| Toward a heavy Internet and media regulation?
The Russian Government is preparing a number of documents to restrict the media freedom On December 28, 1999, a few days after the first "protocol" meeting of the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin with representatives of the Russian Internet, the on-line newspaper Lenta.ru has published a draft of the government provision "On assigning and using domain names in the Russian sector of the Internet." The document has shocked the Russian Internet community - the provision implies a severe state control of the .ru zone. Immediately a hot discussion started over the Net. One of the best discussion platforms became the Moscow Libertarium moderated by Anatoly Levenchuk, a web site well-known for the antiSORM section. Another ominous draft of the Government resolution "On the state registration of the mass media using the global information networks for information dissemination" appeared recently in the Deadline.ru on-line newspaper would require a licence to any Russian news website by June 30, 2000. According to Mikhail Fedorov, the Press Minister in 1992-1993, whose interview was published on January 13 by Lenta.ru, the Russian Federation Press, TV, Radio and Communications media Ministry is preparing a draft of the government resolution which would seriously restrict rights and freedom of the press by additional licensing. Yuri Vdovin, a Vice President of the Citizens' Watch, a St. Petersburg based non-governmental human rights organization, says "All the current measures to regulate the Internet indicate that the state is trying to establish a global control on citizen's information interchange and on the information space which was not previously censored. A real information freedom is frightening the authorities and they are calling for help to all of the KGB's traditions and means." Lenta.ru, http://lenta.ru/internet/1999/12/28/domains/proect.htm ©2000 EuropeMedia.net
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