SPIEF Participants Describe Russia’s Digital Sovereignty

Contrasting digital sovereignty with digital dictatorship was the topic of one of the panel discussions at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on June 15. It was opened by Alexei Pushkov, Chairman of the Federation Council Commission on Information Policy and Interaction with the Media.

The senator began by saying that, in his understanding, digital sovereignty does not mean a system of prohibitions or fencing off from the outside world, since the latter does not give “anything good”, is fraught with “stagnation and regression”. “And sovereignty is a development system that is able to respond to challenges and give an adequate response to them,” he explained.

Pushkov named the principles on which, in his opinion, sovereignty is based. The first is consistency and consistent development, incl. own digital space and technologies. The conditions for this consistency, in the opinion of the senator, are the laws regulating the activities of “foreign persons on the Internet” in Russia, the rules on the “landing” of global Internet companies that operate in the country, as well as the work of Roskomnadzor.

The second principle of the development of sovereignty is competition. Otherwise, “this is stagnation,” Pushkov is sure. He said that the Soviet Union closed all alternative sources of information [из заграницы]and as a result, what came from the outside, “was perceived as the ultimate truth.”

“I have a feeling that there is no such approach in the Russian Federation now. People compare information. It is very important that people have the freedom to compare information, they analyze it themselves <...> In this information broth, independence of thinking is developed. If you take away from this broth [ингредиенты]there remains a certain neutral-tasting broth that no one wants to drink, ”said the senator.

Speaking about the next principle – independence, the speaker returned to the idea of ​​creating a national taxation system for global Internet companies operating in Russia. There are now, according to him, about 15. He suggested not to wait for the adoption by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) of a convention that would establish a single global tax on the activities of Internet companies in the amount of 15% (this initiative has been discussed since 2021 – Vedomosti ”), but to develop their own national legislation in this area.

Another proposal by Pushkov is the creation of a Russian English-language analogue of popular social networks. “Since sovereignty is about developing and conquering new grounds, it’s time to think about a Russian English-language platform where they can communicate with people outside of Russia,” the senator said. It is not Russia that “sets” the algorithms on existing sites, he stressed. There is a demand for the Russian English-language platform, according to Pushkov, in the world today.

Alexander Khinshtein, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communications, followed. According to him, after the blocking of Western social networks, “huge” audience growth rates were shown by the domestic network “Vkontakte”, as well as “Odnoklassniki”, there are also competitive search engines. “We see efforts [видеохостинга] Rutube to increase the audience, but say that [Rutube] reached the level of competition with YouTube would be an exaggeration,” said the deputy. He urged industry participants to use the gaps formed after the departure of IT giants from Russia.

The beginning of digital sovereignty, Khinshtein believes, was laid in 2019 with the adoption of a package of laws on the “safe Runet”. “It’s only been four years and we see the system working,” he said. And then he asks himself the question – is it possible to bypass the established restrictions? “Here is Alexei Konstantinovich [Пушков] refers that Twitter reads … I conclude that he uses a VPN. The case is absolutely unpunished,” Khinshtein smiled.

The deputy said that he does not support his “colleagues”, who, according to him, propose to be held accountable for using VPN services as treason. “Block bypasses are still not widespread, the main part of our society will not use them for various reasons. And it is obvious that today the work of the sovereign safe Runet has fully justified itself. The installed equipment allows us to implement the legislative measures that we are taking,” Khinshtein is sure.

The deputy noted that “no one proposes to abstract from the whole world, to switch to locking, as is the case in China.” In his opinion, the strategy of the state is aimed at maximally synchronizing legal approaches between online and offline life.

Igor Ashmanov, General Director of the Kribrum company, a member of the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for the development of civil society and human rights, suggested that Khinshtein create a Digital Code. “I really hope that Alexander Evseevich [Хинштейн] will create a Digital Code, which we need as much as water, sea, air. Where we will cut out alternative digitalization so that it serves only for the benefit of citizens,” he said.

Khinshtein proposed to arrange a “nationwide” discussion of such a document. He noted that the legislation in the field of IT and communications is very outdated – the law “On Communications” is 20 years old, the law “On Mass Media” is 31 years old, and legislators have to “constantly patch up this trishkin caftan.” In his opinion, the code could contain “basic meanings”, a strategy for communications, dissemination of information, personal data and everything “related to the media and the Internet.”

The concept of the Digital Code has been discussed for several years. During this time, both Ashmanov and Khinshtein made their proposals. Last informed On June 14, in his Telegram channel, he presented the concept of the Digital Code at the final meeting as part of the development of the Communications Industry Strategy until 2035 at the Government Coordination Center.