Law Rules That Internet Companies Stash Data Within Russia

It seems that plenty of spotlight is being shone on Russia in recent months, ranging from the standoff in Ukraine as well as the shooting down of commercial airline MH17 by pro-Russian rebels. Well, this time around, a new amendment has been discussed and signed into law by Russian president Vladimir Putin, where this law will require Internet companies to store data within the country itself, or see their services banned.

Needless to say, this is not going to be too comfortable for the different kinds of tech giants such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter, at least until they comply with the new slew of regulations that could potentially prove to be an invasion of privacy, depending on what the authorities in power would like to do with such data.

Known as the “Information, Information Technologies and Protection of Information” amendment, it will see a change made to Russia’s current anti-terrorism laws, where any communications concerning a Russian citizen (and these include tweets, status updates, and search histories) has to be stashed away physically within Russia just in case the Russian intelligence and security agencies like the FSB need to access it. As it stands Russia has already reduced its reliance on IBM and Microsoft products.

Edwin Kee
Categories: General
Tags: russia, Twitter