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Russia to promote idea of transferring control over Internet to international community

“It is necessary to continue cooperation jointly with our partners, who share our views", - Russian presidential aide Igor Shchegolev said

MOSCOW, October 17. /TASS/. Russia jointly with its foreign colleagues should continue a dialogue on transferring control over the Internet to the international community, Russian presidential aide Igor Shchegolev said on Friday.

“It is necessary to continue cooperation jointly with our partners, who share our views, on the platforms of the U.N., BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation over transfer of control over the Internet to the international community. It is necessary to determine strict rules of game and coordinate a convention that would regulate relations in this sphere,” Shchegolev said.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is responsible for IP address space. The corporation is currently under the U.S. jurisdiction, he said, adding that the world was now searching for a new model for controlling the Internet.

Russia together with China, India, Brazil and other countries “consistently insist control over the Internet should be transferred to the international community. The U.S. and its allies are trying to preserve the existing model by declaring itself as a guarantor of democratic development, the freedom of speech and fight against censorship in the Internet”, Shchegolev said.

“Russia should offer such evolution of relations in the Internet within the U.N. for allowing the states to return its sovereignty in the Internet,” he said.

“Critical Internet resources should be fairly distributed between countries and the conditions should be created for joint control on the principles of interstate trust,” Shchegolev said.

International norms, regulating contacts in the Internet, should be based on the principles of non-interference into states’ internal affairs, their equal rights and observing the fundamental rights and freedoms of a man. The BRICS countries strongly condemned massive electronic surveillance and the collection of personal information that US whistleblower Edward Snowden talked about, he said.

Both Russia and the EU are discussing the need for international regulation of global companies’ activities, Shchegolev said.

No one is dissatisfied with the fact that by gaining a profit in a country American corporations pay 80% of taxes in the so-called “tax havens”, he said.