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

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

Prepare proposals for amending the legislation of the Russian Federation on mass media, establishing limits on the liability of media outlets distributed on the Internet for posting comments by readers and statements of third parties violating the laws of the Russian Federation, including legislation on countering extremist activities.

Responsible: Shchegolev I.O.

Deadline - August 1, 2011

In the process of discussing the assignment, I decided to write a letter to the Minister of Telecom and Mass Communications of Russia, I. Shchegolev, in which to state his thoughts on this issue, since this concerns me quite closely and I want the state to take into account my personal interests for some time. (And not how to grumble on the Internet as usual, and then come to terms with a new law that is contrary to my interests.) I suddenly found out that I am not alone in my thoughts and therefore share the text of the letter, which everyone who shares my views on the division of such (and close to her) responsibility, can send to the Minister personally. Naturally, if my views are not fully shared, then the text of the letter can and should be edited or just taken as a basis. It is not forbidden to bring to the minister directly opposite views.

There was an idea to create an open letter, but I don’t know the procedures for giving it legitimacy and I don’t want to “force” those who partially share my views to subscribe to those that they do not fully share, but at least decided to bring their point of view to the authorities. Maybe it’s wrong - tell us your vision of how best to influence the authorities in such situations. Maybe on a habra there is no place for such things at all.

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

To the Minister of Telecom and Mass Communications of Russia
Shchegolev Igor Olegovich
from a citizen of Russia
Chernyshev Vladimir Mikhailovich

appeal.

Dear Igor Olegovich, having familiarized myself with 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 tell you as the person responsible for preparing proposals to amend the legislation of the Russian Federation on mass media establishing limits on the liability of media outlets distributed on the Internet for posting comments by readers and statements by third parties that violate the law The Russian Federation, its views on this issue, namely:

1. The establishment of such liability limits is necessary not only for the mass media distributed on the Internet, but also for the owners and (or) administrations of all Internet resources that fall under Russian jurisdiction.

2. Legislation should establish the limits of liability of owners and (or) the administration of Internet resources not only for readers to post comments or statements by third parties that violate the laws of the Russian Federation, but for visitors to these resources to post any materials or information that violates the laws of the Russian Federation to such materials and or information, as well as for the placement of materials or information and links to them in cases where their very placement violates the law your Russian Federation 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 links to them”)

3. The limits of liability of owners and (or) administration of resources themselves should not exceed responsibility for refusing to comply with a lawful requirement of law enforcement agencies to remove, block or modify illegal materials or links to them. As the judicial practice (for example, the VGTRK lawsuit against VKontakte) shows, such limits are consistent with 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 the Protection of Information, the removal, permanent blocking or constant modification of illegal materials or links to them by the owners and (or) the administration of the Internet Resource should be required to produce only by a court decision that has entered into force.
3.2. The owners and (or) the administration of Internet resources should be required to temporarily block or modify illegal materials or links to them only at the reasonable request of law enforcement agencies within the scope of their authority and the specific offenses being investigated. The requirement for such temporary blocking or modification of illegal materials or information links to them must be confirmed within a reasonable time by a court decision, otherwise the owners and (or) the administration of Internet resources should have the right to stop blocking the material or information or cancel the changes made.
3.3. A court decision or a request from other law enforcement agencies should be communicated to the owners and (or) the administration of the Internet resources officially formally, personally signed, as any request to cease or suspend illegal or likely to be such activities that does not pose a direct threat to life, health or property citizens.
3.4. Owners and (or) the administration of Internet resources should have the right to inform their visitors of the reason for the removal, blocking or modification of illegal materials or links to them, including the message of the surname, name, patronymic and position held, the person who sent the request.

4. For the purposes of enforcement, I consider it permissible to oblige the owners and (or) the administration of Internet resources that allow the placement of materials or information by visitors of the resources, record the time of placement and the IP address from which the placement was made, store this information for a reasonable time and provide it in cases provided for in 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 as part of your execution of the order of the President of the Russian Federation. Please inform me in writing of the results of the review at the address: 190000, St. Petersburg, ..., Chernyshev Vladimir Mikhailovich.

Sincerely,
Vladimir Chernyshev

June 03, 2011

Here is such a letter sent from the website of the Ministry of Communications at minsvyaz.ru/ru/directions/questioner/reception I wanted to write a little more, but there is a limit of 5000 characters, it barely fits.

As written on the site itself

2) Appeals of citizens sent electronically through the official website of the Ministry of Communications of Russia are considered in accordance with Federal Law of May 2, 2006 No.59-ФЗ “On the Procedure for Considering Appeals of Citizens of the Russian Federation”
3) Information on 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 mailing address or email address indicated by the applicant.
5) Electronic communications 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, st. Tverskaya, 7, Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications

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

PS I didn’t manage to format it normally, but I think it’s not fatal