Fundamentals of legal regulation of the Internet. International legal regulation of relations on the Internet

Currently in Russia there are a number of regulations governing relations in the field of information and, accordingly, affecting the use of the global computer network Internet. At the same time, the World Wide Web itself is still little studied from the point of view of the legal specifics of the relations that arise in connection with its existence and practical application.

First, there is not enough certainty in resolving the issue of the legal nature of the Internet itself.

Secondly, there is no clarity in understanding the question of the law applicable to these legal relations.

Ultimately, the issues related to the functioning of the Internet affect huge technical, informational, human resources and funds.

In no country in the world there is an organizational structure that acts as the sole owner or owner of this computer network. The US federal government is not the owner of the Internet either, which has practically stopped funding even individual networks on the territory of the state. The US Department of Defense, which has its own secret computer network, is no longer related to the Internet.

For the average customer, what he calls the Internet is represented by a vendor who provides him with a link to the appropriate software. In cases where a client makes a paid transaction during a communication session on the Internet (for example, subscribes to a magazine of interest to him in the electronic version), he knows that his counterparty is not a supplier, but an organization.

For a company producing network services, the representative of the Internet is specialized companies that are able to place the information offered by the manufacturer on their computers (servers) and make it available to other network users (on the terms of the manufacturer). Such a specialized company (server owner) is often also a supplier, but this is not always the case, and in this case the server owner enters the Internet on a common basis.

For the supplier, the Internet is represented by larger networks that provide it with the ability to connect to them. Each of these networks has its own owner. However, each owner cannot technically or legally control the Internet.

Representatives of the largest Internet networks are united in several organizations of the so-called Internet community. However, these organizations are not the governing bodies of the network. They are primarily concerned with the harmonization of technical standards (data exchange, network interconnection, etc.), as well as the registration of so-called node computers (interconnected by meeting points) and domain addresses or names (the identification names of such computers). By itself, this is very important for the technical functioning of the network, but not enough for the management of the organization.

Connection of the client's computer to the supplier's local network is carried out by performing several legally significant actions, the nature of which is well known and not exclusive - the sale of software (Internet login program) and hardware (modem); lease of a communication channel (an analogy can be drawn with the sale of computer time on a computer or using a telephone line in a long-distance conversation).

Legal relations are generated not by the "Internet" as a computer network, but by the objects themselves, which in one way or another are connected with such a network. This is easily explained: the Internet as a computer network does not create any new objects and goods, but only provides opportunities for their creation, placement and implementation among network users.

If the Internet is neither an object nor a subject of law, talking about any legal specifics of its functioning is generally pointless.

But it's not. Certainly, there is a specificity of relations connected with work on the Internet. Its appearance and development introduces a lot of fundamentally new into the nature of the relationship between people and organizations that communicate with each other through the network, and also entails the emergence of new active subjects - producers of network services. Most likely, the legal peculiarity of relations between Internet users (as well as relations regarding actions performed on the network) lies in a specific way of exercising the rights and obligations of individuals - network users.

The specifics of concluding a contract using the Internet lies in the significantly greater technical possibilities for performing legally significant actions than is possible by phone or fax; in the method of sending an offer and acceptance; among the possible addressees of the offer; in the possibility of discussing and changing the terms of the contract; in the way of fixing the terms of the contract in any material form; in the way the contract is executed by the person receiving the service (for example, paying for it to the manufacturer). Most often, such issues still remain unresolved by national legal systems.

In addition, the vast majority of transactions on the Internet are carried out between persons physically located in different countries, which further complicates the situation with the determination of the applicable law.

Therefore, already now we can talk about a special way of the emergence of legal relations between individuals and legal entities that communicate with each other via the computer network Internet.

The Internet is a prime example of how effectively such a complex technical system can develop with little or no formal legal regulation.

In fact, so far the normative regulation of relations between users, providers and other participants of the Internet is not of a legal nature. In addition to numerous regulations and standards of a technical nature, the Internet is subject to norms that relate to ordinary, corporate or even ethical relations, of course, with the corresponding Internet specifics. This is due to the history of the emergence and development of this network. As the Internet developed, spontaneously developed, often nowhere fixed rules of "netiquette" (netiquette) became the standard of behavior for new Internet users. Now these rules can be found on the Internet in a detailed presentation with comments. Of course, we are not talking about their forced application. In the best case, other users will not pay attention to a deviation from the rules, in the worst case, the violator will be partially deprived of the opportunity to continue communicating with other clients.

