Two Ukrainian Internet service companies, Lucky Net provider and the ElVisti Information Center have officially presented the 2000 Ukrainian Internet Resources reference book, the first of its kind in Ukraine. It included 5000 web addresses registered in Ukraine, providing brief annotation on their contents, as well as a glossary of the most commonly used terms and a number of articles on the current state of the Ukrainian Internet. The so far fragmentary data on the Ukrainian sector of the worldwide net have been put together, cataloged, and, without doubt, will encourage both the most rapid growth of this means of communication and Ukraine’s integration into the global information theater.
Of course, 5000 Ukrainian web addresses is a drop in the bucket of the world millions on the Internet, thinks Lucky Net president Artur Habovych. In all, according to his calculations, around 200,000 to 250,000 people in Ukraine access the global net, which is in terms of population percentage is much less than in the Western countries or in Russia. Incidentally, 87% of Ukrainian sites were created in the Russian language, about 13% in Ukrainian, including 4% bilingual sites.
The Day asked the providers what they thought of their recent joint meeting with the Cabinet, from which journalists were barred, and where, as it became known, voices were raised about the necessity of supervising providers’ activity, information placed on the web sites and information sent through the web in general. Serhiy Azarov, Lucky Net director for state and international organizations soothed the journalists:
“The Ukrainian top officials were more asking questions themselves, trying to understand the nuances of the current state of the Internet. As far as any attempt to impose government control is concerned, it is a natural first reaction of any state to the Internet. The majority of the developed countries have gone through this illness. Since then, international Internet rules have been worked out, and Ukraine will have to respect them.”
Mr. Azarov is convinced that the development of the Internet in Ukraine is held back only due to the economic level of the population, not for political reasons or restrictions.
