Translated material
Roskomnadzor is against public WiFi
On October 4, 2012, it became known that Roskomnadzor was preparing recommendations for restricting minors' access to public WiFi networks. The agency's actions substantiates the federal law "On Amendments to the Federal Law "On the protection of children from information harmful to their health and development" and certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation".
According to the representative of Roskomnadzor Vladimir Pikov, the connection to a public WiFi network can be arranged in the same way as purchasing alcohol and tobacco: in case of doubt about the age of the buyer, they are asked to present a passport. In practice, this would seem to mean that free wireless networks in cafes and hotels will be closed, and to connect to them you will need a password, which can be obtained when presenting a passport.
At the same time, liability for violation of the law "On the protection children from information harmful to their health and development" will be held administration of institutions where the access point operates. For violation are provided fines from 20 to 50 thousand rubles.
We assess this initiative of Roskomnadzor extremely negatively: apart from the fact that the closure of public networks is a clear violation of the freedom of access to the information of the vast majority of Internet users, it is also meaningless order, since it will not be difficult for schoolchildren bypass the ban (having found out the password, asking an older friend to go online, etc., and so on.). In addition, it is difficult to imagine how the recommendations will be technically followed. restricting minors from accessing WiFi networks, such as in city parks, large shopping centers, airports, and finally, the Moscow metro.
On October 5, 2012, the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation (Minkomsvyaz) announced that it does not support the initiative of Roskomnadzor to block access to WiFi networks for minors. At the same time, a representative of the department stated that " the Ministry of Communications supports the idea of using administrative and organizational measures, technical, software and hardware tools to protect children from information that is harmful to their health by persons organizing access to the Internet for others in places accessible to children and/or development .
Sources
- Boletskaya Xenia. Children will not be allowed to connect to public WiFi networks // Vedomosti. 2012. October 4th.
- Polozov Leonid. The Ministry of Communications does not want to excommunicate minors from the Internet // BFM.ru. 2012. October 5.