Thus, relations between participants in network communication on the Internet, including those regarding actions of legal significance, are governed by regulatory and other rules. The latter were not established in the manner typical for the adoption of legal acts, and cannot be enforced using the possibilities of public authority. Nevertheless, the lack of proper legal methods of regulation has not prevented the rapid development of the network in recent years. This phenomenon will still be the subject of the most careful study. Even now, the development in the network of relations related to the purchase and sale of goods and services has required the development and application of purely legal methods for regulating relations, protecting the interests of network users (consumers), and curbing the possibility of abuses and offenses.

At the same time, there is a real threat that the Internet will lose its current position as a global information network, which may result from the further development of cybercrime.

Despite the successful development of the Internet, and Internet relations in particular, a legislative framework is needed to regulate relations on the Internet. It is necessary to adopt an international bill dedicated to the Internet. This law should specify the general principles for regulating Internet relations. And already on the basis of this law it will be possible to make additions to the national legislation.

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Tanimov Oleg Vladimirovich, Deputy Director of the Middle Volga branch of the Russian Law Academy of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation for educational, scientific and educational work, candidate of legal sciences, associate professor.

Kudashkin Yaroslav Vladimirovich, Lecturer at the Department of State and Legal Disciplines of the Middle Volga Branch of the Russian Law Academy of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation.

The article discusses the prospects for the development of the legal regulation of the Internet in the Russian Federation, identifies the main trends in the development of rule-making in the field of state regulation of the Internet.

Key words: Internet, state regulation, public regulation, self-regulation, legislative initiative.

Perspectives of legal regulation of relations in the Internet

O.V. Tanimov, Ya.V. Kudashkin

In article prospects the development of law regulation of the network Internet in the Russian Federation are considered, and the basic tendencies of development areation of laws in sphere a state regulation of a network Internet are designated.

Key words: a network the Internet, state regulation, public regulation, self-regulation, the legislative initiative.

In recent years, Internet technologies have developed rapidly. At the end of summer 2010, 43 million people in Russia, which is 30% of the total population, have access to the Internet and are its users<1>. A whole generation of people has grown up in Russia who are used to using the Internet for communication and entertainment. A sharp drop in the cost of Internet services and personal computers in all regions of Russia has led to an increase in the Internet audience. In the near future, two trends can be distinguished: on the one hand, the number of Internet users is expected to increase, on the other hand, in the coming years, most likely, there will be a qualitative improvement in the Internet audience. Despite millions of users, Russia is still far behind the leading countries in terms of the percentage of Internet users in relation to the total population. For example, Russia is 2.2 times behind the UK, where 83% of the population actively use the Internet<2>.

<1>The thirtieth issue of the regular bulletin "Internet in Russia". Issue. 30. Summer 2010. URL: http:// bd.fom.ru/ pdf/ kratkaya_ versiya_ otcheta_ leto2010.pdf.
<2>See: Ibid.

Currently, legal regulation in this area lags behind the real needs of the state. Taking into account the general availability of the Internet and the rapid growth in the number of its users, today the issues are relevant, the solution of which will be aimed at regulating Internet relations, especially those related to the capabilities of the Network.

Existing regulations govern only certain aspects of the Network's operation. Legal problems of securing Internet relations include a wide range of issues, such as copyright, protection of honor and dignity, invasion of privacy, regulation of licensed markets for goods and services, advertising, education, and so on. The use of the Internet gives wide opportunities to the user of the Network, but his actions must be regulated in a certain law.

Currently, no country in the world has codified legislation governing legal relations on the Internet. Existing legal acts govern private aspects of the Network's functioning, and they primarily include issues of connecting to it through providers, providing appropriate communication lines and individual services, and so on.

The norms that could be applied to relations regarding the Internet are "scattered" among legislative acts of other branches of law. First of all, they are contained in the norms on intellectual and industrial property, civil and criminal legislation, as well as in the section conventionally referred to as "computer law"<3>.

<3>Protection of the rights of creators and users of computer programs and databases (commentary of Russian legislation). Moscow: Russian Law Academy of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, 1996. P. 12.

