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LinkedIn Blocked By Russian Government (pcworld.com)

Posted by msmash on from the get-out-of-here dept.

LinkedIn's network just got a little smaller: Russia's communications regulator ordered ISPs to block access to the business networking company on Thursday. From a report on PCWorld: Roskomnadzor made the order after a Moscow appeal court last week upheld an earlier ruling that LinkedIn breached Russian privacy laws. Tagansky district court ruled against LinkedIn on Aug. 4, following a complaint from the Russian federal service for the supervision of communications, information technology and mass media that its activities breached a law requiring businesses handling Russians' personal data to process that data in Russia. Roskomnadzor said it filed suit after LinkedIn failed to respond to two requests for information about its plans for relocating the data to Russia. LinkedIn isn't the only U.S. company that has been targeted under the legislation.

68 comments

  1. Lucky them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Vlad is 'da man!

    1. Re:Lucky them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      For Pete's sake, the short for Vladimir is Volodya or Vova. Vlad is short for Vladislav. Completely different name. You might as well shorten Obama to Dick.

    2. Re:Lucky them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For Pete's sake, the short for Vladimir is Volodya or Vova. Vlad is short for Vladislav. Completely different name. You might as well shorten Obama to Dick.

      Who gives a shit???

    3. Re:Lucky them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's no educating Trump trolls about the world's most basic customs, unfortunately.

    4. Re:Lucky them by Marsoupial · · Score: 1

      In the U.S. Vlad is short for any (male) name that is vaguely Russian, Romanian/Transylvanian, or more broadly eastern European. For instance if you meet someone with an eastern European accent you can call them Vlad, although typically not to their face because otherwise you can come off looking like a dick. In a pinch it can also be used for anyone that is not originally from the U.S., or for people who are from the U.S. but have an appropriate ethnic background, suitable for racial stereotyping.

    5. Re: Lucky them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Good for them.
      Linkedin is a spying network developed by outsourced indian refugees on H1B.
      Now part of Monkeyshit Corp with shit for security.

    6. Re:Lucky them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nah, "Vlad" is just a generic name for anyone who dresses like a Goth or is a wannabe Vampire. :)

      Actual people with Russian Accents tend to be only one fake-accent removed from a James Bond Villain. Like I've met several (that I'm not related to) and they all sound more authentic than Hollywood Russian, but the average person wouldn't really tell. It's like when you listen to a Japanese or Korean person speak. Both of them have similar accents when speaking English, but only the Japanese speaker will completely fail to make a distinct r/l sound.

      Many hollywood accents stop a little short of the "drop prepositions and proper nouns". The rest is just inflection on vowels.

    7. Re:Lucky them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Short form of Obama is Obama. Dick was a completely different crook.

  2. Instead of de facto segmentation, de jure by HBI · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The Internet is segmenting, whether we like it or not. China, Russia, Middle Eastern countries...the list goes on. Hell, Western nations are now firewalling themselves. Might as well do it in an organized and advantageous way to the West rather than watching it fragment piece by piece. A well chosen segmentation plan would hamper foreign intelligence gathering and criminal activity.

    The open network dream is dead. Let's accept it and move on.

    --
    HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
    1. Re:Instead of de facto segmentation, de jure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The Internet is segmenting, whether we like it or not. China, Russia, Middle Eastern countries...the list goes on. Hell, Western nations are now firewalling themselves. Might as well do it in an organized and advantageous way to the West rather than watching it fragment piece by piece. A well chosen segmentation plan would hamper foreign intelligence gathering and criminal activity.

      The open network dream is dead. Let's accept it and move on.

      Fine with me. Nothing over there I care about anyway. All the Russkie websites can do is drop malware on your box anyway. Good riddance...

    2. Re:Instead of de facto segmentation, de jure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Another hippie dream foiled by the realities of human nature.

    3. Re:Instead of de facto segmentation, de jure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The open network dream ....

      If you value openness so much, please share your credit card details. This is a government saying their residents are entitled to privacy; it's telling that none of the so-called free countries have such laws. Even in Europe, data privacy is enforced by the EU, not so much by the individual governments. (Until recently, Germany did demand data privacy.)

      ... hamper foreign intelligence gathering and criminal activity ...

