Fwd: Russian Bill Threatens Internet Freedom
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Date: Tue, 03 Mar 1998 11:32:38 -0800
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Subject: Fwd: Russian Bill Threatens Internet Freedom
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: Magda Opalski <[email protected]>
Fwd: Russian Bill Threatens Internet Freedom
================= Begin forwarded message =================
From: [email protected] (Center for Civil Society International)
10Feb98 RUSSIA: WEB WATCH - BILL THREATENS INTERNET FREEDOM.
By Bill Fick.
Despite ambivalence on the part of many state security organs, the
Russian Internet has so far largely escaped onerous government
regulations that might stifle its development. But Russian netizens
beware, a new law on sredstva massovoi informatsii, or mass media,
under discussion in the State Duma, could place a huge roadblock in
the path of Russia's fledgling web publishers, from individuals with
personal home pages to large corporations blazing the trails of electronic
commerce. (for a comparative copy of the old and new laws, see
http://www.cityline.ru/politika/media/zsmi5p1.html).
A series of proposed amendments to the egislation
(http://www.cityline.ru/politika/media/zpsmi1.html) specifies that
"computerized information" and "messages and materials distributed
via computer networks" shall be included in the definition of "mass
media."
It's hard to argue with the logic: after all, what form of media could be
more massive than the Internet, which makes information available to
millions of people throughout the world?
However, the registration requirements which follow from "mass media"
status under the proposed law appear burdensome and would surely
handicap the Russian web. Only legal entities or physical persons
registered as private entrepreneurs may publish "mass media," while
persons under 18 years of age, foreigners and legal entities with more
than 10 percent foreign ownership or 30 percent foreign staff are
specifically excluded.
Suddenly, thousands of individuals with personal home pages and
companies with advertising sites and newsletters could find themselves
required to go through the same registration process as the owners of a
television station or newspaper, which involves a complex bureaucratic
procedure and a fee of 50 minimum wages, or about $1,000. Only print
publications with circulations of less than 1,000 enjoy exemption.
Internet service providers that offer virtual web hosting services might
have the financial and organizational interest and means to register, but
they would be loathe to blanket their customers in their own license and
thus accept responsibility for the content of client web pages.
The transparent and transnational nature of the web highlights the
absurdity of such attempts at regulation. If enforced on the Russian
Internet, the law would probably just drive Russian web sites offshore
to web "server farms" in the United States and Europe that offer
wholesale site hosting services. Download speeds over clogged
international channels might be slower, but unregistered sites would not
be pinched into oblivion.
While Article 54 of the law requires that all foreign mass media receive
explicit permission for "distribution" of their products in Russia, I hardly
expect that webmasters from Antigua to Zimbabwe will rush to
Goskompechat for their permission slips, and wholesale "blocking" of
foreign Internet sites on a larger scale than what China has tried
seems unlikely here even in worst-case scenarios.
The government might still try to take measures against individuals
physically located in Russia who create information published on
offshore sites, but it would be unable simply to "pull the plug" or
otherwise block distribution.
Other provisions of the new law on mass media and Russian libel
precedents are also problematic and may have a chilling effect on free
expression (see, for example,
http://www.npi.ru/RAPIC/legis/discuss.htm), but this is beyond the
purview of today's column. In principle, I would agree that web
publishers should bear responsibility for their words similar to that
borne by traditional media.
But the low cost and accessibility of Internet publishing make it
different from expensive printing operations and broadcasts that use
limited frequency spectrum, which require state regulation and
anti-monopoly protection.
Thus far, reaction to the proposed rules has been muted, with some
online discussion in the National Press Institute's cyberjournalism
mailing list (http://www.npi.ru/ RAPIC/diary/cybj.htm) and a forum at
http://www.ipclub.ru/cgi-bin/free-gb-view.cgi?owner=486. Disturbingly,
most of the correspondents seem content to hope that personal home
pages will be permitted, without addressing the more troubling "prior
restraint" the law would effectively place on web pages published by
legal entities that are not newspapers, television stations, etc.
One concerned Russian netizen, Grigory Belonuchkin, has devoted a
special web page to the new law
(http://www.cityline.ru/politika/media/media.html) and reports that
Duma Deputy Yury Nestorov of the Yabloko fraction has offered to
make an amendment to address concerns about the Internet after
considering public input and "foreign experience."
My advice to Deputy Nestorov: simply exempt "computerized
information" from registration requirements entirely, while
acknowledging its unique status as mass media.
In his ringing rejection of government attempts to censor Internet
content, U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens eloquently
described the uniquely democratic and accessible nature of Internet
publishing: "Through the use of chat rooms, any person with a phone
line can become a town crier with a voice that resonates farther than
it could from any soapbox," he wrote. "Through use of the web pages,
mail exploders, and news groups, the same individual can become a
pamphleteer.
It would be a shame to see Russia drive cyber samizdat underground
or into the hands of the powerful oligarchies that already control so
much of the nation's media.
Bill Fick welcomes any tips on interesting web sites or questions
concerning the Internet for response in future editions of this column.
Fick is co-founder of Samovar Internet Consulting, LLC.
Web: http://www.samovar.ru
e-mail: [email protected]
fax: (095) 953-2261.
(c) 1998 Independent Press.
MOSCOW TIMES 10/02/98
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