A court in Russia's far east has ordered an Internet provider to block five sites, which it said disseminated extreme views, including the YouTube video service.
The decision prompted U.S. Internet giant Google to say on Thursday that the move restricted access to information.
Russian Internet provider Rosnet appealed on Wednesday (July 28) to overturn the ruling by a district court in Russia's Far Eastern city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, which is the only place the order applies, and which ordered Rosnet to limit access to the five sites that include the YouTube video service owned by Google.
Rosnet President Alexander Yermakov told national media that his company had declined to block access to the sites, saying the judge was "incompetent" and that he was determined "to go till the end, till the Constitutional Court."
Google, which runs the world's largest search engine, also criticized the court's ruling which ordered Rosnet to block its popular YouTube video site for having posted a film clip which the judge said fomented ethnic hatred.
"This (ruling) is an obvious violation of the right to obtain information," Alla Zabrovskaya, communications and public affairs manager at Google Russia, told Reuters.
"Due to just one video clip, which is mentioned in the court's ruling, the talk is about blocking the entire site which channels a huge stream of information -- you can imagine its volumes if it takes you a minute to download 24 hours of video."
"This is a huge volume of information which may now be unavailable to users in this city."
She said that in line with YouTube rules, Russia's Internet community can itself control the site, marking and deleting video clips that foment national, religious or racial hatred.
Russian human rights activists and Kremlin opponents have repeatedly voiced concerns that the authorities may gag any media outlet by merely accusing it of purveying content containing extreme views.
Music & Advertising Chicago Billboard & Adweek are taking the Music & Advertising Conference, in
association with Music Dealers, to Chicago on September 15-16, 2010. Don't
miss: keynote with Zac Brown of the Zac Brown Band, interactive panel
discussions and networking opportunities with key music, advertising and
brand executives from brands like, Converse, Ray-Ban, Dr Pepper, and so many
more. Register NOW and SAVE! CLICK HERE for more info and full schedule.
Share
Share on LinkedIn
