In an effort to censor freedom of speech online, Russia’s very own Deputy Prosecutor General has announced that he wants Big Brother reinstated to help him in his quest against extremism. Well, at least that’s the gist of it.

According to a report by an online Russian Daily, Kommersant, Ivan Sydoruk has claimed that “Legal control over the Internet [is necessary] to step efforts to fight with extremism.”

With such a decision at stake, there has been a much expected public backlash to this latest development. The story reports that while human rights activists have opted for the view that state control over the internet, “will create persecuted cyber-dissidents,” and have urged authorities “not to encroach upon the Internet freedom,” IT specialists have settled with a line of argument which claims that online censorship is pretty much impossible.

In a police conference in the city of Rostov-on-Don yesterday, Mr. Sydoruk opined, “The Internet is often a place for circulating extremist leaning information” further declaring, “We need to work out an effective system to control the data released on the net.” As the debate continues to display its volatility, Nikolay Partushey, in another statement calling for stricter control over the internet said, “There are currently 5,000 web-sites run by extremist organizations and movements.”

Kommersant’s story further states that “State Duma Legislature Committee Chairman Pavel Krasheninnikov came up with a bill last year to sentence Internet extremists to five years in prison. The amendments, however, were not adopted.”

Russia seems a little torn on the issue at this very moment in time. What do you think?

Freedom of Speech or Fighting Internet Extremism? That is the question.

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