On June 14, Moscow hosted the Internet + Society Forum – the fourth of eight forums based on roadmaps for different industries,. The forum is organized by the Internet Development Institute and supported by the ROCIT, the Media Communication Union and the Coordination Center for TLD RU. It offered an opportunity for government and business representatives and Internet and technical experts to discuss current problems and prospects for creating a digital society.
Participants in the Digital Society – Territory of Equal Opportunities panel discussed the need to expand digital literacy, legal regulation of information processing on the Internet, developing an e-government and Internet security. Konstantin Abramov from the Russian Public Opinion Research Center presented the results of a recent survey which found that 70% of the population use the Internet, while 53% do so every day. 97% of people under 24 are Internet users. As for Internet security, almost 60% of Russian Internet users were victims of malware and 32% were exploited by cyber criminals. The survey showed that Russian users have started to pay more attention to information security. In 2013, 32% of users said they were not concerned about security, falling to 20% by 2016. According to Mr. Abramov, the Internet has the potential to become a major source of growth and development of Russian society.
Director of the Coordination Center for TLD RU Andrey Vorobyev spoke about the center’s main initiatives to support digital literacy. He noted that better IT skills would be an asset to civil servants, law enforcement and court employees – anyone involved in upholding the rights and interests of the public.
“Regulation of the Internet and online communications require a good understanding of how the Internet works and what norms regulate its use. To increase digital literacy of children and teenagers, we partnered with Rostelecom to create the Master the Internet! game,” Vorobyev said. “Important work to create a safe and positive virtual environment for children and teens is underway on the .ДЕТИ domain. We monitor content safety on children websites and eliminate inappropriate content. We also hold the Positive Content contest for white-list websites, which are checked by experts and recommended for children and teens. In addition, the Coordination Council launched a few years ago the Netoskop cyber security project. We also cooperate with judges, getting them up to date on domain dispute settlements.”
The forum will conclude with the Internet + Law panel, during which the head of the Coordination Center’s Legal Department, Sergei Kopylov will speak about domain disputes and how the center contributes to the development of a uniform approach toward domain disputes in court proceedings.
