Russian Internet restriction bill (russian: закон о блокировке экстремистских сайтов; Federal law of Russian Federation no. 139-FZ of 2012-07-28) is a law passed by the
Russian State Duma
The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper house ...
in 2012 which replaced procedure of shutting down telecom operators by prosecutors' orders with a
blacklist
Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist (or black list) of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list. If someone is on a blacklist, t ...
of
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
sites containing alleged child pornography, drug-related material, extremist material, and other content illegal in Russia. This blacklist was supposed to be implemented and supervised by a self-regulating NGO of Internet users, but it was never created and this duty was assumed by government agency Roskomnadzor. The bill also introduced several other changes in the law, including liability for providers of telecom services for failing to protect children. Some critics expressed concern that the bill could be used to
censor the Internet.
[ Others noted that it would be expensive and, as written, contained many technical problems that would negatively impact legitimate Internet use.][
]
History
According to the news agency RIA Novosti
RIA Novosti (russian: РИА Новости), sometimes referred to as RIAN () or RIA (russian: РИА, label=none) is a Russian state-owned domestic news agency. On 9 December 2013 by a decree of Vladimir Putin it was liquidated and its asse ...
, Russia's League for Internet Safety (russian: Лига безопасного интернета) pushed for the bill, after claiming to have broken up an Internet-based pedophile
Pedophilia ( alternatively spelt paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty a ...
ring. Retired Communications and Mass Media Minister Igor Shchyogolev
Igor Olegovich Shchyogolev (russian: И́горь Оле́гович Щёголев; born November 10, 1965) is a Russian politician. From May 2008 to 20 May 2012, he has served as the Russian Minister of Telecommunications.
Early life and edu ...
heads the group's board of trustees.[
The bill no. 89417-6 was introduced in the Duma on June 7, 2012; it was given first reading on July 6 and both second and third readings on July 11.][ On July 18, 2012, the law was approved by the ]Federation Council
The Federation Council (russian: Сове́т Федера́ции – ''Soviet Federatsii'', common abbreviation: Совфед – ''Sovfed''), or Senate (officially, starting from July 1, 2020) ( ru , Сенат , translit = Senat), is th ...
.
The bill passed unanimously by the Russian Duma
The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper house ...
, with support of all four parties. Two lawmakers are publicly known for an active support
of the Internet censorship bill: Ilya Ponomarev
Ilya Vladimirovich Ponomarev (russian: Илья́ Влади́мирович Пономарёв; born 6 August 1975) is a Russian politician who was a member of the State Duma from 2007 to 2016.
He was the only member of the State Duma not to ...
and Yelena Mizulina
Yelena Borisovna Mizulina (russian: Елена Борисовна Мизулина, born December 9, 1954) is a Russian politician and lawyer. She served as a member of the State Duma between 1995 and 2003 and again between 2007 and 2015, and ha ...
.
On the day of second reading, the Russian Wikipedia staged a protest by shutting down its site.[
]
Internet Registry
The Blacklist or Registry is created by amending the Federal Law of July 27, 2006 No. 149-FZ "On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection." The bill would add a new Article 15: "Uniform registry of domain name
A domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet. Domain names are often used to identify services provided through the Internet, such as websites, email services and more. As ...
s and (or) the universal locators to pages of sites on the Internet and network addresses of sites on the Internet that contain information prohibited to spread in the Russian Federation
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
." It would create a registry of domain names with the URLs and network address
A network address is an identifier for a node or host on a telecommunications network. Network addresses are designed to be unique identifiers across the network, although some networks allow for local, private addresses, or locally administere ...
es of web pages that contain illegal information. The jurisdiction of the proposed registry would be under a Russian non-profit organization.
The mentioned identifiers of websites would be included into the Registry based on:
*decisions made by the federal executive authorities of the Russian Federation with respect to:
**Child pornography
Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, or kiddie porn) is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a chi ...
or solicitation to participate in such;
**Information about methods of making, using, getting or locating narcotic
The term narcotic (, from ancient Greek ναρκῶ ''narkō'', "to make numb") originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with numbing or paralyzing properties. In the United States, it has since become associated with opiates ...
drugs and psychotropic
A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, psychoactive agent or psychotropic drug is a chemical substance, that changes functions of the nervous system, and results in alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition or behavior.
Th ...
substances or their precursors
Precursor or Precursors may refer to:
* Precursor (religion), a forerunner, predecessor
** The Precursor, John the Baptist
Science and technology
* Precursor (bird), a hypothesized genus of fossil birds that was composed of fossilized parts of un ...
(acetone
Acetone (2-propanone or dimethyl ketone), is an organic compound with the formula . It is the simplest and smallest ketone (). It is a colorless, highly volatile and flammable liquid with a characteristic pungent odour.
Acetone is miscib ...
, potassium permanganate
Potassium permanganate is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula KMnO4. It is a purplish-black crystalline salt, that dissolves in water as K+ and , an intensely pink to purple solution.
Potassium permanganate is widely used in the c ...
, sulfuric acid
Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid ( Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen and hydrogen, with the molecular formu ...
, hydrochloric acid
Hydrochloric acid, also known as muriatic acid, is an aqueous solution of hydrogen chloride. It is a colorless solution with a distinctive pungent smell. It is classified as a strong acid
Acid strength is the tendency of an acid, symbol ...
, acetic acid
Acetic acid , systematically named ethanoic acid , is an acidic, colourless liquid and organic compound with the chemical formula (also written as , , or ). Vinegar is at least 4% acetic acid by volume, making acetic acid the main component ...
