Non-Childish Internet Content. Allow Can't Deny?

The purpose of this article is an educational program for parents on the basic provisions of Russian laws in the field of protecting children from dangerous Internet content.

The began like a science fiction movie - with a total transition to online, "thanks" to the coronavirus. This transition has exposed many problems. Including the "non-childish" problem of dangerous Internet content, which poured into children of all ages forced to study online - from kindergartens to colleges. As it turned out, not all parents, teachers, educational institutions management, educational resource owners were ready for the virtual surprises that distance learning brought.

On September 1, a new school year began in the country, so far in person, but with great chances to quickly return to "distance learning" in the event of a second coronavirus wave. Taking into account the mistakes of the first, spring visit, we decided to remind adults what Internet content our laws do not recommend or even prohibit showing to children. Who and what should do to protect the younger generation from such information - in law and in reality. And how can the people closest to him help the child - parents and teachers.

Protection by law

The authorities have become concerned about the problem of dangerous content on the World Wide Web since the time of the country's mass “internalization”. And since that time, various government agencies have issued many laws, bylaws, guidelines, requirements, orders, orders, etc. All of them, in one way or another, regulate the interaction of children with the Internet. It's not easy to wade through the jungle of legislation but to put it simply, 3 basic laws “work” to protect children from dangerous content.

Types of dangerous information for children

Generally speaking, all three laws divide information dangerous for children into two main categories: completely prohibited for showing to children (and in the case of 149-FZ - in general to all categories of citizens) and information to which access to children of a certain age should be limited (those 6+, 12 +, 16 +, etc.)

It is completely forbidden to demonstrate to minors information: encouraging harm to health, suicide, violence and cruelty towards people and animals; encouraging drug addiction, smoking and alcoholism, prostitution, unconventional sexual relations, as well as containing pornography; promoting gambling, vagrancy and begging; containing obscene language. The propaganda of national, class, social, racial intolerance and inequality, wars, terrorism and extremism is also prohibited.

The ban on the dissemination of information about a minor who has suffered as a result of unlawful actions (inaction) stands apart. This ensures that all personally identifiable information about the child is protected.

Now about what you need to restrict access by age categories - to images or descriptions: cruelty, physical and (or) mental violence, crimes, sex between a man and a woman; to information that causes fear, horror or panic in children (non-violent death, illness, suicide, accident/disaster), containing language that is not obscene.

In general, there are many nuances in these laws and different interpretations are possible. But for the purposes of this article - to give parents a general idea of ​​information dangerous to children - this list is quite enough.

Restricted Internet Channels

There are many different channels and formats for delivering information to users on the Internet. They all have the different reach and, accordingly, the degree of influence on the audience. Let's see what online sites the law requires to protect children from dangerous content.

Restrictions on the circulation of information dangerous for children apply to such Internet resources as: online publications (read, officially registered media); audiovisual services (the law considers such sites or pages on the Internet, information systems or computer programs containing audio and video content); resources for the exchange of information between users in any form (social networks, instant messengers, e-mail, etc.); sites with the public, political information; search engines, marketplaces and all sites containing information prohibited to children.

The owners of these resources are encouraged to apply various restrictions: from excluding personal data of minors from public access and using parental control mechanisms, to using age marking and using content filtering tools to find sources of information prohibited for children.

The legislation also provides for the creation of a unified register of Internet sites (see screenshot below) containing information prohibited for distribution in Russia. This register is maintained by Roskomnadzor, within 24 hours after the "prohibited site/page" is entered in the register, the telecom operator must block user access to it.

Who and how is obligated to protect children by law

The legislation prescribes the protection of children from dangerous information in public places. The obligation to prevent children from accessing information that does not correspond to their age rests with those who ensure the entrance and stay of children in such places. That is, in other words, if the child is at school, then the management and teachers are responsible, if in the circus/cinema/store - the administration and employees of the institutions. Responsibility - in accordance with Article 6.7 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation.

