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Russia To Require Registration For Wi-Fi Use

Posted by timothy on from the Rossvyazokhrankultura-is-the-short-version dept.

Oleg.salenko points out a ComputerWorld story with some bad news for Russia's wireless users, which starts out "Business travelers to Russia might want to keep their laptops and iPhones well-concealed — not from muggers, necessarily, but from the country's recently formed regulatory super-agency, Rossvyazokhrankultura (short for the Russian Mass Media, Communications and Cultural Protection Service)... Rossvyazokhrankultura's interpretation of current law holds that users must register any electronics that use the frequency involved in Wi-Fi communications, said Vladimir Karpov, the deputy director of the agency's communications monitoring division, according to an English commentary provided by website The Other Russia." It gets worse: "Aside from public hotspots, the registration requirement also applies to home networks, laptops, smart phones and Wi-Fi-enabled PDAs, Karpov reportedly said. Registration only permits use by the owner. Registration for personal devices is said to take 10 days, but registering a hotspot — including a home network — is more complicated, involving a set of documents and technological certifications akin to putting in a cell tower."

8 of 155 comments (clear)

  1. beaurocracy by countach · · Score: 4, Informative


    Russia has always been top heavy in beaurocracy, even before Soviet times.

  2. Re:I'm so sorry for this by enoz · · Score: 4, Informative

    In case it isn't obvious (it wasn't immediately obvious to me), that TLD is the extension that was created for the Soviet Union. Apparently it is still in use today.

  3. Re:I'm so sorry for this by mikesd81 · · Score: 3, Informative

    In fact this was a story on /. Saturday.

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    That which does not kill me only postpones the inevitable.
  4. Re:I got one! by rlp · · Score: 4, Informative

    Just out of curiosity, where did the Soviet Russia jokes come from?

    Origin of Russian reversal.

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    [Insert pithy quote here]
  5. Re:Yes, but... by Shaman007 · · Score: 5, Informative

    The registration is required by commercial organisations only. Please stop the FUD.

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    -- With best regards. Really. Shaman007
  6. Re:And... by __NR_kill · · Score: 5, Informative

    I would rather cue the jokes about Soviet Australia, as the dudes from computerworld.com.au misinterpreted the function of this agency, which only registers hotspots or for-profit wi-fi networks. The end consumer is fully exempted. Here's the google translation of their article: http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rsoc.ru%2Fmain%2Fabout%2F858%2F887.shtml%3Fid_news%3D628&langpair=ru%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

  7. That's a hoax, and has been known to be for days by AndyElf · · Score: 2, Informative

    That's a hoax, and has been known to be for a few days already... http://www.iphones.ru/iNotes/2922/

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    --AP
  8. False alarm. by kirillart · · Score: 2, Informative

    Here google translation of response from Rossvyazokhrankultura website: http://www.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rsoc.ru%2Fmain%2Fabout%2F858%2F887.shtml%3Fid_news%3D628&langpair=ru%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF8 In short: 1. You have to register only if you provide internet access for money. . 2. End-user Wi-fi equipment is excluded from list of telecommunication equipment required to register.