); or growing plants containing narcotic drugs;
**Information about methods of suicide and calls for suicide. (suicide is a serious problem in Russia, especially amongst young people)
*a court decision proclaiming some Internet-distributed information as prohibited to be spread in Russia.
Hosting providers, site owners, and ISPs
When a site is added to the registry, the web hosting
A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that hosts websites for clients, i.e. it offers the facilities required for them to create and maintain a site and makes it accessible on the World Wide Web. Companies providing web h ...
provider must within days inform the owner about the situation and the need for removal of content. The site owner must, within days of the receipt of the notification from the hosting provider, remove the page or pages with the offending content. If the site owner fails to do so, the hosting provider is obliged to restrict Internet access to the site.
If the site owner fails to remove the pages as demanded, or if the hosting provider and owner of the site of these fails to restrict access to the site, the site's network address is added to the government's registry.
Internet Service Provider
An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise private ...
s are required to restrict access to addresses listed in the proposed registry. The legislation ignores the fact that the same IP address
An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label such as that is connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication.. Updated by . An IP address serves two main functions: network interface ident ...
may in fact be used by several thousand sites (earlier that year some ISPs have already blocked such an IP address included in the Federal List of Extremist Materials
Federal List of Extremist Materials (russian: Федеральный список экстремистских материалов, ''Federal'nyy spisok ekstremistskikh matyerialov'') is a list of works that are banned in Russian Federation, prim ...
).
Decisions on inclusion in the registry of domain names, links to website pages and site network addresses can only be appealed in court for a limited 3-month period.
Other changes
The bill also made several other amendments. One change to the previously enacted Federal Law of December 29, 2010, No. 436-FZ (), requires content labelling. Thus, each Internet page (or site) with “harmful” information as listed in article 5 of the law would have been required to mark the site with special symbols or icons for the five categories of visitors: (0–6 years, 6–12 years, 12–16 years, 16–18 years of age, and older than 18 years). Some of the changes define the form of the icons (such as “18+” or “information for persons over 18 years old”) and exclude from this marking requirement Internet communications, except for mass media sites (“сетевые издания”), for which user comments are excluded.
Another amendment was proposed to the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Violations. It would provide for liability for Internet Service Provider
An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise private ...
s not using software and hardware to protect children from information harmful to their health and (or) development.
The amendment to the Federal Law of July 7, 2003 No. 126-FZ (On communications) would renew the principle that restriction of access to information through the Internet is regulated by the Federal Law "On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection."
Criticism
The Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society Institutions and Human Rights criticized the bill for several reasons:
"The bill is not aimed at combating the causes of illegal content
Illegal, or unlawful, typically describes something that is explicitly prohibited by law, or is otherwise forbidden by a state or other governing body.
Illegal may also refer to:
Law
* Violation of law
* Crime, the practice of breaking the cr ...
and its distribution on the Internet and will not contribute to the effectiveness of law enforcement and prosecution of criminals, who will be able to migrate resources from illegal content in other domains and IP addresses. At the same time, many bona fide Internet resources with legal content may be affected by the mass blocking, since the system would impose severe restrictions on the basis of subjective criteria and assessments, which will make the Russian jurisdiction extremely unattractive for Internet businesses."[
]
Communications and Mass Media Minister Nikolai Nikiforov
Nikolay Anatolyevich Nikiforov (russian: Никола́й Анато́льевич Ники́форов; born 24 June 1982) is a Russian politician. In 2012, he became Minister of Communications and Mass Media of Russia.
Career
At age 19, N ...
tweeted about problems with the bill, according to ''The Moscow Times
''The Moscow Times'' is an independent English-language and Russian-language online newspaper. It was in print in Russia from 1992 until 2017 and was distributed free of charge at places frequented by English-speaking tourists and expatriates s ...
''.[
]
See also
*Russian Internet blacklist
Internet censorship in the Russian Federation is enforced on the basis of several laws and through several mechanisms. Since 2012, Russia maintains a centralized internet blacklist (known as the "single register") maintained by the Federal Service ...
*Golden Shield Project
The Golden Shield Project (), also named National Public Security Work Informational Project, is the Chinese nationwide network-security fundamental constructional project by the e-government of the People's Republic of China. This project in ...
(Great Chinese Firewall)
*Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers Act of 2011
The Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers Act of 2011 () was a United States bill designed with the stated intention of increasing enforcement of laws related to the prosecution of child pornography and child sexual exploitation offenses. ...
*
*Censorship
Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...
*Internet censorship
Internet censorship is the legal control or suppression of what can be accessed, published, or viewed on the Internet. Censorship is most often applied to specific internet domains (such as Wikipedia.org) but exceptionally may extend to all Inte ...
*Freedom of the press in the Russian Federation
Media freedom in Russia concerns both the ability of directors of mass-media outlets to carry out independent policies and the ability of journalists to access Source (journalism), sources of information and to work without outside pressure. M ...
References
{{reflist , refs =
[Russian State Duma Bill 89417-6]
(web page link to duma.gov.ru, retrieved 2012 7 9)
MOSCOW, July 6 (RIA Novosti)], retrieved 2012 7 9
[Russian Wikipedia Goes on Strike Over Censorship Plans]
MOSCOW, July 10 (RIA Novosti)
[President's Council for the Development of Civil Society Institutions and Human Rights]
Statement by the Council in respect of the bill № 89417-6 "On Amendments to the Federal Law" On protection of children from information harmful to their health and development " - retrieved 2012 7 9
08 July 2012, ''The Moscow Times'', retrieved 2012 7 9
Computing legislation
Internet censorship in Russia
Law of Russia
2012 in Russia
2012 in law
Blacklisting
ru:Федеральный закон № 398-ФЗ от 28 декабря 2013 года