[Updated March 25] On Monday, March 23, Russia’s Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin instructed the communications ministry to “organize the creation of a system that can track people who have come into contact with patients infected by the new coronavirus.”
Based on individual geolocation data from telecom operators, the system should also notify users about their potential contact with infected people and remind them their obligation to isolate themselves. The data should also be sent to regional-level task forces now fighting the spread of the disease in Russia.
The Prime Minister expects his order to be executed no later than March 27.
However, such a system could have complex legal implications in the absence of individual user consent. It would come in contradiction with the constitutional principles of secret of correspondence and medical secret, Skolkovo executive Sergey Izraylit said in an exchange with business daily Kommersant.
“Telecommunications companies can only surrender [personal geolocation] data in extraordinary circumstances, such as criminal investigations or counterterrorism operations,” Izraylit said.
There may be other exceptions to these privacy protections, however. Alexandra Orekhovich, the legal affairs director of the Internet Initiatives Development Fund (IIDF or FRII in Russian), told Kommersant that Russian law allows the authorities to limit civil rights and freedoms if deemed necessary to protect the health, rights, and interests of others or to defend the security of the state.
Karen Kazaryan, the chief analyst at the Russian Association for Electronic Communications, argues that it would require the declaration of a national emergency to permit the mass transfer of patients’ geolocation data.
The Russian mobile phone operator MegaFon told the business daily that the system envisaged by PM Mishustin is feasible, but it would require “regulatory changes” in Russia. The telecoms VimpelCom says it is “studying” the initiative. Russia’s other biggest phone companies, MTS and Tele2, declined to comment.
