Government experts did not support the abolition of the anonymity of messengers

The Legislative Initiative of the Media Communication Union (ISS) on the regulation of communication and audiovisual online services received a negative conclusion from the Svyaz and IT working group under the Government of Russia.

According to Kommersant , the ISS proposes to legislatively establish special requirements for “organizers of instant messages”: for work in Russia, they will have to introduce identification of users, as well as at the request of the authorities to limit the transfer of messages that contain information distributed in violation of the law. It is primarily about advertising and extremist calls.

According to the amendments to the legislation proposed by the ISS, failure to comply with these requirements could lead to blocking the organizers of instant messages.

The conclusion of the working group “Communication and IT” of the Expert Council under the Government says that the ISS amendments “cause extreme concern” due to the fact that the unclear formulations and the impossibility of fulfilling these requirements may limit access to Internet resources.

In particular, the wording allow not only messengers, but also any Internet site or postal service, as well as apply the norms of the bill to any type of content posted on the Internet, including comments and messages on the forum to the “organizers of the distribution of information”.

Limiting the privacy in communication between users on the Internet, government experts concluded, the bill violates the constitutional rights of citizens and contradicts Articles 23 and 55 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

The “extreme concern” of experts caused the norm on blocking the organizers of the exchange of instant messages if they do not limit the newsletters of messages containing prohibited information.

According to experts, “the adoption of a bill in its current form may lead to a large number of players and the general degradation of the Internet industry from the Russian market.”