Russian communications ministry drafts bill on government control over Internet – report

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11:13 11/02/2016

MOSCOW, February 11 (RAPSI) – The Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation has drafted a bill which significantly increases government control over Internet-traffic in Russia, Vedomosti newspaper reported on Thursday.

“According to two sources of “Vedomosti”, this document implements tasks set by Russian President Vladimir Putin made after the Security Council’s session in autumn of 2014”.

Authors of the bill propose to change laws regulating Russian communications and information systems allowing Russian government to track Internet-traffic routes through several means.

The Ministry suggest to create governmental system of DNS and IP addresses’ monitoring which would additionally look after the critical elements of Russian Internet infrastructure. Another change is a creation of a reserve copy of IP addresses’ registry. This database would automatically check availability of IP addresses and would be optional for use by Internet companies.

Third change is related to Internet communications between Russia and other countries. Authors of the bill propose to increase control over Internet-traffic gateways on Russian border. Measures include licensing of Internet companies that would get a special right to transfer data through the border. The Ministry also suggests to create a list of official gateways for use, so the government would be able to maintain control over them and would be able to build reserve Internet-traffic routes in case of emergencies.