| Press agency is against blanket registration of websites The head of the Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communications, Mikhail Seslavinsky, yesterday, on World Internet Day, pleased supporters of the free Internet. He opposed the introduction of mandatory registration of Internet sites. “The introduction of such a rule would not correspond to the thematic diversity of sites created on the RuNet, and would also significantly limit the possibilities for realizing the creative potential of their creators. We consider it more correct to support useful initiatives and projects on the RuNet than to ban anything,” he said.
The idea of mandatory registration of Internet sites has been in the air since the mid-90s - that is, since the Internet began to gain popularity in Russia. Its opponents say that registering all sites is useless. Firstly, what is the point in registering a great many pages of various kinds of organizations and individuals. Secondly, nothing prevents you from placing your resource abroad while in Russia, making it available to Runet users. It is worth noting that Mr. Seslavinsky’s words are relevant in connection with a new wave of discussions about the need for legal regulation of the Runet. “It’s good that after 10 years of the existence of the Runet, officials began to understand that progress cannot be banned, and the old rules of regulation are not suitable for new technical realities,” Anatoly Levenchuk, coordinator of the human rights group Libertarium, commented on yesterday’s statements by the head of the press agency.
The only thing that needs to be limited on the Internet, according to Mr. Seslavinsky, is pornography. Although, as he believes, “pornography on the Russian Internet has the same right to exist as in other segments of the Internet,” it is unacceptable to post child pornography and advertisements for brothels here. Mr. Seslavinsky added that “the state should support the creation of special programs to limit access to sites that undermine the basis of moral values. “We are now funding a special computer program that limits access,” he said. -- There you can set different methods and degrees of security for certain search words, for example, “porn”, “violence”, “drugs”.
Meanwhile, human rights activists are wary of such filter programs. Thus, the decision of the US Congress on the mandatory installation of porn filters in computer classes of public libraries was appealed in court, since due to errors in the operation of the filters, access to sites with non-erotic content is also blocked, and this is already a violation of freedom of speech. However, in the end, the Supreme Court allowed the installation of filters. However, the general director of the Ashmanov and Partners company, Igor Ashmanov, believes that “filters need to be installed in universities and, at least, in schools.” Igor KOROLEV |
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