Skip to footer

Russian court upholds decision to block LinkedIn, citing 'digital sovereignty' law

In August, LinkedIn was found to be violation of a law which requires websites to store the data of their Russian users in local servers.

|
Ivan Sekretarev/ AP
Cars drive past the monument to Vladimir the Great, who brought Christianity to pagan Kievan Rus in the 10th century in downtown Moscow, Russia with the Kremlin at the background on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2016.

A Russian court has upheld the decision to block social networking site LinkedIn in the country, reports Russian news agency Interfax.

In August, LinkedIn was found to be violation of a law to support "digital sovereignty," which requires websites to store the data of their Russian users in local servers. A higher court rejected an appeal by the website on Thursday.

Officials say the law, which has never been enforced previously, was designed to protect Russians’ personal data from foreign cyberattacks. But critics say the rule is actually meant to tighten government control over the Russian internet users. Either way, it could change the way foreign websites and online businesses operate within Russia.

The law, which was passed in 2014, requires global internet companies to store the personal data of their Russian users on local servers. Companies must also retain that information for six months, during which time Russian authorities may access it. Noncompliance may result in “administrative penalties” or even a ban from the country.

In 2014, The Christian Science Monitor’s Fred Weir reported:

Critics see the new measures as part of a Kremlin-backed offensive aimed at crushing the last bastions of free speech, and cutting off Russians' remaining connections with the wider world – a charge Moscow supporters say masks the real issue of the West allegedly waging an "information war" to discredit Russian policies.

The Internet data law comes on top of two years of ever-toughening legislation to curb dissent, civil society action, and independent media. Among the fresh wave of laws is one that would limit foreign ownership of any media outlet to 20 percent and a proposal to install a Kremlin-controlled "kill switch" for the Internet, to be employed in the event of crisis.

"This is all part of a campaign to 'cleanse' the Russian Internet of everything objectionable to the authorities," says Mikhail Delyagin, director of the independent Institute of Globalization Problems in Moscow. "It demonstrates that our leaders are scared of free speech."

If Russia decides to enforce the law more strictly going forward, it could have major implications beyond social media. If companies decline to maintain their servers in the country, Russian users may find themselves unable to book flights or use international credit cards. Some experts say Russia could be completely cut off from the global internet if it pushes the law too hard.

“Unfortunately, technology is moving much faster than the ability of legislation and law enforcement to keep up with it,” Andrei Kolesnikov, director of the Coordination Center for Ru.net domains, told the Monitor in 2015.

The heads of Booking.com, an online reservations site, have promised to comply with the law. But many other internet giants, such as Facebook and Google, have yet to specify whether they will transfer the requisite data to Russian servers.

This report includes material from Reuters.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Russian court upholds decision to block LinkedIn, citing 'digital sovereignty' law
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/2016/1110/Russian-court-upholds-decision-to-block-LinkedIn-citing-digital-sovereignty-law
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe