Roskomnadzor launched a system for searching and classifying prohibited video content

Information Resource Monitoring (Information System)

Main article: Information resources monitoring (information system)

2023: Roskomnadzor launched a system for searching and classifying prohibited video content

The Main Radio Frequency Center (GRCC), subordinate to Roskomnadzor, has launched an intelligent system for tracking illegal content on the Internet, Okulus. This was announced on February 13, 2023.

As the representative of the GRCC told Vedomosti, in January 2023, the integration of the system with other monitoring tools of Roskomnadzor. The interlocutor of the publication did not give details of the test results, as well as the first results of its work.

According to him, the system recognizes images and symbols, illegal scenes and actions, analyzes text in photo and video materials. "Oculus" automatically detects such offenses as extremist topics, calls for mass illegal events, suicide, pro-drug content, LGBT propaganda, etc.

The main radio frequency center has launched an intelligent system for tracking illegal content on the Internet

The GRCC told the newspaper that before the introduction of Okulus, the center's specialists had to analyze the content "mainly manually." During the day, they processed more than 200 photos and videos.

The Okulus information system has already been launched and is fulfilling its tasks in full: it detects violations of the law in images and video materials, - said the representative of the GRCC, adding that by mid-February 2023, the possibility of adding new classes and types of violations, as well as functions of determining the positions of people and their actions, is being worked out.

The need to use an automated system in the department was explained by the growing flow of prohibited materials on the Internet, including those related to the military special operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine.

Natalia Tylevich, general director of Social Laboratory, attributed the risks of using Okulus to how correctly or incorrectly the classification of images and videos is carried out and how correctly they will be further interpreted in conjunction with other components of the system and a person.^[1]

2022: Contractor Selection for the Project - Execution ER

In mid-August 2022, it became known about the choice of a contractor for the implementation of the project to create the Okulus system, which, on the basis of neural networks, will analyze photos, videos and texts on sites, social networks and instant messengers for prohibited information, including propaganda of homosexuality, the manufacture of drugs and weapons.

As Kommersant writes with reference to information on the public procurement website, the development of the system will be carried out by Expiration Er Di Si LLC, which will receive 57.7 million rubles from the customer. "Oculus" should be created by December 12, 2022. At the same time, the source of the newspaper in a large IT company considered that it was impossible to implement such a development by the indicated date. The general director of Smart Engines, Vladimir Arlazarov, also expressed surprise at the timing of the creation of Okulus, considering it insufficient for such a system.

Roskomnadzor creates a system to search for prohibited content

According to technical documentation, the system will analyze images and videos, publications of messenger channels, URLs and other data for illegal information in real time based on neural networks. Oculus should also implement "the functionality of catalogs of defined symbols, scenes and actions, personalities."

The Contractor will supply marked-up data sets for training the face recognition model "in the amount of at least 100." It is assumed that "Okulus" should implement "the functionality of catalogs of defined symbols, scenes and actions, personalities." The power of the system should be 200,000 images per day, that is, Oculus will analyze two frames or pictures per second.

According to Arlazarov, "at the current level of IT development," the declared tasks can be solved with a quality of about 90%, that is, with 10% errors. Modern models of artificial intelligence that classify human behavior in a video sequence are usually trained on data of about 1 million videos, he added.^[2]

2021: Creation of a system for automatic search of prohibited information in photos and videos

On September 20, 2021, it became known about the creation by Roskomnadzor of a system for searching for illegal content in images and videos on the Internet. It will be called "Oculus."

As Kommersant writes with reference to the corresponding tender on the public procurement website, the Main Radio Frequency Center (GRCC) subordinate to Roskomnadzor is ready to pay 15 million rubles for the development of a technical assignment for the project. It is assumed that the new system will be able to identify the distribution of extremist materials and pornography, drug propaganda, calls for riots and suicide. Its launch is scheduled for 2022.

The GRCC explained to Kommersant that photo and video materials on the Internet prevail over the text and "it is in this content that more and more information prohibited by Russian laws appears."

Roskomnadzor creates a system for automatically searching for prohibited information in photos and videos

The development of the Okulus system can cost from tens to hundreds of millions of rubles, its implementation will cost billions, and maintenance - tens of millions a year, said Vladimir Ufnarovsky, co-owner of LANIT-Terkom. Implementing such a project on a Runet scale will be problematic, said Pavel Adylin, executive director of Artezio (part of the Lanit group).

It is necessary not only to develop a monitoring system, but also to ensure the passage of all Internet traffic through it, "he said.

In his opinion, due to the introduction of such a photo and video filtering system, the speed of Internet access for users will slow down significantly.

By September 2021, responsibility for posting illegal materials on the network ranges from administrative to criminal. For incitement to hatred or enmity, humiliation of a person's dignity on the grounds of gender, race, etc., both a fine of up to 500 thousand rubles and imprisonment from two to five years are provided, Yaroslav Shitsle, head of Rustam Kurmaev and Partners, told the publication.^[3]

Notes