      That's why the UK passed the snooper's charter, which is different to firewall-ing (censoring) a country, which many, so-called free countries, do as well. By the way, Australia passed a snooper's charter last year and no-one blinked.

  3. then by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    they must do the needful

  4. Makes sense. by grub · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now that they've hired Trump, they no longer need to see his profile.

    --
    Trolling is a art,
    1. Re:Makes sense. by bev_tech_rob · · Score: 2

      Now that they've hired Trump, they no longer need to see his profile.

      No kidding! LOL You hit that square on the head. Where are my mod points when I need them??

      --
      You're messin' with my Zen Thing, man.....
    2. Re:Makes sense. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Oh how the looney left has done a complete 180. First it's accuse all opponents of engaging in ludicrous conspiracy theories.

      And here's the left now, engaging in a ludicrous conspiracy theory that they just won't let go. The Rooskies! It's the Rooskies fault, I tells ya!

      Hilarious.

    3. Re:Makes sense. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You talk about skeptics spreading FUD, but the left has yet to provide any real evidence that Russia was involved in any kind of democratic manipulation in the US.

    4. Re:Makes sense. by unixisc · · Score: 1

      Trump's 'encouragement' of Russia to get involved constituted just one tongue-in-cheek statement from him to have the Russians hack Clinton's server and find those 33,000 deleted emails. Since Clinton claimed that none of those were classified, and they were all about her yoga schedules and Chelsea's wedding arrangements, such a hack shouldn't have mattered, right? That's very different from what the Dems were alleging viz Trump encouraging the Russians to interfere in the US elections

    5. Re:Makes sense. by smooth+wombat · · Score: 0

      that's very different from what the Dems were alleging viz Trump encouraging the Russians to interfere in the US elections

      Which is exactly what Trump did. He encouraged a foreign government to commit espionage against a U.S. citizen who was also running for president. That's about as close to treason as one can get.

      If you don't think that's treason, turn it around and ask, "If Hillary had said the exact same thing, how would I have reacted?" Obviously you would have gone apeshit and demanded she drop out from the race and be investigated but when Trump the con artist says it, meh, no big deal.

      It's hilarious to see the twisted, tortured excuses the right comes up with to justify Trump's crimes.

      --
      We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
    6. Re: Makes sense. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Obama regime has had ties with ISIS.
      Who would you rather have to run the country - a confirmed terrorist obama-clinton, or a civil builder?
      Get some sense.

  5. Russian privacy laws by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "Russian privacy laws", lol

    The Russian privacy law is "you have no privacy".

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    1. Re: Russian privacy laws by bev_tech_rob · · Score: 2

      "Russian privacy laws", lol

      The Russian privacy law is "you have no privacy".

      In Soviet Russia, privacy law spies on you! (or something like that..shit)...

      --
      You're messin' with my Zen Thing, man.....
    2. Re: Russian privacy laws by gti_guy · · Score: 3, Insightful

      And this differs from the US/UK privacy laws how?

    3. Re: Russian privacy laws by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It doesn't, but we're still working hard to copy their state-run media that everyone knows worked so well.

    4. Re: Russian privacy laws by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

      And this differs from the US/UK privacy laws how?

      Don't ask me, I just fly the drone.

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    5. Re: Russian privacy laws by LordWabbit2 · · Score: 1

      So... Russia's privacy laws are exactly the same as America's then.
      Good to know

      --
      There are three kinds of falsehood: the first is a 'fib,' the second is a downright lie, and the third is statistics.
  6. One less source of LinkedIn spam. by Kenja · · Score: 2

    Now if only China would do the same.

    --

    "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
    1. Re:One less source of LinkedIn spam. by Marsoupial · · Score: 1

      Now if only the U.S. would do the same.

  7. If only we could do the same by Patent+Lover · · Score: 3, Funny

    This is one of the few good reasons to move to Russia.

    1. Re:If only we could do the same by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Sorry to spoil it for you, but Russia does not have laws, privacy, or privacy laws. Linked in is probably banned because they did not give FSB a backdoor when asked nicely, everything else is a BS. Source: I am Russian.

    2. Re:If only we could do the same by Marsoupial · · Score: 1

      That and borscht.

    3. Re:If only we could do the same by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      +9000. Even though LinkedIn has large problem wrt respecting privacy (AFAIR, no personal experience), "solution" that was suggested by this "law" (move data to Russia) has NOTHING to do with fixing those problems (and completely opposite).

