BULGAKOV v. RUSSIA JUDGMENT 26. ARTICLE 19, a global campaign for freedom of expression, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a legal and policy organisation safeguarding privacy in the digital world, Access Now, a global civil-society organisation defending the digital rights of users at risk, and Reporters without Borders, a French non-profit organisation defending freedom of the press, emphasised that blocking access to entire websites was an extreme and disproportionate measure which was incapable of distinguishing between lawful and unlawful content and, as such, should never be required by law. Even where blocking was permissible, the law should provide for the following minimum standards: (i) blocking should be ordered by a court or an independent adjudicatory body; (ii) interested parties should be given the opportunity to intervene in proceedings in which a blocking order has been sought; (iii) all victims of blocking orders should have the right to challenge, after the fact, the blocking order; and (iv) anyone attempting to access the blocked website should be able to see the legal basis and reasons for the blocking order and information about avenues of appeal. 27. The European Information Society Institute, a Slovakia-based non-profit organisation focusing on high-technology law, submitted that any blocking measure which went beyond its target and over-blocked legitimate content, was not acceptable in a democratic society. The authorities had a duty to carry out an individualised assessment of whether the same result could be achieved with a less intrusive measure. The targeted website should be informed and given a reasonable amount of time to remove the offending content and to make submissions before a decision was taken. 2. The Court’s assessment 28. The Court reiterates that owing to its accessibility and capacity to store and communicate vast amounts of information, the Internet has now become one of the principal means by which individuals exercise their right to freedom of expression and information. The Internet provides essential tools for participation in activities and discussions concerning political issues and issues of general interest, it enhances the public’s access to news and facilitates the dissemination of information in general. Article 10 of the Convention guarantees “everyone” the freedom to receive and impart information and ideas. It applies not only to the content of information but also to the means of its dissemination, for any restriction imposed on the latter necessarily interferes with that freedom (see Ahmet Yıldırım v. Turkey, no. 3111/10, §§ 48-54, ECHR 2012). 29. The applicant is the owner and administrator of a website. In November 2013, he discovered that access to his website had been blocked by a local ISP pursuant to a judicial decision. The Court reiterates that measures blocking access to websites are bound to have an influence on the accessibility of the Internet and, accordingly, engage the responsibility of the respondent State under Article 10 (see Ahmet Yıldırım, cited above, § 53). In so far as the blocking measure was imposed by a Russian court, it does not matter that it was implemented by an ISP rather than the telecoms regulator. The measure which prevented visitors to the applicant’s website from accessing its content amounted to “interference by a public authority” with the right to receive and impart information, since Article 10 guarantees not only the right to impart information but also the right of the public to receive it (see 8