Russia: Networked Policy

Policy and regulation of an economy that is centered on eCommerce can either hinder or develop it further. For a nation to develop, it must allow trade amongst other nations and limit the requirements on outside influences and finances that are willing to develop the nation further. An aggressive policy that encourages cooperation from other countries or businesses will foster an environment towards that of a developed nation.

Telecommunications Regulation (Stage 2.5)

In Russia, the idea of regulation of services provided to the general public has been a guarded issue. According to a recent article in the Pravda online newspaper, the Internet has been identified by the Duma as a bill that is circulating on the political agenda. It will restrict access to certain users based on criminal history, tendency for access to political information, and pornographic material6.1. Service regulation laws discussed in the aforementioned article remain a secret known only to political figures due to the economic distress such laws would create.
The newly appointed governing officials are leery about allowing so much freedom to exist without their knowledge. Despite Russia doing away with its Communist past, there are remnants still in the government to provide enough skepticism about emerging technology and how it should be governed.
As mentioned earlier in Network Society, Russia’s access to the Internet mirrored that of developed nations in that the first users were wealthy, government and/or military officials, or members of scholastic institutions. Network Learning has described the attempts to educate the youth about the telecommunications and may prove to be promising despite the attempt to regulate the Internet.
As described in the table (appendix 6.A), the interest of the government into the telecommunications industry is still large and somewhat restrictive so as to monitor access. Even though the government has an interest in maintaining control of the Internet and telecommunications, the nature of the World Wide Web (and associated applications) is free information that is difficult to monitor.

Information and Communication Technologies Trade Policy (Stage 2)

To review the Russian Internet policy, it would be prudent to describe the environment that it encompassed. In 2002, the Duma passed an electronic signature law into practice that still limited access by attempting to censor it6.2. Despite the attempts at regulation, the percent of the Russian Internet population has increased steadily up to 10% in 2004 as evidenced in the graph depicting the Russian Internet users (appendix 6.B).
The Internet and intellectual property laws are lacking. According to a recent article, the ability for the Russian courts to prosecute a citizen has been shown as being difficult to achieve because precedent has already been set. The Internet laws have been slow to come into fruition.
Taxation of the Internet has not been established. The taxation of corporations still exists though, which will refer to the Internet service providers as any other legitimate business. This taxation is at about 20% and limits the expansion of the electronic startups6.3. The estimate of software that was pirated in Russia was at 88 % for the year ending in 20026.4. This increasingly high number indicates that the struggle for entrepreneurs local to the country to recover their costs associated with developing a new technology is extremely low. It inhibits growth in a market that is categorized as innovation driven. In attempts to foster this growth in the Internet age, the Duma has passed several laws described (in appendix 6.C) to help facilitate this growth through strict policies. During the recent political administration of Vladimir Putin, there have been more laws enacted that still attempt to regulate the web, but has been realized as a difficult measure to enforce. For example, the media companies and Internet service providers must register as media sources within the government.
As was stated earlier in Networked Economy, foreign investment in Russia is rather flat and has potential. Despite the interest from foreign investors though, the country has a long history that has made it difficult to expand to outside influences. The policies and bureaucratic rules that often contradict present policies discourage potential investors6.5. If a foreign investor is willing to enter the telecommunications realm within Russia, it has proven to be somewhat a profitable adventure.

Recommendations:

The Russian government must allow the Internet to grow at a rate that it can’t monitor because in doing so, it stifles growth and creativity. Once the governing powers have realized that to regulate telecommunications and restrict foreign investment to local sources is detrimental rather than positive, the country will develop at a rate much slower than it potentially could. Despite the red tape that exists for electronic trade, outsourcing has begun to emerge within Russia that has been successful enough to gain a niche within their economy. This may be the catalyst that allows for the barriers of trade policy and regulation to fall.