At the same time, the law exempts telecom operators from the obligation to protect children from dangerous information in a public place. For example, if a commercial containing scenes of violence is suddenly launched in the lobby of a cinema, it is not the Internet provider, but the owner of the establishment, who will be responsible before the law.

Distance learning problems

The total withdrawal online clearly demonstrated the unpreparedness of a large part of society for life in this mode. And the speed of the transition further exacerbated the situation. To conduct online lessons, teachers began to use either the most familiar to them or generally the first resources that came to hand. It has become a common practice to create open groups on social networks, where links to online lessons are posted. Often, either generally universal links for entering without a password, or together with passwords to connect to the lesson. People do not think about the security and confidentiality of the posted data!

Naturally, hooligans and prankers immediately took advantage of the lack of protection of resources. One of the most egregious cases occurred in St. Petersburg: connecting to Zoom-classes, he was rude to teachers, showed students porn videos. As a result, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation opened a criminal case against him, he faces up to several years in prison. The moral damage to children and parents is obvious.

It is clear from media reports that a wave of pornography exposure during online classes has swept across the country. During self-isolation, similar incidents were noted in Kaluga, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Moscow, Murmansk. Let's take into account the fact that children themselves sometimes look for opportunities to disrupt lessons, on their own or with the help of such "jokers" (see a typical example below).

Protection in practice

What could adults do to avoid such shock situations? On the one hand, school administrations, together with the Ministry of Education, could long ago, even during the period of equipping educational institutions with Internet access, think over a plan for organizing distance learning. With a list of resources allowed for use, instructions for their operation, safety measures for such training, and so on. After all, there was a separate practice of conducting online lessons in schools long before today's quarantine. At least in Moscow schools for sure.

On the other hand, such a training scheme requires more strict and constant monitoring by the parents and their involvement in the child's life. At the same time, many parents either returned to full-time work or continue to work intensively and remotely. In this situation, the only way out seems to be the use of specialized solutions of "parental control" on all devices that the child uses.

If we talk about protecting children from dangerous Internet content in general, and not just in the context of distance learning, then, of course, such protection should be comprehensive. That is, each of the participants in the process must take measures where others cannot provide protection.

So, on the part of government authorities, it is necessary to carefully apply filtering measures for Internet content.

On the part of society - a reasonable division of responsibility according to the principle "whose equipment, with the help of which the Internet is accessed, protects".

If the school provides students with computers, tablets and other digital devices as part of the educational process, it must ensure that the child does not get access to inappropriate content from these devices. By the way, this also includes educational platforms for online learning (online lessons on Uchi.ru, all kinds of Zoom and Google conferences, etc.) Do you teach lessons through these services? Ensure process safety.

If a cafe/cinema/museum and other public places provide visitors with access to the Internet through their W-Fi network, it is these organizations that must ensure that minors cannot view content prohibited for them through this network.

All materials about a particular public event must have a mark about the age limit ("6+, 12 +, 16 +, 18 +"), from which it is available for attendance. Because the responsibility for finding an inappropriate child at the event lies with the organizer/owner of the organization (cafe/cinema/museum, etc.). For example, when buying tickets at the box office, employees of these organizations are required to check the age of the child and deny him access to the event if he has not reached the appropriate age. Exactly the same as supermarket employees when a child tries to buy alcohol or cigarettes - all this is a normal practice for a civilized society.

If parents give their child a mobile phone with Internet access, they must provide protection from dangerous content. After all, neither a school nor a cafe with a cinema can influence access to information from this phone.

Very often we hear statements from parents like: “Well, we pay them (cafes, cinemas, museums) money, so let them work. Why should we answer? " This is a wrong position neither from the point of view of legislation nor from the point of view of elementary logic. And even more so from the point of view of the future life prospects of children and their parents. To really solve this difficult problem, to make efforts, we repeat, all participants in the process must. And in fact, a lot depends on the parents themselves.

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