DUSHANBE, September 13, 2011, Asia-Plus – The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will take control of law order in social networks in order to prevent recurrence of Arab-style unrest, Izvestiya reports, referring on a source in the CSTO.
Izvestiya stressed that it is not talked of introducing censorship or combating dissent. “The problem is that an infrastructure exists that allows destabilizing the situation in any even successful country. Mobile communications, social networks may be used for this purpose and in case of necessity, non-governmental organizations may be involved.”
Speaking about the cyber security, the CSTO source noted that it was necessary to take into account the factor of so-called shady Internet.
“In June this year, U.S. media outlets noted that the U.S. Department of State has spent more than 50 million U.S. dollars for development of so-called alternative network. It is created for penetration into those countries, where the authorities block Internet in order to stop mass protests coordinated through social networks.”
“The threat of inciting unrest through the network exists and it has been repeatedly observed,” Valery Korovin, the director of the Center for Geopolitical Examinations, told Izvestiya in an interview. He calls this process “networked war.”
According to the expert, such technologies were actively used during the so-called Arab revolutions that involved Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria and other countries.
“A document recognizing the real threat of use of such technologies for Russia was adopted at the last CSTO summit,” Korovin said.
He considers that Facebook, Twitter and other social networks pose threat in this respect. “The mechanism of preparation of the mass unrest is quite a simple, while it is much difficult to counter it,” Korovin noted.
Korovin predicts that such a scenario poses the greatest threat to those CSTO member nations that hold the position of balancing between Russia and West.
In Korovin’s opinion, the only strategy to counter this is the use of similar system against geopolitical opponent on its territory. “But Russia is fatally losing at network technologies, using them and producing immunity to them,” the expert noted.
In the meantime, Denis Terekhov, the managing partner of the Social Networks agency, considers that the role of social networks in the Arab revolutions has been exaggerated. “Twitter and Facebook are just instrument and in the case of the Arab revolutions they just effect but not cause,” Terekhov noted.
Gennady Gudkov, member of the State Duma (Russia lower chamber of parliament) Committee on Security, consider that introduction of such measures may have unpredictable consequences. “Servers of these networks are not located in Russia and attempts to shut down all this or to control them may raise a storm of indignation,” the expert said.