The question of the need for state regulation of the network has two sides. On the one hand, the Internet is a technical system, and as such is already governed by today's "Core Agreement" documented in the RFC.<4>. On the other hand, the content of the Internet is a social phenomenon, and society decides on its own how to regulate it. Nevertheless, the Internet is a vivid example of how successfully and effectively such a complex technical system can develop in the absence of government regulation, based only on the rules developed within the Network. This raises the important question of how soon the level of development of social relations associated with the existence of such a system will require the development and application of appropriate legal regulation. The next, obviously, will be the question of how effective such regulation will be for the development of the technical system itself.

<4>Request for comments are documents in a series of numbered white papers containing technical specifications and standards widely used on the Internet. Their number is approaching four thousand, and most of these documents are of a purely technical nature.

In the legal literature, there are four regulators of legal relations on the Internet (behavior of network participants)<5>. Behavior in this area can be regulated by the following types of regulators:

<5>Rassolov I.M. Internet and law. Theoretical problems. M.: Norma, 2009. S. 122.

• directly by law;
• social (corporate) norms;
• the laws of the market and competition;
• technical standards.

Proceeding from this, the rules governing the behavior of the Network participants can be grouped as follows: firstly, these are business practices (customary law), i.e. the practice that has developed as a result of the actions of social norms and rules in accordance with the conditions of competition, etc., secondly, this is international law, due to the fact that the Internet is international in nature according to the technical conditions of its existence and, thirdly , - positive law (national legislation), since the conditions for the existence of the Internet in different countries have their own legal features.

In countries with an Anglo-Saxon system of law, such gaps in the regulation of the Network are filled by judicial precedents. Decisions are made on the basis of current legislation and "traditional" legal norms. Based on the fact that no new legal norms have thus been created, the fundamental possibility of applying "non-network", generally applicable legislation to controversial issues related to the Internet has been confirmed.

In Russia, there is no practice of litigation related to the Internet. Providers independently begin to take regulatory measures, blocking access to certain resources of the Network or, conversely, adding a clause to the contract for the supply of services that they are not responsible for the information provided.

In this regard, legislative activity in relation to the Internet is gradually activated. This is especially true of the countries - members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, where information technology is widespread and has a huge impact on economic and social relations. To date, the priority areas of legislative activity are the protection of privacy, the protection of user data, the protection of intellectual property, combating cybercrime, and e-commerce. However, social relations are too multifaceted and cannot be regulated exclusively by legislative means. This is especially noticeable today, when technological development is changing social reality much faster than legislators can react to these changes. Sometimes laws are outdated before they are passed. The dangers of such outdated legal norms must always be kept in mind when regulating the Internet.<6>.

<6>Kalinin A.P. Problems of improving legislation in the field of regulation of the Internet. SPb., 2004. S. 25.

Due to the fact that the legislator does not have time to create legislative acts that would consolidate relations within the Internet, at present, the regulation of the main part of relations is based on the application of business customs. In addition, various agreements between Internet participants and network etiquette also govern the behavior of participants.

The practical use of self-government in such an ambiguous, spatially distributed community as Internet users requires at least a minimum degree of self-organization. Otherwise, the appropriate organizational mechanisms will sooner or later be introduced from the outside, in particular by controlling state bodies. So far, self-organization in the Russian segment of the Internet is at the stage of initial inception. Self-organization exists in specifically "networked" forms - there are numerous interest groups organized by newsgroups, mailing lists, newsgroups, guest pages of specialized sites, and so on.<7>. However, such forms of self-organization do little in terms of ensuring effective regulation (including self-regulation), since their unifying feature is, as a rule, only certain topics discussed and the process of discussion itself.

<7>Krivosheenko Yu.V. Some problems of normative regulation on the Internet: Proceedings of the X All-Russian Joint Conference "Internet and Modern Society". M., 2007. S. 110.

Consequently, self-organization must necessarily reach a different level, so that the commonality of interests of various communities and groups would lead to the harmonization of the rules of conduct applied by them, which would become common rules for all.

Today, there are already signs of self-organization of a higher level, for example, RAEC (Russian Association for Electronic Communications) is a non-profit organization created in 2006 to consolidate and defend the interests of the Russian Internet industry. RAEC prepared with the support of industry experts, as well as members of public organizations and presented to the participants of the round table "Legality and lawmaking on the Internet: the role of Internet business", which took place on October 22, 2010 as part of the Russian Internet Week (RIW- 2010), Code of professional activity on the Internet<8>. This code, according to the developers themselves, will contribute to the formation of a civilized market for information, communication and Internet technologies in the Russian Federation<9>. In addition, the document is intended to "close" existing gaps in legislation that create difficulties in law enforcement and the work of courts in resolving disputes. The mechanism for resolving disputes is set out in a document supplementing the Code called "Dispute Resolution Regulations on the "Code of Professional Activities on the Internet", developed on the basis of the Federal Law of July 27, 2010 N 193-FZ "On an alternative procedure for resolving disputes with the participation of an intermediary ( mediation procedure)". The federal law comes into force on January 1, 2011, "The Regulations for the Resolution of Disputes on the "Code of Professional Activities on the Internet" are currently being negotiated<10>.

<8>At RIW-2010, a code of professional activity on the Internet was presented. URL: http://raec.ru/alpha/?uri=news&id=20101025.
<9>Code of professional activity on the Internet. URL: http://raec.ru/alpha/files/raec-kodeks.pdf.
<10>RAEC: a code of professional activity on the Internet has been developed. URL: http:// raec.ru/ alpha/ files/ digest/ 20101025.pdf.

It is desirable and necessary that associations similar to RAEC be created by Internet access providers, information providers, online information agencies, Internet media, human rights organizations, etc.

In fact, so far the normative regulation of network relations is not of a special legal nature. In addition to numerous regulations and standards of a technical nature, the Internet is subject to norms that relate to ordinary (traditional), corporate or even ethical relations, of course with appropriate specifics. This is due to the history of the emergence and development of this network. For many years, it brought together a relatively limited circle of users from US university research centers. Their network relations were characterized by a high degree of trust, respect for the opinion of the interlocutor, certain rules of courtesy, as well as the use of terminology well known to the interlocutors, but little understood by people "from outside". As the Internet developed, spontaneously developed, often nowhere fixed rules of "netiquette" (netiquette) became the standard of behavior for new Internet users. Now these rules can be found on the Internet in a detailed presentation with comments. Of course, we are not talking about their forced application. In the best case, when deviating from these rules, other users will not pay attention to this or, conversely, send a remark, in the worst case, the violator will be partially deprived of the opportunity to continue communicating with other clients<11>.

<11>Voinikanis E.A., Yakushev M.V. Information. Own. Internet: tradition and novels in modern law. M., 2004. S. 56.

Based on the foregoing, two approaches to the issues of interaction between law and the Internet can be distinguished. The first - by analogy with the construction of the theory of state and law can be called natural network, the second - normative<12>. The meaning of the natural network approach is to declare the fundamental unregulation of the Network, since there is already a declaration of a virtual independent space<13>, there is ethics, there is a system of unanimous decision-making, respectively, the right here is useless and, perhaps, even harmful. Governments, go out! is the standard wording used by proponents of this approach. The normativist approach, on the other hand, involves the creation of legal norms in order to clearly streamline the relations that are developing on the Internet. Therefore, supporters of this approach argue that it is necessary to issue a huge number of any acts in order to resolve this issue as quickly as possible and so that in the future this problem does not go out of control of organizations, states and the world community.<14>.

<12>Naumov V.B. Regulation of the Russian Internet: Reality and Prospects. URL: http://www.russianlaw.net/law/doc/a14.htm.
<13>Barlow D.P. Declaration of independence of cyberspace. URL: http:// www.computerra.ru/of-fline/ 1997/206/678/.
<14>Stepanov O.A. Prospects for the legal regulation of relations in the context of the development of high technologies // State and Law. 2003. N 1. S. 89.

As for the natural network approach, it is currently the most popular and is expressed in the maintenance and development of self-regulation of the Internet. Self-regulation implies the existence of certain rules adopted on the basis of common consent by the participants (members) of a particular community, social group, collective. Mechanisms for monitoring compliance with such rules are also developed and applied by community members without involving any methods of influence "from outside". The introduction of self-regulation mechanisms into a dynamic and complex sphere, such as the Internet, taking into account the provisions of the law, is a priority. This fully meets the interests of the subjects of the relevant relations, eliminates some of the existing gaps in the field of legislative regulation of the use of the Internet and contributes to the prompt resolution of conflicts between organizations, citizens and government agencies in connection with the use of the Internet<15>.

<15>Lebedeva N.N. Right. Personality. Internet. M., 2004. S. 158 - 159.

Currently, the next draft law on the Internet is being developed, which will not solve the problems of the present, but should solve the problems that will arise in the future. According to M.A. Fedotova: "The draft submitted for discussion is the first step towards the creation of a law on the regulation of the Internet. State Duma deputy Olga Noskova was instructed to create a working group to prepare this draft. This should be an open-ended group, it can be replenished with new participants in the discussion.

First came the concept of this bill. There was a big discussion about whether this law should be created, or whether it should be limited to just making changes to a series of different laws. When we came to the conclusion that there was a need for legislative regulation of the Internet, we immediately developed a draft and posted it on the Internet for discussion. Regarding the project itself, I can say that this project is the basis project, the platform project. We have made some foundation, some zero cycle.

There is also a working group within the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications. And this is good, because the more diverse the system, the more stable it will turn out. The project of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications proceeds from more pragmatic tasks, but we want to make changes at a higher level of generalization. In order to anticipate future threats, I would like the project we are working on to continue working twenty years from now. We don't have to solve today's problems, we have to solve tomorrow's problems."<16>.

<16>The Internet is the territory of the law. URL: http://www.edinros.ru/text.shtml?14/5189.100056.

With the development of modern legislation, one must proceed from the fact that the Internet is a public environment, a public space, and it is used for information, economic activity, and for creating warehouses, and for collecting information. The Internet is changing our space, making it virtual. But in this virtual space, not virtual laws should operate, but the same normative acts that ordinary space obeys. In this situation, new approaches to solving legal problems are needed, which determine the optimal regulation of relations that arise at the junction of virtual and real space. One of these approaches, in our opinion, is the active-reasonable application of the appropriate methods of legal technique, including legal fictions.

Taking into account the transition to the information society, it is necessary to legally consolidate its main elements. The Internet here is the basis for the development and consolidation of the main directions. Any interference by the state in the Network is perceived by the Internet community as a violation of their rights, since at present regulation is carried out with the help of public control. In order to regulate the Web, it is necessary to analyze the trends that are emerging in the Internet community, reinforcing the aspects that it has recognized. At the same time, in modern society there is a tendency to poll the population about new laws, an example is the law on the police, so the law on the Internet must be carried out in the same way, analyzing the wishes of the community to which it will be sent.

In this regard, we see the following prospects for the development of state regulation of the Internet:

• activation of the processes of informatization of society, which will lead to an increase and qualitative improvement of the Internet audience;
• further elaboration and consolidation in the legislation of certain norms for the functioning of the Network;
• development of network etiquette, business customs to regulate relations in the virtual space;
• the emergence of the practice of litigation related to the Internet;
• the creation of a fundamental law on the Internet;
• adaptation of the use of technical and legal means necessary to optimize the regulation of relations on the Web (for example, legal fictions, symbols, etc.).

We offer a partial solution to the problem of legislative regulation of the Internet by introducing the Law "On Legal Regulation of the Internet", the main points of which we will try to highlight on the pages of subsequent issues of this journal.

In addition to developing the legislative framework for regulating the Internet, it is necessary to develop and introduce into the educational process of law schools and faculties curricula for teaching a special course that studies the legal foundations of regulating the Internet.

The purpose of this special course will be to study by students the legal foundations of the regulation of the Internet, the legal relations of subjects in the field of information processes, i.e. creation, collection, processing, accumulation, storage, distribution and consumption of information (information resources) in the virtual space<17>.

<17>Today, a number of educational and methodological complexes have been written (See: Educational and methodological complex "Computer technologies in legal activity and practical reality". Moscow: GOU VPO RGIIS, 2010; Educational and methodological complex "Using means of individualization in domain names". M. : GOU VPO RGIIS, 2010, etc.), intended for university students. Since 2008, the Faculty of Law of the Mordovian State University has been teaching the course "Legal Problems of Regulation of Relations on the Internet".

Features of legal regulation of the Internet.

The Internet, as an indicator of progress, is already making the life of a special social layer, the network community, exciting and convenient. Millions of people no longer see themselves otherwise than as Internet users and legitimately consider themselves part of a unique social and information environment.

