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A new Russian law about "personal data" - what would it mean to Russian customers here?

Mustakettu85Mustakettu85 Posts: 2,933
edited July 2014 in The Commons

I'm in Russia, and today it's been all over the news channels: a law that is going to force all online businesses that want to deal with Russians to store all our "personal data" (for instance, a name is "personal data" according to local laws) in Russia, building own datacenters or renting out services from those that are about to be built here (in theory).

Here's the link to a news article in English:
http://rt.com/politics/170604-russia-personal-data-servers/

It says there are similar laws in some other countries, but does not say in which ones exactly.

I'm worried about the implications of this in the case of DAZ3D and smaller 3D-oriented websites (like the private stores of artists like Mec4D or Xurge). I certainly would not want to lose access to my favourite places on the Net... but I guess there may be not enough Russian customers to justify the expense and hassle of complying with this law...

Post edited by frank0314 on

Comments

  • Herald of FireHerald of Fire Posts: 3,504
    edited December 1969

    Wow... I think Russian's are going to have a lot to complain about in 2016 when the law goes into action.

    Sadly, the majority of the internet stores some kind of personal information, whether it's names, addresses or your date of birth. Everything from Facebook and Twitter to online gaming is at risk of being undermined with a law this broad. Purchasing items from US or other foreign sites will effectively be impossible, since most, if not all, require you to 'register' with your name and other personal details.

    Is the government trying to become insular, similar to North Korea?

  • Mustakettu85Mustakettu85 Posts: 2,933
    edited July 2014

    HeraldOfFire said:
    Wow... I think Russian's are going to have a lot to complain about in 2016 when the law goes into action.

    Sadly, the majority of the internet stores some kind of personal information, whether it's names, addresses or your date of birth. Everything from Facebook and Twitter to online gaming is at risk of being undermined with a law this broad. Purchasing items from US or other foreign sites will effectively be impossible, since most, if not all, require you to 'register' with your name and other personal details.

    Yup, this is exactly the sort of concerns sane people are trying to raise here, but they just say "If they want to work with Russians, they will have to use local datacenters". I mean, rly. Okay, Facebook and other major corporations may well do it, but smaller businesses?



    Is the government trying to become insular, similar to North Korea?

    All I know that there's been a lot of ridiculous laws passed recently. You may want to google for names like Mizulina.

    Post edited by Mustakettu85 on
  • Design Anvil - Razor42Design Anvil - Razor42 Posts: 1,239
    edited December 1969

    Looks like the internet is about to get a lot smaller in Russia, we'll miss you guys.

  • kyoto kidkyoto kid Posts: 41,244
    edited December 1969

    ...read the comments as well, and wow, do they really know what they are in for?

    Basically, this will favour only the large corporations as they have the resources to afford loaclised servers. Meanwhile, smaller web based businesses like Daz, Rednerosity, and even SmithMicro will be left out of the market. If this spreads to Europe (as some there mentioned they would also like to see), it would have a serious impact on global net based commerce and could result is difficult financial times for many small to mid sized companies both here and abroad which conduct business on the net through loss in sales revenue or the added expense of maintaining a site (along with the personnel to service it) on international soil.

    It would also kill global forums as we know them today. I think it is great I am able to converse with someone from Australia, The UK, Sweden, Hong Kong or Russia. That would be gone if Russia and other nations adopted such policies as many forums are not funded by foundations or companies that have huge bankrolls to maintain servers in multiple countries.

    When choices are limited, healthy business competition ceases and costs and quality can be dictated by a select few (look at what happened to the airline industry here in the US).

    In a sense this is a new breed of isolationism.

  • MEC4DMEC4D Posts: 5,249
    edited December 1969

    I don't think that DAZ or other small businesses will build any data servers in Russia , since it will cost a lot of time and money .. and not only outside Russia but also inside Russia many online businesses will ends shortly .. that is how you kill the economy .. and take Freedom from people .. sad news for Russian folk .. personal data include e-mail addresses too so I guess soon nobody from Russia can access anything outside the country when they start blocking the access .. back to stone age

    @Mustakettu85 ..enjoy your freedom as long you can ..you have 2 years at last :(

  • ErdehelErdehel Posts: 386
    edited December 1969

    Kyoto Kid said:
    ...If this spreads to Europe (as some there mentioned they would also like to see).

    That will not happen in the EU. Most European countries are concerned by how the US intelligence services have access to user generated data and confidential individual information. They are trying to get this kind of information stored by default in Europe.

    Trading information is not concerned even if it involves identification or profiling data of EU citizens. That would anyway not fit well with the upcoming TAFTA treaty. The EU already agreed to give US Intelligence services similar information about passengers who fly from Europe to the US...

    I am not sure the new russian law has similar views concerning this.

    We live in a wonderful world :)

  • Male-M3diaMale-M3dia Posts: 3,581
    edited July 2014

    Considering how Russia doesn't even pay attention to DCMA notices, I don't know how they expect people to trust them with personal info. Internet cooperation has to work both ways.

    Post edited by Male-M3dia on
  • MarcCCTxMarcCCTx Posts: 926
    edited December 1969

    I expect the reverse will happen. Won't Russian citizens create identities outside of Russia when they react with the outside world. Especially with non-physical products. (For physical products they'll have to buy items as gifts and ship to themselves.) Webizens will always find a way around this kind of law.

  • Atticus BonesAtticus Bones Posts: 364
    edited July 2014

    Huzzah for proxies!

    Post edited by Atticus Bones on
  • IceEmpressIceEmpress Posts: 639
    edited December 1969

    That is indeed disheartening and scary. However, lawbreakers will find some sort of workaround-- probably a spoofer of some sort, for one.

    The EU would be stupid as hell to implement such a law. The USA has been eyeing a law like this for years in the name of "national security". Frankly, I don't know why they even bother since the NSA has free reign, and a law recently passed that allows the FBI and CIA access to NSA records of anyone on a whim. Our country has gone to complete hell.

  • MattymanxMattymanx Posts: 6,954
    edited December 1969

    Laws do not cross boarders. If a Russian citizen does business online with a company located outside of Russia then how does Russia expect that company to comply with a law that does not and cannot be applied to them? In the case of data purchases such as DAZ3D, the DAZ servers are in the USA and therefore only US state and federal laws apply to the purchase. And how does Russia expect to enfource this law short of cutting all its citizens off the net? Its not like DAZ is forcing Russian citizens to shop here.

  • frank0314frank0314 Posts: 14,301
    edited December 1969

    Since the thread keeps going to political discussion and debate which is against the forum TOS the thread is being locked.

This discussion has been closed.