It's the same thing all autocrats want which is to consolidate their power while protecting the little people from themselves.

I can see where they are coming from though; I'm pretty sure the investigations of Internet usage that turn up on politicians desks contain pretty disconcerting information about the human condition.

That is what I would like to see leaked. How exactly this kind of thing start.

Who have the first conversation that we finally see as "the Estonia government want x". The same I would like to know about the free trade agreements.

e-Stonia has e-Residency, and various other internet-based shenanigans. You can get an e-passport, set up business, get residency, travel documents, online, I think. Just visit your local embassy with proof of id. They are selling themselves as a digital destination/economy. Russia occasionally does massive DDoS there. so ymmv. Not sure how that relates though just surprised it was them. Maybe they are leaking it because they want it nipped in the bud.

> One wonders what Estonia, or its government, has to gain from this, though.

As a guess, it's due to the threat to Estonia from Russia, which includes Russian cyber attacks and propaganda. Russia has used propaganda operations very effectively in Europe and the U.S. If the U.S. has trouble protecting itself, imagine Estonia's situation.

In response to the same issue, earlier this year (IIRC) I read about a similar call for government oversight of Internet publication by someone high in the UK government (but I didn't hear about it again after that).

It looks like a copyright industry lobby. So most probably somebody at some level got paid.