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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.

14 of 68 comments (clear)

  1. 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.
  2. 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.....
  3. 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?

  4. 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?"
  5. 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.

  6. 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 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.

  7. 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.

  8. 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!

  9. 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.

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    remove nospam. to email!