In the Russian Federation, legislation in the field of informatization already exists and is actively developing, which includes more than ten laws (the main ones can be considered the laws "On the Mass Media", "On the Legal Protection of Programs for Electronic Computers and Databases", "On Copyright Law and Related Rights", "On Communications", "On Information, Informatization and Protection of Information", "On Participation in International Information Exchange"), a number of presidential decrees, as well as an extensive layer of regulatory legal acts of communications authorities, FAPSI, State Technical Commission, as well as other bodies of the executive branch of government. In addition, there are a number of international agreements signed by Russia that regulate legal relations related to the Internet (this is, first of all, legal relations related to the use of intellectual property).

Even now, taking into account the specifics of the Russian right field, there are acute problems related to the network. In particular, they are covered in well-known discussions about the status of a site on the Internet as a mass media and about issues of the system for ensuring operational-search activities.

However, it should be noted that there is no judicial practice in cases related to telecommunications and the Internet in the Russian Federation. In this situation, it will be necessary to take into account the experience of foreign states both in the field of law enforcement and in the field of rule-making, since a number of countries of the world (USA, Germany, France, China) have already succeeded in the latter.

When developing telecommunications law, it is also necessary to take into account the unique nature of the social environment of the Internet and those ethical standards, Policies and Codes of Ethics that have been developed by the network community. It is also subject to accounting that have arisen, including on the territory of the states of the former USSR, business practices related to the development and use of the Internet.

The above features of the legal regulation of the use of the information space give rise to a number of proposals that reveal possible ways to solve the problems of interaction between the real and the information world.

Among them, it is necessary to single out the following proposals: legal - the creation of a framework act containing the main legal definitions and principles for the use of the rule of law, technical - the development and implementation of public public search systems with information indexing, as well as information deposit systems, organizational - free access to network segments with a condition for compliance with laws and political ones, consisting in ensuring Russia's participation in the creation of protocols and standards for the Internet.

56. Legal liability for offenses in the information sphere.

Responsibility for an offense in the information sphere:

1. legal liability for an offense in the information sphere

2. civil liability for an offense in the information sphere

3. administrative and legal liability for an offense in the information sphere

4. criminal liability for crimes in the information sphere

The concept of legal responsibility is one of the general theoretical and applied in various branches of law.

Being one of the legal means that neutralize the consequences of inappropriate behavior of subjects, acting as a violation of the rights and legitimate interests of others, legal liability acts as a reaction of the state to the commission of an offense. This reaction has an imperious, coercive character, forcing the offender to suffer adverse consequences for him in the form of deprivation of certain material or non-material benefits.

THUS, the content of legal responsibility acts as a state-imperious coercion, manifested in various forms. Legal liability for violation of the law governing relations in the information sphere has a number of specific features:

1) offenses falling under the application of certain measures are always associated with information

2) offenses can be considered as information and legal offenses if their connection with information is not only direct, but also mediated by the presence of a material carrier

Principles of legal responsibility:

1) the principle of legality

2) the principle of validity

3) the principle of justice

4) the principle of the inevitability of punishment

5) the principle of expediency

State coercion is carried out by applying various measures of influence to the violator. The nature of these measures and the nature of the consequences of their application depends on the sectoral affiliation of legal liability for an offense in the information sphere.

If adverse consequences are of a property nature and are expressed in compensation for losses, payment of a penalty, civil liability takes place. If the adverse consequences are expressed in the sanctions provided for by the norms of administrative or criminal legislation, then there is an administrative-legal or criminal liability.

The Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the CIS Member States at the 36th plenary session, held on May 16, 2011, adopted a model law "On the Basics of Internet Regulation", which was developed by the Russian Association for Electronic Communications (RAEC) .

The Law, adopted by Decree No. 36-10 of May 16, 2011, contains three chapters and thirteen articles. It establishes the principles and defines the main directions for regulating relations related to the use of the Internet, establishes the procedure for state support for the development of the Internet, determines the relationship between the participants in the Internet regulation process and their functions in the implementation of regulation, establishes the rules for determining the place and time of legally significant actions when using the Internet.

For the first time, the Law provided legal definitions for such basic concepts as "Internet", "Internet regulation", "Domain name", "Website", "Internet service provider", "Authorized body (in the field of the Internet)", "Domain name ( domain)", etc.

The document establishes the procedure for state support of the Internet, regulates the process of its regulation, relations between the participants in this process, their functions, and also establishes the rules for determining the place and time of legally significant actions when using the Network.

