Russian Leaders Want to Ban Swearing Online

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Alex Moore for Death and Taxes 2013-08-01 11:55:33 -0400

Russia has been making international headlines for banning all kinds of stuff over the last couple years. On Tuesday, Vitaly Milonov promised Russia would arrest both athletes and tourists visiting the Olympic games next winter should any of the gay ones dare descend upon Sochi, Russia, with their family-corrupting ways.

While they're at it protecting children, Russian leaders have another idea for digital censorship: They want to ban swearing online.

Russia's "On the Protection of Children" law already restricts some speech, but TechDirt repots that State Duma Deputy Yelena Mizulin is proposing an amendment to the law that will ban swears from the Internet in Russia. TechDirt reports:

Pages full of posts and messages containing swear words, will have to be blocked within 24 hours, if harmful information is not deleted. This should apply to pages on social networks, websites, and various forums.

The move isn't far off from the the restrictions on porn and other illicit material David Cameron has planned for the UK. Sure, in England's case, users will be able to "opt in" to viewing dirty material by turning off a filter, but it still interferes with what users see by default and creates a de-facto registry of the nation's "dirty birds" for the record books.

Of course one big difference is that, if you use your language to criticize the government in the UK, you won't get locked up. Conversely, in Russia, "lewd" protesting is absolutely grounds for arrest — as demonstrated by Pussy Riot last year.

The chairman of the Moscow Regional Bar Association Sergei Smirnov said, "This is a direction towards a civilized lifestyle. If we do not use foul language in real life, then why do we use it on the Internet?"

Image: KIMMO MANTYLA/AFP/Getty Images