Ars abstracta bureaucratica: the abstract literature of the post-meaning society
(Via https://slovo13.livejournal.com/1774887.html)

A recently proposed bill's title is about a page long by itself. Let's analyze why. Is the excessive verbosity a result of someone's malicious intent, or is it due to other factors?

Об утверждении порядка взаимодействия Федеральной службы по надзору в сфере связи, информационных технологий и массовых коммуникаций с владельцем информационно-телекоммуникационных сетей, информационных ресурсов, посредством которых обеспечивается доступ к информационным ресурсам, информационно-телекоммуникационным сетям, доступ к которым ограничен на территории Российской Федерации в соответствии с Федеральным законом «Об информации, информационных технологиях и о защите информации», оператором поисковых систем, распространяющим в сети «Интернет» рекламу, которая направлена на привлечение внимания потребителей, находящихся на территории Российской Федерации, к федеральной государственной информационной системе, содержащей перечень информационных ресурсов, информационно-телекоммуникационных сетей, доступ к которым ограничен на территории Российской Федерации в соответствии с Федеральным законом «Об информации, информационных технологиях и о защите информации», об утверждении порядка подключения и доступа владельцев информационно-телекоммуникационных сетей, информационных ресурсов, посредством которых обеспечивается доступ к информационным ресурсам, информационно-телекоммуникационным сетям, доступ к которым ограничен на территории Российской Федерации в соответствии с Федеральным законом «Об информации, информационных технологиях и о защите информации», операторов поисковых систем, распространяющих в сети «Интернет» рекламу, которая направлена на привлечение внимания потребителей, находящихся на территории Российской Федерации, к федеральной государственной информационной системе, содержащей перечень информационных ресурсов, информационно-телекоммуникационных сетей, доступ к которым ограничен на территории Российской Федерации в соответствии с Федеральным законом «Об информации, информационных технологиях и о защите информации» и к информации, размещенной в ней, а также об утверждении режима обработки и использования информации, размещенной в федеральной государственной информационной системе, содержащей перечень информационных ресурсов, информационно-телекоммуникационных сетей, доступ к которым ограничен на территории Российской Федерации в соответствии с Федеральным законом «Об информации, информационных технологиях и о защите информации»

I formatted my translation as I would format a computer program, in order to expose more clearly the semantic roles of various portions of the text:

On the regulation of the protocol of interaction between
   the Federal supervision service for the domain of remote messaging, information technology, and mass communication,
 and
   owners of informational telecommunication networks and information resources
    that provide access to
       information resources and informational telecommunication networks,
          access to which is limited on the territory of Russian Federation according to the Federal law "On information, information technology, and protection of information",

 [and also]
   operators of search engine systems that publish and distribute on the "Internet" any advertising
    that purports to attract the attention of consumers who reside on the territory of Russian Federation
     to the federal government's information system containing a registry of 
        information resources and informational telecommunication networks,
           access to which is limited on the territory of Russian Federation according to the federal law "On information, information technology, and protection of information",

[and also]
on the regulation of the protocol of connection and access for 
   owners of informational telecommunication networks and information resources
    that provide access to
       information resources and informational telecommunication networks,
          access to which is limited on the territory of Russian Federation according to the federal law "On information, information technology, and protection of information",
  [and also for]
    operators of search engine systems that publish and distribute on the "Internet" any advertising
    that purports to attract the attention of consumers who reside on the territory of Russian Federation
     to the federal government's information system containing a registry of 
        information resources and informational telecommunication networks,
           access to which is limited on the territory of Russian Federation according to the federal law "On information, information technology, and protection of information",
     and to the information published therein,

and also

on the regulation of the regime of processing and use of information
   published in the federal government's information system containing a registry of 
        information resources and informational telecommunication networks,
           access to which is limited on the territory of Russian Federation according to the federal law "On information, information technology, and protection of information".

We see that large portions of text are repeated verbatim or with minimal variations. A software engineer's first reaction is to refactor the text to minimize repetitions.

Let FSS = the Federal supervision service for the domain of remote messaging, information technology, and mass communication,

IRTN = information resources and informational telecommunication networks,
IRTN' = informational telecommunication networks and information resources,
ALRF = access to which is limited on the territory of Russian Federation according to the federal law "On information, information technology, and protection of information",

FGIS = the federal government's information system containing a registry of IRTN ALRF,

IPAL = IRTN' that provide access to IRTN ALRF,

SESA = search engine systems that publish and distribute on the "Internet" any advertising that purports to attract the attention of consumers who reside on the territory of Russian Federation to FGIS,
SESA' = SESA and to the information published therein.

Then the title of the proposed law is written like this:


(1) On the regulation of the protocol of interaction between FSS and owners of IPAL [and also] operators of SESA,

(2) on the regulation of the protocol of connection and access for owners of IPAL [and also] operators of SESA',

and also

(3) on the regulation of the regime of processing and use of information published in FGIS.


Now that the structure of the text is made clear, we can make some observations about its content.

0. The excessive verbosity of the law is mostly due to the absence of appropriate notation.

1. The expressions IRTN and IRTN' appear to be interchangeable. Perhaps, the authors have introduced this variation in an attempt to make the text less repetitive.

2. The main import of the bill is somewhat misleading: it is a proposed law on the regulation of protocol for some activity (e.g. how the internet providers will have to interact with the FSS). Taken at face value, this means that the law does not actually regulate any activities but merely specifies the decision-making procedures (e.g. which committees should decide in what order, etc.) that will eventually lead to adoption of some protocols in the future. However, the proposed law would in fact directly regulate all those protocols and activities.

The correct formulation of the bill would be not "on the regulation of the protocol X" but "on the protocol X" or "on the activity X".
However, the bureaucratic language tradition prohibits such direct expressions of thought.

3. The expressions SESA and SESA' differ in the phrase "and to the information published therein". At first sight, it's a simple stylistic variation. SESA is about ads that direct customers to FGIS, while SESA' is about ads that direct customers to FGIS "and to the information published therein".

This seemingly small addition may, however, change significantly the meaning of the second clause of the law, as compared with the first clause.

If we interpret the difference between SESA and SESA' as we just did, the formulation of the second clause becomes incomplete: connection and access for owners of IPAL and operators of SESA'. Access and connection to what? The text doesn't say.

The commentary actually explains that this is about the access to FGIS and to the information published in FGIS.

We can interpret the second clause in this way only if we read it as "access for owners of IPAL and operators of SESA and to the information published therein". The last "and" must be removed from the phrase. It is ungrammatical, both in English and in Russian, to say "access for owners and operators and to A".

If the "and" were removed, it would rule out our first interpretation of the difference between SESA and SESA'. It will also make the text read even more awkwardly. Perhaps that's the reason why the ungrammatical "and" is kept there.

So, the first clause is about the legal interaction between FSS and owners of some services; the topic of this interaction is unspecified.
The second clause is about those owners' access to the information contained in FGIS.

The impenetrable verbosity of the original text, combined with a somewhat subtle grammatical mistake, makes the correct intended meaning of the second clause very hard or impossible to discern.

Conclusions:

Most people would be unable to understand the text of the law as written. Law texts could be reformulated using an appropriate kind of first-order logic, to expose the structure and meaning of the text more clearly. If that is ever done, it will immediately turn out that a lot of law text is sloppily written and that meaning is hidden deep within the intricacies of grammar. The original intention of the lawmaker is, most likely, lost without hope of recovery. We should abandon the pretense that law regulates our behavior in full detail.