Peculiarities of Realization and Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms on the Internet: a Problem Statement

The article discusses the phenomenon of the Internet environment, which is being transformed from a means of storing and disseminating information into a tool through which a person can exercise a whole range of his constitutional rights and freedoms. The Internet provides wide opportunities in the fields of education, health care, getting state and municipal services, etc. At the same time, it is necessary to take into account the risks in this sphere, including threats to human life and health. As regards legal regulation, one should single out the international and national levels of regulation in the considered area. A number of international legal acts regulating the relations developing in the field of information and telecommunication technologies are analyzed. It is noted that there is no regulation (or it is insufficient) at the national level of the specifics of the realization and protection of human rights and freedoms on the Internet. To resolve this problem, it is proposed to include in the sphere of legal regulation of the virtual environment the content of rights and freedoms on the Internet, the limits of its realization; the nature, forms and limits of the restrictions of rights and freedoms realized through the Internet; guarantees of rights and freedoms in the Internet space and mechanisms for their protection, etc. The authors emphasize importance of not only program documents and by-laws, but also decisions of both national and supranational courts.