18 KALDA v. ESTONIA – SEPARATE OPINION risks. In my view, it goes without saying that the purpose of serving a prison sentence and of preventing crime are very important in the context of prisoners’ access to means of communication, including access to the Internet. To grant prisoners access to the Internet, be it in general or in some restricted form, inevitably imposes a risk of misuse and gives rise to security risks. Therefore, the question is whether the restriction on the applicant’s access to three specific webpages was justified in the specific circumstances of the case. 7. The majority attach significance to the fact that prisoners in Estonia are already granted limited access to the Internet (see paragraphs 49 and 53 of the judgment). In deciding its policy on the matter, the Estonian legislature has sought to balance the competing interests of prisoners against the interests of society, namely prisoners’ right to access to information about legislation and judicial decisions against the risk of misuse and risk to security. In doing so, the Estonian legislature has decided to grant prisoners limited access to the Internet. In my view, it should not be held against the Respondent Government that Estonia, in the interest of prisoners, has decided to provide prisoners with limited access to the Internet. Doing so may in practice discourage other States from taking a similar step, if providing access to certain webpages on the Internet may be used as an argument for granting access to other webpages too. 8. The majority also attaches importance to the content of the three webpages to which the applicant requested access, as well as to the importance and relevance of the information for the applicant (see paragraph 50 of the judgment). However, the domestic authorities’ refusal was not based on an assessment of the nature and content of the webpages in question, but on a general assessment, made by the legislature when adopting section 31-1 of the Imprisonment Act, of the risk of misuse and risks for security if prisoners are granted access to the Internet. In my view, the Court has no basis for calling into question the assessment of the domestic authorities according to which granting – further – access to the Internet would increase the risk of misuse and risks to security. 9. The majority also attaches importance to a number of Council of Europe and other international instruments concerning the importance of the Internet (see paragraph 52 of the judgment). The Internet, including access to the Internet, is unquestionably very important for the individual in contemporary society, but I cannot but notice that none of the international instruments mentioned in the judgment (see paragraphs 22-25 of the judgment) concern prisoners’ access to the Internet. Thus, the international instruments cited underline only the general importance of the Internet, but do not support an interpretation of Article 10 of the Convention according to which prisoners should be granted access to the Internet, either in general or in some restricted form.