The Russian parliament is backing a bill which will mandate a governmental list of forbidden Websites. In protest, the Russian-language Wikipedia is putting itself in the dark for a day. LiveJournal also protests. The Twitter hashtag, #RuWikiBlackout, is pretty active.
How will this Information Law work out in practice?
The agency will have the right to add items to the blacklist, as will the courts, which already have the authority to ban extremist and other types of content that violates Russian legislation.
What makes for forbidden Web content? For starters, we have one of the classic fearsome digital media tropes:
The idea of the blacklist originated last year from Russia’s League of Internet Security after the internet watchdog said it had broken up an international ring of 130 alleged pedophiles circulating material via the internet.
Things broaden out from there:
The supporters of the blacklist believe it would curb the spread of on-line pornography and propaganda of extremism.
What constitutes pornography or "extremism"? You see where this can lead.
(via HackerNews)
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