“Security forces will be able to get quick access to closed information about Russians” — Inna Vavilova’s comment for Business FM Saint Petersburg radio station
Security forces will be able to get quick access to closed information about Russians. We are talking about information from government agencies and banks, mobile operators and Internet services, Vedomosti writes. The new Minister of communications Maksut Shadayev took the initiative on the eve of the International day of personal data protection. Now most of the information can be disclosed by a law enforcement officer only by a court decision. For example, the authorization is needed to get access to phone records, e-mail, SMS, messages in messengers, and so on. Of course, it is possible to make changes, but the Constitution will have to be changed again, and this is not to mention protests from citizens and human rights activists, experts say.
Managing partner of Prime Advice Inna Vavilova:
From the point of view of such access to data to citizens online without the permission of the court and compliance with certain procedures, I am extremely negative about this. This is a clear violation of rights. What is the relationship of the Ministry of communications with the ongoing activities of the bodies of internal affairs? I don't remember anything like this being voiced by the government. Probably, there were internal discussions on this topic, but they never reached this level, so perhaps it will be a kind of batch history and one of the amendments.
Innovations have allegedly already been discussed with operators and a number of state corporations, but no one, according to media reports, has yet confirmed this. It is also surprising that the amendments are not proposed by the security forces themselves, who have repeatedly complained about the closeness of information about people who are in operational development.