      So, in this case, all hail to LinkedIn for not caving in!

    4. Re:If only we could do the same by Patent+Lover · · Score: 1

      Whoosh!

  8. phrased questionably by s.petry · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Your phrasing shows the fragmentation from Countries like Russia and China, but omits regulations and requirements put forth by the EU as a whole and many other independent countries after it was revealed that the US was snooping on everyone all the time (including our allies). This includes the UK, Canada, Australia, and obviously more. Many of the Countries within the EU want tighter restrictions, forcing ISPs to house data for the German Government and people in Germany. Though this is not currently EU law there is pressure to go this way.

    Some information is certainly worth being able to be shared with the world, but some data is not. Security experts have been saying this for decades.

    If LinkedIn wanted to do business in Russia I'm sure they could lease data center space and house Russian PII information in Russia as they have been requested to do. If you are in the UK, would you want your data housed in China? How about Iran? I'm sure you could get a great deal on DC costs there, but it's not worth the risk to most.

    --

    -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.

    1. Re:phrased questionably by unrtst · · Score: 2

      IANARL, but AFAIK the Russian law regarding hosting data within the country has nothing to do with the privacy of its citizens data. As part of that law, companies are allowed to export any and all data to systems residing in any other country in the world. The limitation the law imposes requires a store of that data, or a log of it, to exist within Russia's borders, and for it to flow through a system within Russia before it leaves the country (or not). In this particular case (linkedin), they could probably get away with putting some frontend web servers in Russia, force all Russian users to go through those servers, and have those servers do a double-write of data - once to a system in Russia, and once to their normal systems.

      The EU laws, on the other hand, help to protect PII data of their citizens. That data is not allowed to be stored on systems outside the EU at all (unless there are other agreements in place, or it's not PII, etc etc lots of fine print). In short, EU privacy law has more to do with protecting the data from external eyes, and the Russian law has more to do with Russia being able to subpoena (or the RU equivalent) the data of their citizens.

      Another significant difference, perhaps the biggest one, is that the EU law does not apply to companies that are not located within the EU. However, Linkedin is getting blocked BECAUSE they are not located in RU.

    2. Re:phrased questionably by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "US was snooping on everyone all the time (including our allies). " Every enemy or allie of the US does the same thing. It has never been a secret that the US spies on both enemies and allies just like it was never a secret that the US was spied upon by everyone. The US is the biggest target on the planet for foreign intelligence agencies. US government, commercial entities, R&D enterprises, and military sectors are under constant attack. Why was it so surprising to learn that all nation state foreign intelligence agencies actually spy? And be careful throwing around the word allies. I can't think of a single US "allie" that is prepared to back the US as much as the US is asked to back them. The European and Asian countries pretend to be allies to be able to cower under US military protection. Let's level out the international relationships to see where everyone really stands by withdrawing all US military support from everyone. Let's see what the world looks like with everyone standing on their own for a change. If people think the US is a bad allie maybe they need to see what the US looks like as an enemy.

    3. Re:phrased questionably by s.petry · · Score: 4, Informative

      Not only are you not a lawyer (I am not either), but you refused to read the Russian Law brought into question with the LinkedIn ban which explicitly states that data on Russian people must be housed inside of Russia. In fact if you read the article you would see this law articulated in exactly that way. You don't have to be a lawyer, you simply have to spend a few minutes of time to read.

      You then flat out lie (intentional or otherwise) about the EU law which absolutely applies to companies outside of the EU. US Companies must house data inside the EU and all data handling must be compliant with both EU and local laws regarding data handling.

      Your opinion is of no value, thanks for playing.

      --

      -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.

    4. Re:phrased questionably by I4ko · · Score: 1

      like linkedin knows what your nationality is. Especially for expats, who are still legally citizens of their original countries but reside somewhere else, linkedin has no clue.

    5. Re:phrased questionably by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      American companies should just tell foreign governments to fuck right off.

      It would be a different situation entirely if the foreign governments didn't want to spy on their citizens in pre-crime gong shows. What this means really is that a "new" internet needs to be built on top of the existing one that doesn't care about international borders. I'm not talking about darkweb bullshit either. I'm mean a version of the internet where everyone is anonymous and nobody is allowed to use their real names. Because the demand for real names and the ability to pin liability on people is why we're stuck right now.

