Technological progress today ceases to serve the interests of society, becoming an increasingly less controlled instrument of enrichment for the largest corporations. Moreover, it turns into an ideal means of controlling the population. Experts and representatives of the business community spoke about this yesterday at the round table “Digital transformation: new challenges and new opportunities for society” in the Public Chamber.
The event was originally announced under the title Digital Slavery or Digital Freedom? How to overcome electronic addiction? " However, the leadership of the OPRF, obviously, decided not to emphasize so "radically" and softened the agenda. However, despite the absence of obvious patriots and conservatives at the event, it turned out to be interesting. Almost all the dangerous aspects of digitalization and the Internet, covered by Katyusha, were voiced yesterday by quite respectable citizens in suits, and not by some "marginalized with cabbage in a beard."
In his opening remarks, Vyacheslav Laschevsky, moderator and first deputy chairman of the OP's Commission on the Development of the Information Community, Media and Mass Communications, noted that, according to Kaspersky Lab, 40% of Russian children under the age of 10 are almost constantly online. And this environment is not safe, for which there is a lot of evidence today. The new generation has problems with social communications, building normal relations in society. And all this - against the background of the convenience of using various digital services.
The first speaker, Executive Director of the Healthcare Department of Ipsos, Marina Bezuglova, practically word for word repeated the report of Dr. Kurpatov at the Sberbank business breakfast in Davos. She noted that regulation of the use of digital devices is necessary, at least for vulnerable groups of the population.
Well, our publication has already clothed many of the listed questions in official statements, and today we can safely say (based on the official responses of the authorities) that not a single serious study concerning digital hygiene in the same schools has been made public. There are only unsubstantiated statements by officials and employees of control bodies that such studies were allegedly carried out.
Meanwhile, Bezuglova pointed out that leading companies in Silicon Valley such as Apple and Google are already beginning to advise their customers-users not to surf the Internet all the time, but to limit the time in front of the screens of gadgets - so that the epidemic of "digital autism", which Dr. Kurpatov was broadcasting about in Davos is our harsh reality.
The topic of complete elimination of privacy in the electronic era was raised by Professor, Doctor of Economics, Head of ANO "Center for Protection of Investors and Investors" Artem Genkin.
The topic of personal data security and the huge scale of interference in private life was raised by the co-chairman of the OD Committee on the Protection of Personal Data, editor-in-chief of RIA Katyusha, Andrei Tsyganov, at the parliamentary hearings in the State Duma last summer. At the same time, the risks of uncontrolled use of total accounting and control technologies, the problems of national security generated by them, were analyzed in detail. And now at the site of the OP we hear familiar theses - it is obvious that this is becoming a trend, they are beginning to talk about it all over the world.
In fact, there is a public asset, as evidenced by a full hall (about 1000 people) at the All-Russian conference "Forced digitization of the personality or human freedom" on April 20, 2019, which was attended by active citizens from dozens of regions of the country. As a result of the event, a serious resolution was drawn up for the authorities, almost all of the points of which, alas, have not yet been implemented.
Ruslan Novikov, General Director of Argumenty i Fakty, rightly noted that “combining all personal data about a person is beneficial to any business. Business, first of all, is ready to invest in it”. Naturally, business does not give a damn about the privacy and security of a person's personal data, for him it is just a valuable product from which you can get an excellent gesheft.
The next expert in the OP rightly noted that the topic of digital security is constantly raised in the Western media, and all "innovative" processes are subjected to harsh criticism there. Thus, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google top managers were recently in the European Commission and tried to lobby for the refusal to ban facial recognition technology, which EU officials want to endure at the request of the leaders of countries and the population.
In fact, the situation has long begun to shake, and the authorities prefer not to deal with the solution of the accumulated problems - on the contrary, they havetily generate and demand the adoption of more and more digital laws. Let's take the same forthcoming second reading of the PFZ "On the Unified Population Register", which the OUZS considers it necessary to "wrap up" as soon as possible - and thousands of fellow citizens support public activists (see the sample statement at the link).
The Public Chamber rightly noted that a systematic analysis of digital projects in their interaction is necessary, which is still lacking. Moreover, it is necessary to consider not only the social perspective, but also information security, import substitution … And not just, as we like, publish a list of companies (it was announced by the Minister of Finance Siluanov in December last year), which should have installed half of the software by the end of this year Russian production. How will Aeroflot replace this software if all its simulators run on imported software? It is imperative to carefully and systematically monitor the long-term consequences.
The speakers also remembered the scandalous 482-FZ on the collection of biometrics from the population, launched by the Central Bank in conjunction with other credit institutions and Rostelecom. They noted that “the project didn’t go well” - our citizens are in no hurry to take biometrics, primarily for security reasons. And all because our legislation is configured this way: there is no punishment for those who have leaked personal data. And it was also decided to work on this.
At the end of the discourse, the moderator Laschevsky decided to smooth over the rough edges and slightly “come out in defense of new technologies,” but, frankly speaking, it turned out not very convincing.
Many speakers spoke about the lack of criticism of digital processes in the media, which certainly does not apply to our publication. And behind this news bulletin of ours there are thousands of indignant citizens demanding to abolish the blind endemic digitization of the country and people. They actively unite on the platform of the Public Commissioner for the Protection of the Family, the Committee for the Protection of Personal Data and other public organizations, in the communities of legal aid in social networks. The anti-digital movement is gaining strength and if the authorities do not hear it, this does not bode well for society.
