Internet restrictions must not touch upon freedom of speech - Putin
Russian
President has blasted any attempts to infringe basic Human Rights under the
pretext of fighting against various negative phenomena on the World Wide Web as
unacceptable.
The
campaign against harmful tendencies in the internet, including pedophilia and
propaganda of suicide cannot in any way justify restrictions aimed against civil
freedoms and Human Rights, Vladimir Putin said at the Tuesday meeting with
leaders of the Russian internet industry.
Putin
added that all restrictions on the internet content must be introduced through
the parliament and other public and political structures, through the joint
effort of all citizens.
“We
have had a lot of arguments over the bans, like those connected with pedophilia,
propaganda of terrorism and illegal drugs, propaganda of suicide. But we are all
grown up people. Do we really need to argue about this? Better to let us spare
our children,” he told the participants of the Russian internet business
forum.
The
president also noted that the restrictions must not harm the interests of the
free market.
At
the same time, Putin said that there was no doubt that internet enterprises must
be regulated by the law, just as any other aspect of social relations.
The
Russian leader also suggested that the state could help the representatives of
national internet companies to become truly independent and start expressing
personal views. Putin said that those who are mentioning some special mission of
internet companies must remember that such missions need pure sovereignty to
become real.
“If
all these companies [national search engines] have a single owner this is no
longer a mission, this is a monopoly and monopoly is only good when it is your
own,” Putin said and smiled. “In
general it is a harmful thing.”
“Our
mission is to help you – to help the national segment [of the Internet] and
people who work in these prospective spheres to become independent. To help you
express and formulate if not the viewpoint of the state and the society, but at
least your own viewpoint in a way you feel necessary, because when it happens on
the national basis, the state will eventually benefit,” Putin told the
conference.
In
late April this year, Vladimir Putin brought up the topic of relations between
authorities, society and internet companies during the televised Q&A session
with journalists and bloggers.
The
head of the state admitted that “not
everything was simple” in the situation, and promised that all decisions on
the subject would be passed only after broad social
discussion.
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