{"id":895,"date":"2014-06-17T09:52:12","date_gmt":"2014-06-17T09:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jnews.harouta.sg-host.com\/2014\/06\/17\/net-lawyer-from-russia-censorship-actually-has-returned-to-the-country\/"},"modified":"2022-06-12T12:23:06","modified_gmt":"2022-06-12T08:23:06","slug":"net-lawyer-from-russia-censorship-actually-has-returned-to-the-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jff.am\/en\/2014\/06\/17\/net-lawyer-from-russia-censorship-actually-has-returned-to-the-country\/","title":{"rendered":"Net Lawyer from Russia: \u201cCensorship Actually has Returned to the Country\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

JNews.am<\/strong> had an exclusive interview with lawyer Sarkis Darbinyan, an Armenian internet activist living in Moscow, member of Trunov, Ayvar and Partners Bar Council, and an active public figure at the same time. He is also a member of Pirate Party of Russia and the head of the site and domain owners\u2019 rights protection section in Internet Users Association (IUA). Darbinyan is also one of the lawyers of \u201cRosKomSvoboda\u201d movement and author of the \u201cTime to Change Copyright\u201d initiative.<\/p>\n

In the interview Darbinyan refers to the Internet users rights and the activation of restrictions recently implemented in the Internet in a number of countries among them Russia.<\/p>\n

According to him, today some MPs and state officials often make suggestions about the necessity to adopt a number of laws which will define compulsory control of social networks\u2019 users and will obligate those who disseminate information to save the data about users\u2019 activeness for a long time.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, such suggestions are expressed by those who, generally, have very weak understanding of what the Internet is and how it relates to the basic human and civil rights defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,\u201d Darbinyan mentions.<\/p>\n

JNews.am<\/strong> had an exclusive interview with lawyer Sarkis Darbinyan, an Armenian internet activist living in Moscow, member of Trunov, Ayvar and Partners Bar Council, and an active public figure at the same time. He is also a member of Pirate Party of Russia and the head of the site and domain owners\u2019 rights protection section in Internet Users Association (IUA). Darbinyan is also one of the lawyers of \u201cRosKomSvoboda\u201d movement and author of the \u201cTime to Change Copyright\u201d initiative.<\/p>\n

In the interview Darbinyan refers to the Internet users rights and the activation of restrictions recently implemented in the Internet in a number of countries among them Russia.<\/p>\n

According to him, today some MPs and state officials often make suggestions about the necessity to adopt a number of laws which will define compulsory control of social networks\u2019 users and will obligate those who disseminate information to save the data about users\u2019 activeness for a long time.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, such suggestions are expressed by those who, generally, have very weak understanding of what the Internet is and how it relates to the basic human and civil rights defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,\u201d Darbinyan mentions.<\/p>\n

The point is that in the digital century the right of anonymity and coding of personal data is considered to be a mandatory and inalienable human right which provides compliance with such fundamental rights such as the right of a secret correspondence and of private life, and the right to have an avatar enables any person to choose an image and a name in the net regardless of social status, property, and other factors.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt enables to self-expression and it is a striking example of simple human consciousness, which has nothing to do with the material world. Therefore, all the countries should be interested in protecting these rights rather than trying to undermine them under the pretext of combating illegal information,\u201d the lawyer says.<\/p>\n

There are a number of articles in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation according to which the usage of the Internet is considered to be a sign of crime (monopolization of markets, dissemination of pornography, illegal organization and conduction of gambling games, illegal sale of drugs, etc.), however, despite the distinct feature of networks, the same regulatory standards are to be used both in online and in offline systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the experiment shows, the law enforcement bodies can quite successfully track criminals at any time they need through operative-investigative measures,\u201d Darbinyan emphasizes. \u201cOne of the examples is Ross Ulbricht\u2019s suit, owner of Silk Road, the largest online seller of drugs and chemicals in the market, as well as Wrublevski\u2019s suit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Darbinyan mentions that over two years federal laws N139-FZ (Law on the Internet Blacklist), N187-FZ (Law on Anti Piracy), N398-FZ (Law on Political Censorship) were adopted and 21 legislative initiatives were put on the agenda of the Russian Duma. Besides these laws, there are a number of legislative initiatives in the State Duma envisaged for this or that restriction of the network usage or for \u00a0blocking websites.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is obvious that states and international corporations have different goals but one common ambition – the control of citizens\u2019 private communication. When the basis of the websites blocking was introduced for the first time (pedophilia, suicides, drugs), of course, there were concerns that introduction of new mechanisms of the legal regulation will enhance this basis leading to inevitable mass violation of the citizens’ rights to freely receive and disseminate information. And our worst expectations were justified. Recently, the whole country could follow how the Prosecution General’s Office jointly with \u201cRoscomnadzor\u201d blocked the top news websites and personal blogs of opposition politicians without any legal proposition. We should confess that censorship actually has returned to the country although it is still forbidden under the Article 29 of the Russian Constitution,\u201d Darbinyan says.<\/p>\n

According to him there is a unified registry of blocked websites in Russia created under a number of federal laws according to which changes were made in Article 15 of the law \u201cOn Information, Information Technologies, and Information Protection\u201d, N149-FZ. Thus, nowadays websites including the following content can be blocked in Russia:<\/p>\n