Russia will address Internet firms’ concerns about meeting a deadline to comply with a law forcing them to move the personal data of Russian citizens onto servers inside the country, a Kremlin spokesman said on Monday. Under a law last year, Internet sites that store the personal data of Russian citizens must do so on Russian …
Personal data storage law: Russian authorities might postpone Sept. 1 deadline Read More
The U.S. Justice Department has won the right to impound $300 million that it claims was paid in bribes by two major Russian telecoms firms to a close relative of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, news agency Bloomberg reported Friday. Justice Department officials claim that leading Russian mobile phone operator MTS and fellow telecoms giant VimpelCom …
US wins case to seize $300 million in alleged bribes by Russian telcos Read More
Just two months before the new Russian law on personal data storage will come into effect, many international players are implementing the necessary steps to comply with it. Thus last month Booking.com announced that all data from its Russian users will soon be transfered to a local data center. Preceding Booking.com were such companies as eBay, Google, PayPal, …
Global players challenged by new Russian law on personal data storage Read More
Facebook has deleted a post written by Maxim Ksenzov, the deputy head of telecom regulator Roskomnadzor. Notably, Ksenzov is the very same official who warned Facebook back in May that the company will face penalties if it does not hand over traffic statistics for popular Russian Facebook users to the Russian government. While Ksenzov’s page may have …
Facebook targets Roskomnadzor official over hate speech Read More
The U.S. has filed to seize $300 million that it claims was paid in bribes by two major Russian telecoms firms to a close relative of Uzbek President Islam Karimov in exchange for access to the Uzbek telecoms market, news agency Bloomberg reported Tuesday. The complaint filed by the U.S. Justice Department in a Manhattan …
U.S. goes after $300 million in alleged bribes paid by Russian telecom giants Read More
Earlier this month, Booking.com announced that it will comply with Russia’s new law on personal data storage. The global online travel operator will soon transfer all data from the country’s users to a local data center, Russian business daily Kommersant reported. The announcement came after a meeting between Steffen Mueller, Booking.com’s senior manager of infrastructure and …
The United States on Friday announced that U.S. companies can still give users in Crimea access to a range of free online communications services, despite an earlier U.S. ban on providing any services to the region after it was annexed by Russia last year. The decision will allow U.S. Internet companies such as Apple and Google — who previously announced that they were cutting off service to Crimea — …
US social networks, blogs allowed back into Crimea Read More
Russian prosecutors have demanded that the country’s media watchdog block access to sections of Apple’s App Store and Google Play that allow Russian users to download the works of Adolf Hitler and Islamic writer Sa’id bin Ali bin Wahf Al-Qahtani, the Izvestia newspaper reported Thursday. The move follows months of bluster by the watchdog, Roskomnadzor, over the hawking of “extremist” material to Russians by foreign Internet companies. But this time the threat …
Russian regulator to stop Apple and Google from selling Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’ Read More
After Western sanctions began shutting down sales of high-tech internet equipment to Russia’s military and security forces, employees at technology giant Cisco Systems Inc. altered sales records and booked deals under a false customer name, according to internal company documents. The intent, according to a confidential source with deep knowledge of Cisco’s Moscow operations, was …
BuzzFeed: After sanctions, Cisco altered sales records in Russia Read More
Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office has blocked access to three websites selling imported food as it strengthens control over the illegal sale of select Western goods sanctioned by Russia, newspaper Izvestia reported Tuesday. The blocked websites sold banned cheeses, according to news website Lenta.ru. Prosecutors have also filed lawsuits against four more online shops that sell …
Russia starts blocking websites selling banned Western food Read More
Facebook has deleted a post by Russian LGBT rights activist Lena Klimova, where she published images of people who have sent her death threats, Russian opposition-minded online publication Meduza reported. The full photo album had been first published on VKontakte (VK.com), Russia’s most popular social network, but Klimova also posted excerpts to her Facebook account. On April 21, …
Controversial post by Russian LGBT activist: VKontakte less restrictive than Facebook Read More
Twitter has blocked a satirical account ridiculing Igor Sechin, the powerful head of state-owned Russian oil giant Rosneft and a long time confidant of Russian president Vladimir Putin. The account, @Igor_Sechin, was blocked inside Russia after the state media watchdog Roskomnadzor complained to Twitter that it violated Russian privacy laws. Frequently obscene and ferociously critical of the Kremlin, @Igor_Sechin is among a handful of popular Russian-language Twitter parody …