The regulation of relations related to the use of the Internet is carried out in compliance with the following basic principles:

ensuring the rights and freedoms of citizens, including the right to use the Internet and access to information posted on it;

taking into account the peculiarities of the construction and development of the Internet, including the applicable organizational rules and technical procedures established at the international level and in force at the time of the adoption of this Law;

limiting the sphere of regulation of the Internet only to those subject areas in respect of which there are no or cannot be applied due to the requirements of the current legislation, the norms and rules established at the international level or adopted by self-regulatory organizations of users and operators of Internet services;

non-distribution of regulation to relations related to the development of the Internet and not affecting the rights and interests of the individual, society and the state established by law.

International cooperation in the field of Internet regulation is carried out on the basis of observance of generally recognized principles and norms of international law, international treaties, as well as customs and business habits established in international practice.

The authorized body, within its powers, represents and protects the interests of the state in the field of the Internet, interacts with the authorized bodies of foreign states, intergovernmental and international non-governmental organizations, and also coordinates international cooperation in the field of the Internet, carried out by the state, its citizens and organizations, ensures the fulfillment of the obligations of the state arising from international treaties in the field of the Internet.

Interaction and dispute resolution of the CIS member states on Internet regulation issues is carried out through the Coordinating Council of the CIS member states on informatization under the Regional Commonwealth in the field of communications, created by the decision of the Council of CIS Heads of Government.

In some economically developed states, Internet access has been recognized as a right. For example, the Estonian parliament passed a law in 2000 declaring Internet access a fundamental human right. A massive program to expand Internet access in rural areas, where economic development is hampered by a lack of decent roads and other transportation links. According to the government, the Internet is essential to life in the 21st century.

The French Constitutional Council has declared Internet access a fundamental human right. Parliament in its Law "for the further dissemination and protection of creation on the Internet" says that in accordance with Article 11 of the Declaration of Human Rights of 1789, free expression of thoughts and opinions is one of the most precious human rights, every citizen can say so, write and publish freely, except when such freedom is abused in cases provided by law, and this right includes access to the Internet.

With today's means of communication and in view of societal developments, Internet services are an essential tool for participating in democracy and expressing ideas and opinions, this right implies freedom of access to such services.

The Council also noted that the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial are being undermined. He wrote: "In accordance with Article 9 of the Declaration of 1789, every person is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Therefore, Parliament cannot introduce the principle of the presumption of guilt in criminal cases."

Finland is the country with the most free access to the Internet. About 95 percent of the population has access to the Internet. On October 14, 2009, the Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications passed the Law on Minimum Internet Access Speed. In accordance with the law, the minimum speed of outgoing traffic functional Internet access is 1 Mbps. However, the average speed is at least 750 Kbps in a 24-hour measurement and 500 Kbps in any 4-hour measurement time period. Every Finnish citizen must be guaranteed this right by July 1, 2010. The legal implications are that Internet service operators are required to provide a certain level of service to all consumers at reasonable prices. This move by Finland aimed at providing Internet access in rural areas where geographical problems have limited access so far to 1 Mbps, however, this is just an intermediate step. The country is aiming for 100 Mbps for everyone by 2015.

According to research conducted by the British Broadcasting Corporation in March 2010, 79% of those surveyed in 26 countries consider the Internet to be a fundamental human right.

South Korea, Mexico and China have the highest percentages of the population who consider the right to access the Internet a basic right. According to the survey, South Korea (96%), Mexico (94%) and China (87%) think so.

The survey also showed that the majority of Internet users believe that the Internet should not be regulated by the government. More than half (53%) of Internet users agreed that "the Internet should not be regulated at any level by the state" - a large majority in South Korea (83%), Nigeria (77%) and Mexico (72%).

Forty-four percent of citizens of various countries admitted that they would not be able to live without using the Internet: Japan (84%), Mexico (81%) and Russia (71%), Pakistan (19%), Philippines (21%), Turkey ( 27%), Brazil and India (29%).

A total of 27,973 citizens, in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Egypt, El Salvador, France, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, the Philippines, Portugal, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States of America were interviewed face-to-face or by telephone between November 30, 2009 and February 7, 2010.

Thus, the legal regulation of the Internet should be carried out by all subjects of the international community, involving interested participants in this virtual environment. Network users should be the main driving force in the regulation process.