Russian Internet Restriction Bill

Russian Internet restriction bill (Russian: закон о блокировке экстремистских сайтов; Federal law of Russian Federation no. 139-FZ of 2012-07-28) is a law passed by the Russian State Duma in 2012 which replaced the procedure of shutting down telecom operators by prosecutors' orders with a blacklist of Internet sites containing alleged child pornography, drug-related material, extremist material, and other content illegal in Russia. This blacklist was supposed to be implemented and supervised by a self-regulating NGO of Internet users, but it was never created and this duty was assumed by government agency Roskomnadzor. The bill also introduced several other changes in the law, including liability for providers of telecom services for failing to protect children. Some critics expressed concern that the bill could be used to censor the Internet. Others noted that it would be expensive and, as written, contained many technical problems that would negatively impact legitimate Internet use.