Russia’s ‘absolutely free internet’ era over, extremism will be dealt with – MP

(Interfax – Moscow, March 19, 2013) Russian society should be ready for manifestations of extremism in the internet to be viewed and punished appropriately, as those made outside the net, the head of the State Duma committee for information policy, information technologies and communications, Aleksey Mitrofanov, has said.

“I think that the fight against extremism in the internet will gradually match the fight against extremism outside the internet,” Mitrofanov told a news conference in Moscow on Tuesday (19 March).

“The internet is a sphere just like any other,” he said.

He said that the attitude towards of extremism in the internet will be most serious.

“The era of absolutely free internet, when there were 2m users, is over. It was not a factor of politics, a factor of the economy or any factor at all. Since it has become a factor, it will be dealt with,” said the head of the Duma committee.