Earlier this year, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev published his own internet manifesto, which made a subtle pitch for greater state control of the online world.
“The Internet should not be an environment dominated by rules set by one country alone, even the strongest and most advanced country,” he wrote. “There should be international rules drawn up through collective effort, and the worldwide web should continue to develop as it has done so far – as a common environment. Only this way can we counter terrorism, xenophobia, and other unlawful activity on the Web.”
So what, exactly, was Medvedev driving at? Writing at the indispensable Net.effect blog, Evgeny Morozov seems to have an answer. The Kremlin wants to create a "national consultative body" composed of internet personalities and prominent bloggers who would decide the rules for proper online behavior.
This scheme comes courtesy of Sergei Mironov, who heads the pro-Kremlin "A Just Russia" party. In a speech yesterday, Mironov said that "antisocial and criminal elements" in the online world should be subject to government censorship. And who would set the guidelines? Why, Russia's new virtual hall monitors.
Morozov writes this up with an appropriate amount of snark, but he also raises an important point: It sounds suspiciously like the Public Chamber, a Kremlin-concocted body that is supposed to serve in a consultative role to the government. The Kremlin disliked all those meddlesome non-governmental organizations, so it created the Public Chamber as a more manageable alternative to "civil society."
Russia's a long way from the Great Firewall of China. But it looks like the beginnings of an effort to clamp down on what remains the most freewheeling sphere in Russian-language media.
[PHOTO: Kremlin.ru]
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