Armenia not to create “Blacklist” of internet resources like Russia : Expert

YEREVAN, May 3./ARKA/.  Armenia is unlikely to follow Russia in creating the “blacklist” of Internet resources, President of Yerevan Press Club Boris Navasardyan told reporters on a news conference dedicated to World Press Freedom Day.

Russia’s Duma adopted the bill on creating the so-called “blacklist” of banned websites.

 “Such step is out of what Armenia is  following now. Such decision would not be approved by our partners, such as the European Union, first of all,” Navasardyan said.

The situation can change, however, if Armenia alters the vector of its foreign policy, according to him.

As to media regulation, the expert noted that mass media should establish ethical and moral norms for themselves, not shifting to self-censorship though. 

A number of states were lobbying tightening Internet control regulations during the meeting of The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Dubai, December 3-14. However, this initiative failed as many other states opposed it. 

The conference was targeted at discussing the changes in the Union’s rules of procedure, which hasn’t been updated since 1988. A number of states were willing to adopt amendments related to Internet control. Particularly, they intended to clarify some definitions and empower the ITU for controlling Internet more strictly.

Total of 89 states signed the final rules of procedure of the Union. Among these countries there were Russia, China, Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan, the Arabic states. However 55 states boycotted the document: the USA, all European countries, in general, developed democracies. Armenia was among those 55 states.

The arguments arose primarily around 3.8 point of the rules of procedure, which would increase the sovereignty of states to control the Internet on their territories.

If the document was adopted, it would mean the law enforcement bodies would be authorized to identify spam and any threats to security themselves, control the Internet content, monitor Internet and telephone conversations, which is unacceptable.—0-