Yesterday, as the lower house of Parliament adopted in third reading a controversial law to “ensure the safe and sustainable functioning” of the Internet in Russia, the head of Internet regulator and censor Roskomnadzor compared the bill to nuclear weapons.
“This is a pretty formidable weapon, but I hope that, like the nuclear weapons several countries possess, it will remain in a dormant state,” the RNS news agency quoted Alexander Zharov as saying.
If adopted by the Council of Federation and signed by President Putin – which pundits believe is a likely outcome, – the law would entitle the government to control all connections between “the Russian segment of the Internet” and the rest of the world. Based on a newly created infrastructure, the Russian segment could continue operating even without connections with Internet servers abroad (see details about the bill).
Supporters of the bill believe it will make the Russian segment of the Internet more independent, and argue new legislation is needed to protect the country against cyberattacks.
Critics see in the bill an unrealistic construction and yet another setback for Internet freedom in Russia. Several thousand people marched against the bill in Moscow last month.
Most provisions of the bill should take effect on November 1, 2019.
