UN adopted resolution on Internet rights protection

Amendments of Russia and China were rejected as “defocusing attention”

Last week, on June 27, the United Nations adopted a resolution on the protection of rights on the Internet (The promotion, protection of rights on the Internet) .

According to the text of the document, the UN General Assembly called on countries to reconsider their position on intercepting information, reading correspondence, collecting personal data and spying on their own citizens. Along with this, concern was expressed that modern technologies are actively used by terrorist groups. The resolution condemns any blockages and restrictions on access to the Internet. It is proposed to fight crime with the help of searching for alternatives and fostering the interaction of structures responsible for security with society.
')
In fact, the document adopted by the General Assembly is inconsistent with the latest "anti-terrorism amendments" by Yarovaya-Ozerov .

On June 24, 2016, the State Duma of the Russian Federation fully accepted the entire package of amendments proposed by the Chairman of the Duma Security Committee Irina Yarovaya and the head of the Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security Viktor Ozerov. According to the document, in order to follow the letter of the law, all providers and telecom operators will have to keep correspondence and conversations of subscribers for up to one year (and information about the fact of a communication session up to three years) and provide access to them at the request of the relevant departments.

Documents like the Yarovaya-Ozerov package, in the opinion of the General Assembly, directly violate the civil rights and freedoms of citizens.

In contrast to previous resolutions, which were adopted in 2012 and 2014, the current version of the document pays special attention to the inadmissibility of Internet censorship in all its manifestations against the background of the growing trend of tightening control over the network by governments of a number of states.

The Russian representative to the UN, Alexey Goltyaev, tried to shift the emphasis from civil rights and freedoms, to the protection of personal data and private life in the direction of confidentiality as such. So, as an example of breach of confidentiality, Goltyaev cited the publication of secret data by Edward Snowden, illegal wiretapping and hacking. Special attention was paid to the fact that with similar resolutions some states are lobbying to preserve their key role in ensuring the operability of the network.

The words of Alexei Goltyaev reflect the general state position regarding the non-Russian network segment, which is considered, first of all, as a potentially dangerous and aggressive area for the interests of the state.

It is not known whether governments will listen to the UN and whether they will look for alternative ways and methods of fighting terrorism, apart from establishing total surveillance of their own population. On the example of the Russian Federation, it is clear that decisions similar to the Yarovaya-Ozerov package are counter-productive. Based on the reaction of mobile operators and Internet service providers, forcing such measures over a long distance of several decades will not only result in an increase in tariffs of 200 percent or more , but also in the general stagnation of the sector and, not least, will put an end to most strategic infrastructure development plans for the industry. At the same time, one of the authors of the package, Mr. Ozerov, states that the growth of tariffs for communication services will not exceed 11%.