Press release, 01.07.2017

Yabloko Chair Emilia Slabunova participated in the CIF4 annual conference on the freedom of speech and online censorship. The politician spoke about the importance of online privacy, the role of state in providing it and the ways of achieving it by means of political parties.

“According to German former Interior Minister and human rights defender Gerhart Baum, privacy is the super necessity, one must defend it even when the majority gives it up. It is privacy that makes the basis of freedom, the pledge of acquiring and preserving human dignity,” Emilia Slabunova addressed the audience.

With the arrival of the Internet age privacy turned out to be under threat due to the openness of the world networks. All the subjects of the informational space think of the way to create boarders in boundless space in accordance with their interests and private users worry about the preservation of the boarders of their privacy, the politician stressed.

The data released in Spring 2017 show that the daily audience of the Russian segment of the Internet makes 71,5 million people. According to the sociologists, in May 2017, 35 per cent of Russians worried about their private information online.

“Every day nearly 24 million people worry about the privacy of thier data on the Internet. Unfortunately, our citizens have the grounds to worry. The state’s interference into the Internet security sphere is becoming more and more aggressive since 2012,” she said.

In 2016 the number of legislative proposals on the regulation of the Internet was 97. The attempts to limit the access to the Internet, information and lay additional responsibility on those who either deliver of receive information, the attempts to impose surveillance over the citizens were made nearly every three weeks.

The politician called the relationship between the state and the Internet within the last five years a theatre of was operations.

The only way to preserve freedom including freedom of the Internet is politics. Only an honest state that is ready to listen to its citizens instead of monitoring them will be able not to interfere into private boarders and enlarge the zone of freedom.

One can judge whether the [parliamentary] political parties correspond with these requirements by their political programmes in the latest elections. The United Russia party mentioned the word “Internet” five times, the LDPR once, the Just Russia party used it four times. The Communist party did not mention in at all.

“Can one count on any bills from these parties. One can expect nothing but the theatre of war operations in the informational space,” she said. She also added that Yabloko mentioned the Internet 24 times in its programme and dedicate a whole chapter to it.

“The Internet will remain free only when the professional community stands for its rights together with the civil society. And they need a political party that will defend their interests,” Emilia Slabunova noted.