

The study comes as authorities have passed laws that vastly increase fines on illegal public protests, force nonprofits receiving foreign funds to register as foreign agents and broaden the parameters for blocking websites. Just last week, the Russian government requested that the U.S. Agency for International Development cease operations in the country for alleged political meddling, and also began the process of legally expanding the definition of treasonous acts include causing social instability.

The moves have broadly been interpreted as an effort by the new government under President Vladimir Putin to limit dissent following a wave of large-scale protests beginning late last year.