The document outlines 5 steps that authoritarian governments take to regulate the internet: 1. Declare the internet a telecommunication service to bring it under government control. 2. Cite protecting children, religion or morality as reasons to fight terrorism and extremism online. 3. Give the government the right to interfere with internet protocols and control resource allocation and relations between providers. 4. Require compulsory user registration by methods like SMS to identify commentators. 5. Give the state power to define "illegal" content and ban apps, services and protocols like Telegram, LinkedIn and Yandex. It then asks questions about limitations faced in regulating the internet, how civil society should respond,

1. The First 5 Steps for
Authoritarian Government
to Regulate The Internet
BINGO! F*CK YEA- Andrew Sushko - Human Constanta, Belarus
- Joanna Szymańska - Article 19, UK
- Alexander Isavnin - RosKomSvoboda, Russia

2. Step 0:
Declare the Internet “Plain Old
Telecommunication Service”
“...occupy train station, telegraph, Internet!”

3. Step 1:
Protect Children, Religion or
Morality, blah-blah-blah
fight “terrorism and extremism on the Internet”

4. Step 2:
Give government the right
to interfere protocols of the
Internet
plus resource allocation, and inter-operator relations

5. Step 3:
User’s identification
compulsory registration of commentators by SMS
or other means

6. Step 4:
Give right to define “illegal &
illicit” content to state entities
the more legal mess the better

7. Step 5:
Make usage of protocols
(apps, services) illegal
ban Telegram, LinkedIn, Yandex, your ass

8. EU scene
Do social media need
regulating?
do we need NetzDG like laws?

9. - Which limitations do you face in your own countries?
- How to respond to that limitation, what should be the
position of civil society?
- What are the hidden threats when introducing even a soft
regulation of the Internet?
- How to find a compromise and agree with different parties
- the state, business and NGOs?
- Which standards and norms should we focus on?
- New “digital rights” or human rights in digital era?