Cyber-Komsomol chooses safe Internet over safe sex

Maticulous/Flickr Why did the Soviet Communist Party beget so many youth wings? It was undoubtedly very helpful in instiling the right set of Leninist values in the younger generations. Komsomol, the most famous of those young wings, founded in 1918 and boasting several thousand members at the peak of its popularity, emerged as a very ...

Maticulous/Flickr

Maticulous/Flickr

Why did the Soviet Communist Party beget so many youth wings? It was undoubtedly very helpful in instiling the right set of Leninist values in the younger generations. Komsomol, the most famous of those young wings, founded in 1918 and boasting several thousand members at the peak of its popularity, emerged as a very effective mind-control tool for most Soviet teenagers.

Now, the cyber-Komsomol strikes back on the newly discovered (at least by them) World Wide Web. GZT, a reputable Russian online newspaper reports (in Russian) that authorities are preparing to hold a competition for the best Russian youth site that promotes a”positive spirit”. Their announcement comes on the heels of a round table organized as part of events associated with — and I am not joking here — “the year of the safe Internet in Russia” (yes, while the rest of the world usually devotes a day to commemorate such matters, Russians are acting typically grand).

And what does “safe Internet” mean to the organizers? Is it, perhaps, safe from online predators or cyber-spies? Not at all. To make our Internet safer, we need to “create more positive online content in order to counter all the negative content.” Wait, don’t other nations simply call that “spin”? Given that a few years ago members of Nashi, the most famous Kremlin-controlled youth movement, were organizing sex camps in the provinces, I reckon that “safe Internet” is currently more valued than “safe sex.

Photo by Maticulous/Flickr

Evgeny Morozov is a fellow at the Open Society Institute and sits on the board of OSI's Information Program. He writes the Net Effect blog on ForeignPolicy.com
Tag: Russia

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