Government interference in the Internet should be limited, but service providers should be responsible for piracy, a Russian deputy prime minster has said in a letter to President Dmitry Medvedev, a business daily said on Thursday.
First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov laid out a new approach to the Internet to be developed by March 1, Vedomosti said after studying the document.
Shuvalov said that copyright holders had pushed for the “total monitoring” of Internet users’ activity and powers for law enforcement bodies to block access to the web.
However, he said these steps would be unjustified and also technically unfeasible.
People have, he added, a right to “unhindered access to information.”
Vedomosti notes that the letter was at odds with recent statements by Telecommunications Minister Igor Shchyogolev, who said that individual Internet users should bear responsibility for piracy, and not service providers.
MOSCOW, January 27 (RIA Novosti)