Maxim Ali has assessed for the AG on the Russian Government initiative to improve digital literacy of Russians

Vladimir Putin instructed the Government to develop a draft concept to ensure the protection of human and civil rights and freedoms in the digital space of the Russian Federation as well as a draft plan for its implementation, including measures to improve the digital literacy of Russians and their training in information security and digital hygiene. Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin and Chairman of the Human Rights Council Valery Fadeev were appointed responsible for the implementation. The deadline for the corresponding report is August 1, 2021.

Maxim Ali, Partner, Head IP/IT Practice at Maxima Legal noted that the initiative is far from new. “The plan to assist citizens in mastering digital literacy is contained in the Personnel for the digital economy federal project. According to the authors’ idea, 10 million people should be trained in online programs from 2019 to 2024,” the expert explained to the Advokatskaya Gazeta newspaper.

In addition, Maxim questioned the idea of from above education. “There are hardly adequate incentives and institutions for this. Rather, we should expect that digital literacy will emerge as a result of more spontaneous and natural processes than the implementation of the proposed concept. Such challenges as Internet fraud, for example, stimulate citizens to improve their literacy. Furthermore they begin to be helped by business, which seeks to maintain confidence in electronic channels of information transfer,” commented Maxim Ali.

According to the expert, the main way the government can help here is to work out the protection of personal data and reduce the number of abuses of personal data by large operators (e.g. retailers, social networks, advertising services, etc.).

“There should be a system that requires operators to clearly explain the purpose of the processing (and follow it), and requires citizens to understand the consequences of the transfer of their personal data. The main thing is that this concept should not be used as yet another pretext for unjustified blocking of Internet resources”, – summed up Maxim Ali.

To read the full article (in Russian) please see the Advokatskaya Gazeta website >>>