Roskomnadzor, the Russian telecom and Internet regulator, has initiated a legal procedure to block access to LinkedIn from Russia, should the US site not comply with the new legislation on personal data storage.
This legislation, which came into force in September 2015, requires to store Russian citizens’ personal data only in databases located on Russia territory (see white paper by EWDN and EY).
Many Russian and foreign organizations — including Alibaba, Apple, Booking.com and Google — have transfered user data from foreign data centers to Russia, or announced ongoing projects to do so, while others have not complied so far.
This seems to be the case of LinkedIn, which launched a Russian version of its platform five years ago. The US company has not provided any “substantial answer” to two inquiries from Roskomnadzor, the agency’s spokesman Vadim Ampelovsky told the Interfax news agency today.
“The media have reported […] big disorders with leaks of personal data from LinkedIn since 2010,” Ampelovsky said to justify this attention brought to LinkedIn.
“In accordance with the procedure applicable to foreign companies which do not have a representation in the Russian Federation, we took the case to court. On August 4, the Tagansky court [in Moscow] ordered to include this social network in the register of organizations which violate the rights of citizens in the field of personal data.”
LinkedIn has appealed this decision, Ampelovsky said, but at the end of the procedure, “we will require operators to block access to the site if the court’s [initial] decision will be confirmed.”
