Appeal to the Minister of Communications on the division of responsibility of the owners of Internet resources and their visitors

As you know, Dmitry Medvedev approved the list of instructions in the field of the Internet. Among them there is

Prepare proposals on amendments to the legislation of the Russian Federation on mass media that set limits on the liability of editorial boards of mass media distributed on the Internet for posting readers' comments and statements by third parties violating the legislation of the Russian Federation, including legislation on countering extremist activity.

Responsible: Shyogolev I.O.

Deadline - August 1, 2011

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In the process of discussing the assignment, I decided to write a letter to the Minister of Communications and Mass Communications of Russia, Shyogolev IO, in which to present my views on this issue, since I am quite close to this and want to, for once, the state take my personal interests into account. (And not as usual to grumble on the Internet, and then come to terms with the new law, contrary to my interests.) I suddenly found out that in my thoughts I am not alone and therefore I share the text of the letter that everyone who shares my views on the separation of (and close to her) responsibility, can send to the minister personally. Naturally, if my views are not fully separated, then the text of the letter can and should be edited or simply taken as a basis. Not forbidden to bring to the Minister and directly opposing views.

It was thought to create an open letter, but I don’t know the procedures for giving it legitimacy and don’t want to “force” those who share my views in part, to subscribe to what it doesn’t fully share, but at least I decided to convey my point of view to the authorities. Maybe not right - tell your vision how best to influence the authorities in such situations. Maybe there is no place for such things on the habr.

The text of the letter, the coordinates where to send it and some explanations under the cut.

Minister of Communications and Mass Media of Russia
Shchegolev Igor Olegovich
from a citizen of Russia
Chernyshev Vladimir Mikhailovich

appeal

Dear Igor Olegovich, having read the list of instructions of the President of Russia dated June 2, 2011 following a meeting with representatives of the Internet community, held on April 29 in Moscow, I want to state to you as responsible for preparing proposals for amending the legislation of the Russian Federation on mass media setting the limits of the responsibility of editorial boards of mass media distributed on the Internet for posting readers' comments and statements of third parties violating the law Odatelstvo Russian Federation, their thoughts on this issue, namely:

1. Not only mass media distributed on the Internet need to establish such limits of liability, but also owners and (or) administrations of all Internet resources falling under Russian jurisdiction.

2. Legislatively, the limits of liability of owners and (or) administration of Internet resources should be established not only for the readers posting comments or statements by third parties violating the laws of the Russian Federation, but for placing any materials or information by visitors of these resources that violate the laws of the Russian Federation on such materials and or information, as well as for the placement of materials or information and references to them in cases where their very placement violates the law regardless of their content, for example, violating the exclusive rights of the authors of materials (works) or the right to privacy, correspondence, etc. (hereinafter “illegal materials and references to them”)

3. The limits of the responsibility of the owners and (or) administration of resources should not exceed the responsibility for the refusal to comply with the lawful requirement of law enforcement agencies to remove, block or alter illegal materials or references to them. As judicial practice shows (for example, the claim of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company against “VKontakte”) such limits correspond to the current legislation, but are not explicitly defined by law.
3.1. Bearing in mind Article 29 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 3 of the Federal Law “On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection”, deleting, permanently blocking or constantly changing illegal materials or references to them are the owners and (or) the administration of the Internet resource should be required to produce only according to the effective judgment.
3.2. Temporary blocking or modification of illegal materials or references to them owners and (or) administrations of Internet resources should be required to produce only at the reasonable request of law enforcement agencies within their powers and the specific offenses under investigation. The requirement for such temporary blocking or alteration of illegal materials or information links to them should be confirmed within a reasonable time by a court decision, otherwise the owners and / or administrations of Internet resources should have the right to stop blocking material or information or cancel the changes.
3.3. The court decision or demand of other law enforcement agencies should be communicated to the owners and / or administration of Internet resources officially and officially under a personal signature, like any demand to stop or suspend illegal or that may be such an activity that does not pose an immediate threat to life, health or property citizens.
3.4. Owners and / or administration of Internet resources should have the right to inform their visitors about the reason for deleting, blocking or modifying illegal materials or references to them, including the message of the last name, first name and patronymic, of the person who sent the request.

4. For law enforcement purposes, I consider it permissible to oblige the owners and / or administration of Internet resources allowing the placement of materials or information by resource visitors to record the time of placement and the IP address from which the placement was made, keep this information reasonable time and provide it in cases provided for by paragraph 2 of Article 23 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, that is, only on the basis of a court decision.

I ask you, Igor Olegovich, to consider these considerations and take them into account in the proposals in the framework of your execution of the instructions of the President of the Russian Federation. I ask you to inform the Chernyshev Vladimir Mikhailovich about the results of the review in writing at the address: 190000, St. Petersburg, ...

Respectfully,
Vladimir Chernyshev

June 3, 2011

I sent this letter from the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media to minsvyaz.ru/ru/directions/questioner/reception. I wanted to write a little more, but there is a limit of 5000 characters, it barely accommodates.

As written on the site itself

2) Applications of citizens, sent electronically through the official website of the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media of Russia, are considered in accordance with the Federal Law of May 2, 2006 No.59-FZ "On the Procedure for Considering Appeals of Citizens of the Russian Federation"
3) Information about the personal data of citizens who sent a request in electronic form, is stored and processed in accordance with the requirements of the Russian legislation on personal data.
4) The response to the appeal is sent to the applicant within one month in writing to the postal address or e-mail address specified by the applicant.
5) Applications in electronic form, sent to the Ministry of Communications of Russia bypassing this input form, are not accepted for consideration.

You can also send a letter by mail to the address: 125375 Moscow, ul. Tverskaya, 7, Ministry of Communications and Mass Communications

I ask everyone who shares my views on this problem to send a similar letter. If you copy-paste, then do not forget to change my name;)

PS Formatted normally did not work, but I think not deadly