Information Security as to Russian Citizens: Current State

Abstract

The paper examines the conceptual, sectoral and practical aspects of the legal regulation of information security as to Russian citizens. Due to the development of information technologies, the growth of digital information resources, and their transnational nature, it is becoming more difficult to control the safety of using these resources in the interests of citizens. The introduction of new information technologies presents certain technical difficulties for citizens who are unprepared for them and causes some socio-psychological tension in this regard. The development of legislation on information security is closely linked to the constitutional principle of freedom of the media, which provides for some restrictions on this freedom in the interests of security in various spheres of our lives. The specifics of modern information technologies require a qualitatively new approach and an independent direction of the state’s activities to ensure the safety of both citizens and the state itself and society as a whole. It is noted that in addition to malicious information stuffing by unfriendly states, there are also their own problems associated with the low level of digital culture of citizens, problems of guaranteeing the secrecy of digital document management data, etc. Problematic areas of legal regulation in the field of information security as to citizens remain: the practice of concealing information necessary for the realization of citizens’ rights by public authorities classified as secret; unreliable and unfair advertising; distribution of information products that pose a danger to the health and normal development of children, etc. Attention is drawn to the specifics of the provision of information resources in conditions of emergency and martial law. There is a high demand for Federal Law No. 187-FZ dated 07.26.2017 «On the Security of the Critical Information Infrastructure of the Russian Federation», which made it possible to rank subjects and objects of information infrastructure depending on their scope of implementation and security objectives.