Russian courts are lagging behind progress and cannot consider cases of insults on the Internet

In the city of Kovrov, the Vladimir region, the second month, the trial of the local forum Dmitry Tashlykov, who is accused of insulting the governor of the region Nikolai Vinogradov , continues for the second month. Participants in the process simply cannot figure out all the intricacies of the Internet, and lawyers argue that it is always very difficult to prove the guilt of network slander in court due to superficial knowledge of the computer system of judges and prosecutors, the newspaper New Izvestia writes.

At the next meeting, only a representative of the company that provided the accused Internet access was heard. The judge was most interested in what time Dmitry Tashlykov entered the Internet. This was necessary to prove that it was this forum user who left unflattering reviews about the governor on the network. “The time was set, but no one can prove that I was on this forum,” the accused himself explained. “So the witness did not help the prosecution in any way - I could study any sites at this time. No one can also say that the name under which the network user spoke about the governor belongs to me. Any hacker could use this. I admit that all the participants in the process are poorly understood in computers,” Tashlykov added.

In his opinion, it is precisely because of computer illiteracy that the hearing can drag out until the fall. The side of the defense was worth a lot of efforts to find in Kovrov independent specialists in computer systems who would agree to testify in court. According to the lawyer of the defendant, all the evidence collected by the police are indirect and is unlikely to affect the decision of the judge.

Meanwhile, experts argue that it is almost impossible to prove the guilt of the person who wrote a message on the Internet. "Usually, judges, lawyers, prosecutors are confused even in the testimony of technologists, not to mention the testimonies of the defendants," said Vladimir Golubev, director of the capital's computer crime research center. "Therefore, such criminal cases in court are scattered."

However, he noted that such appeals to the court took place only in Ukraine, in China, Belarus and Russia, but recently such cases have become more frequent. Golubev notes that the procedure for considering the case in court is very laborious. It is necessary to set the addresses of the site provider, then the address of the computer from which insults were written. But even this does not indicate the involvement of the computer owner in the crime. According to Vladimir Golubev, even with high -quality examinations, which are carried out only in Moscow and Saratov, it is impossible to completely prove or refute the fact that the owner of the computer himself wrote offensive slogans.

Meanwhile, offended network users began to resort to judicial assistance more and more often. Recently, in Moscow, one of the senior officials filed a lawsuit in court. He did not like the letter that came from a friend. The official did not destroy the message, but decided to take him to court with a lawsuit. However, only the fifth notary was able to assure the message for the court. The rest refused, referring to the weak knowledge of computer features.