Orthodox believers in the capital could soon get access to a special Wi-Fi network which will block inappropriate content, Moscow Patriarchate deputy speaker Roman Bogdasarov told Izvestia on Friday.
The religious network will block access to online content deemed extremist, sectarian or pornographic, the report said.
“Distorted historical facts,” would also be unavailable, the report said.
The church official said the network would give access to religious content, but also “normal cinema — for example, the films ‘Alexander Nevsky’ and ‘Burnt By the Sun’” as well as other material that espouses “the right values, like traditional morality, patriotism, the protection of the family and children.”
The network will be available in the vicinity of the capital's churches and popular gathering points for Moscow's youth — including the Winzavod and Muzeon cultural centers, and the city's Manezh Square and Borovitskaya Ploshchad, the report said.
A pilot project will be set up at the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Bogdasarov said, adding that talks would be conducted with the center “before the end of the year.”
City authorities are in favor of the project, head of the capital's inter-regional relations and tourism department, Vladimir Chernikov told Izvestia.
The deputy head of the Council of Muftis of Russia, Rushan Abbyasov, also backed the plan, saying that Muslim programmers were working on their own “halal social network” that would only give access to content in line with Islamic beliefs.
For “trolls” who might accuse the religious network of limiting people's rights, Bogdasarov had only one message: “If you don't want to use the Russian Orthodox Internet — use the regular one,” he was cited as saying by Izvestia.
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