      Fuck you facebook, fuck you blizzard, and fuck you google for creating this surveillance attitude by data mining personal information.

    6. Re:phrased questionably by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly. If one day Taobao.com leaked tons of account information on US customers due to hacking done in China, you will see the outcry from /. asking why there is no law to require Taobao to setup servers in the US to store US customer account info.

    7. Re:phrased questionably by tepples · · Score: 1

      If EU members' data must be stored within the EU, and Russian members' data must be stored within Russia, what allowance does the law make for storing data about interaction between EU members and Russian members?

    8. Re:phrased questionably by s.petry · · Score: 1

      While my opinions are free my time and research abilities are not. Time for you to do some homework I guess.

      --

      -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.

    9. Re:phrased questionably by unrtst · · Score: 1

      ... law ... explicitly states that data on Russian people must be housed inside of Russia

      Where did I say otherwise? The law does not say that the data must not leave Russia. You can house it there and continue to pass it on to your external systems. Ask your lawyers for confirmation on that, but that's the word I got.

      You then flat out lie...

      Come on... stop it with the accusations, especially when you're wrong :-)

      ...the EU law which absolutely applies to companies outside of the EU. US Companies must house data inside the EU and all data handling must be compliant with both EU and local laws regarding data handling.

      The law is more complex than that, of course, and your statement is only true with a bunch of other conditionals. If you have a US company, physically located in the US, and all employees in the US, and servers in the US, you don't have to do jack shit for the EU. In our "global market", and when we refer to these large sites like Linkedin, Facebook, Google, etc, they have enough parts that touch the EU that they have to comply at least partially.

  9. Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hopefully it means fewer Russian H1B's and immigrants here.

    1. Re: Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, instead more smelly shitty indian monkeys with phony degrees and diplomas, along with their entire villages of smelly shitty and ugly monkeys.
      And don't forget terrorists that Obama regime imported from pakistan, afghanistan, iraq.

    2. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Opposite. This means there will be much more immigrants, and very soon.
      (And currently it is trivial [even if annoying] to circumvent all those blocks, even for not technically-inclined people, so it won't stop any potential H1B applicant from using LinkedIn).

  10. Blocked by... government bla bla bla by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How is the circumvention process moving along? Is LinkedIn even trying? Or do they just put their hands and say 'I surrender!'

    When in this fucking world are we ever going to hear about routing around and defeating censorship? Give us some good news dammit! The internet needs a laxative to eliminate the blockage. Let the shit flow freely! You will feel better for it.

    1. Re:Blocked by... government bla bla bla by Vitus+Wagner · · Score: 1

      > How is the circumvention process moving along? Is LinkedIn even trying?

      They do. As a Russian LinkedIn user I've got letter from them today where they state that they are working with Russian authorities to resolve this problem, but meanwhile I'll be able to get updates via E-Mail. Because law doesn't require providers to block E-Mail.

      Here is text of the mail:

      Hello,

      As you may have already learned, the government of the Russian Federation decided to block LinkedIn in Russia because we do not store the personal data of Russian members on the territory of the Russian Federation.

      We are disappointed with this decision, which interferes with professional networking and the pursuit of economic opportunity for many of our Russia-based members. Additionally, we believe we are in compliance with all applicable laws, and we are currently evaluating the decision and our options. We expressed to Roskomnadzor, the relevant government agency, our interest in meeting to discuss their localization request directly.

      Depending on how this decision is implemented, many of our services may no longer be accessible within Russia for some time. However, you could still access LinkedIn from outside of Russia. You can also still be found and contacted by others for career opportunities, receive relevant content over email, and other benefits. Therefore, we will keep your account open unless you tell us to close it.

      If you purchased a paid LinkedIn service and can no longer access that service because of the government block, please let us know via email at linkedin_ru@cs.linkedin.com and we will make a prorated refund available to you.

      Thank you,

      LinkedIn Trust & Safety

  11. I don't understand why everyone hates linkedln by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As an HR professional, it's been a dream. I always have a pool of qualified candidates a search away. Maybe I'm trying to fill your dream job, and you'd never know because you're happy where you are and aren't actively searching. How are we supposed to reach these candidates?

