Legal

Dagestani ministry offers iPhone SE for reporting online “extremist content”

October 12, 2018

The Ministry of Communications and Mass Media of Dagestan, an autonomous republic in Southern Russia, has created an anonymous hotline for citizens to report “extremist content” found online. The campaign targets the “propaganda or public justification of terrorism; hate speech related to ethnic origin or religious orientation; and other types of prohibited content.” A video …

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Russians eye two islands for crypto exchanges

September 16, 2018

While authorities in Moscow are still fine-tuning their revamped crypto legislation, to be presented for public discussions in October, participants in last week’s Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok have been busy discussing regulatory matters related to cryptocurrency mining and the circulation of digital coins in the vast country. Several Russian regions have been mentioned multiple …

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Russian authorities press Google to stop “meddling in Russian elections”

September 5, 2018

Two official Russian bodies, the Central Election Commission and the telecom regulator Roskomnadzor, have called Google to stop making its resources available for what they judge to be illegal activities during elections. Thus, the electoral commission has sent a formal letter to Larry Page complaining about Alexey Navalny, an opposition leader, using YouTube to distribute information …

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Mail.Ru Group’s social networks reject advertisements from ruling party ‘United Russia’

September 4, 2018

In a new sign of their search for a relative independence in Russia’s digital space, the social networks VK (Vkontakte) and OK (Odnoklassniki) have rejected new advertisements from United Russia where the ruling party claims to be “the president’s party.” As reported by online publication Znak.com from a source in one of United Russia’s regional offices, Mail.ru …

Mail.Ru Group’s social networks reject advertisements from ruling party ‘United Russia’ Read More

Yandex caves to Russia’s federal censor in dispute over Internet piracy

August 30, 2018

Roskomnadzor, the Russian telecom and Internet regulator, threatened to block Yandex’s video service, following an August 24 verdict by the Moscow City Court ordering the website to remove all hyperlinks to pirated content from its search results. Earlier this month, several television stations filed lawsuits against Yandex, where links to pirated copies of their content …

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Telegram agrees to share some user data with governments “to fight terrorism”

August 17, 2019

The instant messenger Telegram has rewritten its privacy policy, and Russians are raising their eyebrows at Section 8.3, where the network now says it may disclose users’ IP addresses and phone numbers “to the relevant authorities,” if it “receives a court order [confirming] that you’re a terror suspect.” Telegram says it’s yet to surrender any …

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“Groundless persecution” of social media users raises growing protests in Russia

August 15, 2018

The authorities’ propensity to crackdown on social media users for their activity with supposedly unlawful content has become excessive even in the taste of such an established and little opposition-minded Internet business as Mail.Ru Group. The group dominates the Russian social media scene with its properties VK (Vkontakte) and OK (Odnoklassniki). Listed on the LSE, …

“Groundless persecution” of social media users raises growing protests in Russia Read More

Supreme Court rejects Telegram’s appeal over FSB’s demands to access users messages

August 10, 2018

The Russian Supreme Court has upheld demands from the Federal Security Service (FSB) that Telegram provide encryption keys to access the content of user messages, the Interfax news agency reported this morning. Confirmed previous legal decisions, the Supreme Court, in particular, has supported an FSB argument which establishes a distinction between receiving the means to decipher encoded content, and …

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From illegitimate data-sharing to tracking “interest in treason:” Facebook’s handling of private data raises concerns in Russia

August 8, 2018

Roskomnadzor, the Russian telecom and Internet regulator, has requested Facebook to provide explanations about its past data-sharing partnerships with at least 60 mobile device makers, including Apple, BlackBerry, Microsoft and Samsung. As reported last week by the business daily Kommersant, Roskomnadzor’s move followed a request from the Association of Professional Social Media and Messengers Users (APPSIM in Russian) …

From illegitimate data-sharing to tracking “interest in treason:” Facebook’s handling of private data raises concerns in Russia Read More

US senator worries that Mail.ru might be the next ‘Cambridge Analytica scandal’

July 12, 2018

Until 2015, several applications developed for Facebook by third-party companies had access to personal information shared by users and their friends. The apps could see names, genders, birth dates, places of birth, photos, and “liked” posts and pages. One of the businesses that collaborated with Facebook like this was the Russian company Mail.ru [part of …

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‘Big Brother law’ comes into force: Internet companies required to store massive amounts of content

July 3, 2018

New provisions of a controversial law on Internet communications came into force on July 1, with a government order requiring Internet companies to store the content and the metadata of all their users’ communications for a significant period of time Adopted in 2016, this new legislation (dubbed ‘Yarovaya law’ or ‘Big Brother law’) has entailed huge costs for …

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Internet regulator Roskomnadzor challenged in courts for blocking websites in controversial procedures

May 31, 2018

The Russian news site Znak.com has won a lawsuit against Roskomnadzor, the Internet and telecom regulator which illustrated itself recently by its failed attempts to block access to Telegram. As reported by Meduza.io, Roskomnadzor accused Znak.com of publishing a video that contained obscene language. Znak.com produced phonoscopic evidence establishing the absence of any foul words in the video, convincing a …

Internet regulator Roskomnadzor challenged in courts for blocking websites in controversial procedures Read More

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