IT and Mass Media: Ministry of Communications and Mass Media dwells on improvement of the law “On Mass Media”

On July 25, 2011 at the meeting of the RF Ministry of Communications and Mass Media’s Council for Internet and New Means of Mass Media high on the agenda was discussion of improvement of the law “On Mass Media”, in particular establishment of liability limits for Internet media for posting readers’ comments and third party statements, which break the RF legislation.

On April 29 the President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev had a meeting with representatives of Internet community, after which the RF Ministry of Communications and Mass Media was charged with preparing proposals concerning introduction of amendments to the legislation of the Russian Federation on Mass Media by August 1, 2011.

At the meeting it was decided to limit the scope of posted-by-readers content, for which the editorial offices take on a liability, and in particular, exclude the liability for copyright infringement by commentators.

The editorial offices of Internet media will be obliged to give users an opportunity to inform them of illegal content. Official notifications on law infringement related to extremism must be delivered to the editorial office by authorized government bodies, while the offences dealing with wounding of the honor and dignity of individuals, must be stated by specific individuals affected by the infringement.

Participants of the meeting have agreed on holding more sessions highlighting this issue for final approval of the text of proposed amendments to the law “On Mass Media”. Reached decisions will be outlined in the report to the President of Russia.