    1. Re:I don't understand why everyone hates linkedln by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      More like 'Maybe I'm a recruiter under fire from my boss for not submitting qualified candidates, and now, it has been made even more difficult for me to reach out to them. How do I hang on to my job, much less get paid any commissions for any closures?'

    2. Re: I don't understand why everyone hates linkedln by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      1. Our data is pimped out by LinkedIN
      2. Those hidden views of my profile - I want to know who's looking at me.
      3. Emails from recruiters every day that look like identity thieves.
      4. Having what is pretty much my resume up there and then getting a request from an HR professional for me to send my resume to them - it's the same goddamn information.
      5. Having every twit with my email in their contact list letting LinkedIN have access to it and getting requests to link with them.
      6. Which makes LinkedIN like Facebook
      7. Anyone using LinkedIN for recruiting is not getting the best people.
      8. I'm recruited by other geeks who can refer an employer to me and let me know they aren't a sweat shop.
      9. HR professionals wouldn't know a good candidate from some love off the street; which means your employer is a moron and I wouldn't want to work for them.
      10. LinkedIN is totally worthless because I have never ever got a job using it.
      11. I canceled my account because it's so lame - and so are the companies that use it for recruiting - Goodwiil recruits that way - yes, their IT mgr told me.

    3. Re: I don't understand why everyone hates linkedln by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      do u have 11 years expierience with apple swift
      also jaba

    4. Re: I don't understand why everyone hates linkedln by unixisc · · Score: 1

      4. Actually, it's not always redundant information. Depending on what sort of a job I'm looking at, I might want to customize my resume

      5. This! I have several email IDs, only one of which I use w/ LinkedIn. Yet, on one of the others, I get an invitation to join some relative's network on LinkedIn - even though I'm already one of her LinkedIn connections.

    5. Re: I don't understand why everyone hates linkedln by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I am having doctorate in Swift from IIT, and will work in exchange for my eventual freedom.

  12. Uh oh by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

    How is Putin going to keep in contact with Trump?

    1. Re:Uh oh by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      How is Putin going to keep in contact with Trump?

      I thought he was moving in with the Don.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    2. Re:Uh oh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Using good old phone, with analog scrambling on top

    3. Re:Uh oh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Trump received a 934-TX chip

  13. App blocking != network fragmentation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If Russia made their own internet and unplugged themselves from the globe then yes, global internet: fragmented. This is blocking an app which is wholly different, if some Russian person wanted to connect to that app they could, would it be illegal? I don't know what Russian laws are, but I'll take a wild ass guess and say "Probably".

    But let's take this closer to home; NETFLIX USA is blocked from NETFLIX CANADA and a lot of Canadians skirt the law to connect to it via a US hosted VPN

    So I guess NETFLIX is "fragmenting" the internet then too...

    1. Re:App blocking != network fragmentation by HBI · · Score: 1

      So if you go from country to country and your connectivity is limited, and the limitation grows by leaps and bounds as the years pass by, how does that differ from the fragmentation that I am referring to?

      Answer: It doesn't. I'm just advocating getting in front of it for the obvious benefits, rather than being the last people to get the message.

      --
      HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
    2. Re:App blocking != network fragmentation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sites and services have been regionally blocking for ages, this isn't new, this isn't breaking the internet

  14. In Soviet Russia... by Snufu · · Score: 2

    "The Republic comprised sixteen autonomous republics, five autonomous oblasts, ten autonomous okrugs, six krais, and forty oblasts."

    What, you expected a punchline? You insensitive oblast!

  15. Old news by whh3 · · Score: 2

    There were already rumors that this would happen:

    http://www.wsj.com/articles/russia-may-block-linkedin-if-company-loses-court-case-on-personal-data-law-1478775414

    Russia is asking that user data about its citizens be stored in the country exclusively. This is not unlike what the EU is asking under their new privacy laws.

    --
    remove nospam. to email!
  16. "Russian privacy laws" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Russian privacy laws

    This one is a misnomer. You cannot put "privacy" or "laws" in the same paragraph with "Russia", unless separated by a "NO"

  17. Wow, that's funny! Me too! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I block LinkedIn too.

    "Hey! Someone you may know is inviting you to join LinkedIn! Share your employment history along with college and certification information with total strangers. Don't worry, nobody can hack us - we promise." BLOCKED!

  18. Putin fights for the User! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Finally, some real executive level action on antispam policy...