The Russian Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) has informed Facebook, Gmail and Twitter that they must register in Russia as “organizers of distribution of information,” according to Russian legislation.
“We informed them and one way or another we will force them to follow the law,” said deputy head of the supervisory service Maxim Ksenzov. “We are holding consultations with them and are not particularly hurrying yet.”
Amendments to the laws “On Information, Information Technology and the Protection of Information” and “On Communication” and the Code of Administrative Violations, signed by the Russian president on May 5, came into force on August 1. In accordance with them, bloggers with 3,000 or more readers per day have to observe a number of restrictions analogous to the rules for mass media.
The law also places requirements on websites and systems that receive, transmit, deliver and/or process electronic messages of web users. Having registered with Roskomnadzor as organizers of distribution of information, such websites have six months to keep “on the territory of the Russian Federation information on the facts of reception, transmission, delivery and/or processing of voice information, written text, images, sounds and other electronic messages of users of the Internet network.” Legal entities that fail to meet those requirements face a fine of up to 500,000 rubles (approximately $13,000).
In addition to the fine, if a website is not registered, Roskomnadzor has the right to demand the correct of the violations a second time, which has to be carried out within 15 days. Otherwise, the agency can block it for Russian Internet users.
Ksenzov noted that the main Russian outlets are already registered. VKontakte, Yandex, Mail.ru Group and others have been entered into a special registry. Habrahabr.ru, the Internet resource about IT with material provided by users, is in the process of registration as a distributor of information.
“If they do not meet the requirements of Russian legislation, administrative measures will be taken against them,” Ksenzov said. “Those three resources should make a decision on placing data centers in Russia and on the law on bloggers. They are preparing to do so and want to follow the law.”
Source: Izvestia
