FC: Russia poised to restrict online opposition to government

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

http://news.com.com/2100-1023-938810.html

   Russia poised to restrict Net activities
   By Declan McCullagh 
   Staff Writer, CNET News.com
   June 24, 2002, 12:10 PM PT

   MOSCOW--Russia's parliament may give final approval this week to
   sweeping restrictions on using the Internet to oppose the government.
   
   At the request of President Vladimir Putin, the Russian Duma voted 272
   to 126 last week in favor of the offline and online restrictions as an
   immediate response to what Putin called a spate of pro-Nazi and
   anti-religious extremist activities.

   [...]
   
   The Russian measure, which could receive final approval in the Duma as
   early as this week, pitted Putin and his supporters against the
   members of Russia's nascent human rights community who decried the
   anti-extremism bill as a perilous expansion of police power. Also
   opposed to the Draft on Contravention of Extremist Activities were
   members of the Communist Party, who feared they could be targeted as
   illegal extremists.

   "It is true that in Russia nowadays, there are many cases of extremism
   based on religious and national background," Sergei Kovalev, a member
   of the 450-person Duma, said in an interview. "But the declared
   purpose of this bill has nothing to do with the true purpose.

   [...]



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