On March 2, the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation hosted a regular meeting of the Working Group on Children’s Information Security, which is part of the Public Council under the Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights. The group includes representatives of the Smart Internet Foundation, which acts as the administrator of the .ДЕТИ domain.

The meeting covered issues such as increasing the security of minors’ personal data, forming an efficient legal framework to prevent cyber-bullying against minors, adjusting the ranking of information security threats, and the need to monitor the legislative initiative on limiting advertisements in content for children.

During the discussions, the participants stated that there are not enough efficient mechanisms to help users monitor the use of their personal information and that this problem is especially acute in respect to children, who actively use online services and often do not follow the basic rules of internet safety. The only specialized mechanism that can help to remove personal data is the so-called right to be forgotten, which is specified in the Federal Law on Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection; however in its current version it only concerns search engine results, and moreover it does not function, as there is no punishment for not implementing such a legal requirement. It is also difficult to remove your personal data under the anti-cyber-bullying program, which is set out in the Federal Law on Personal Data.

Following the discussions, the working group decided to establish a specialized sub-group which would develop a project to explain the implementation of the right to be forgotten, of hearing lawsuits on protecting the honor, dignity and business reputation of citizens (including minors), and projects to amend the federal law On Information and the federal Law On Personal Data.

It was also announced during the meeting that there are plans to submit the working group’s initiative on limiting advertisements in content for children, which was prepared in 2017, to the Interagency Working Group on Improving Legislation in the Sphere of Ensuring Children’s Safety and Establishing a Friendly and Safe Environment for their Life and Development, headed by Deputy State Duma Speaker Irina Yarovaya.

The next meeting of the Working Group will take place at the end of March