Medvedev says bans in Internet not effective, easy to skirt

MOSCOW, Dec 5 (PRIME) -- Restrictions in the Internet are ineffective and can be easily skirted, and the law on the sovereign Internet was adopted not for bans, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told TV channels in a yearend interview on Thursday.

“The law you’re speaking about, the one often referred to as the law on the sovereign Internet, it is aimed not to ban something. First, bans are ineffective and can be easily skirted,” Medvedev said.

“Second, the purpose of the law is different, it is that we won’t be cut off the global Web if it occurs to anyone to do it. People usually say, ‘Who’d cut us off?’ It’s cheap talk, but we can be really disconnected from anything.”

He reminded that when Moscow had disagreements with Washington, there were publications that Russia could be delisted from the system of payment verification. “It’s punch in the stomach, as it’s called. Nevertheless, it was discussed,” he said.

“Moreover, we’re on the threshold not of a common Internet, linked to daily needs, but the Internet of Things, which implies technological processes. If one gets disconnected, everything can be stopped, like a power station or flights.”

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