The State Duma approved a bill to expedite a new set of Internet regulations that, experts say, would provide for the banning of such web services as Facebook, Booking.com and Amazon.
A law requiring all online companies to store users' personal data on Russian territory was passed last July and was set to enter into effect in September 2016.
Concerned about the need to "ensure faster and more effective protection of Russian citizens' rights to telecommunication privacy and personal data safety," lawmakers submitted a bill to slide the deadline forward by more than a year, according to the Duma's website.The bill to set the deadline to Jan. 1, 2015, passed in the crucial second reading on Wednesday.
Lobbying group the Information & Computer Technologies Industry Association said in an open letter on Monday that the rule would cripple Russia's IT industry. Russia simply lacks the technical facilities to host databases with users' personal data, and setting up the infrastructure within the remaining three months is impossible, the letter said.
"Most companies will be forced to put their operations on hold, inflicting untold damage on the Russian economy," the group said on its website.
But their appeal failed to sway lawmakers, who fast-tracked the bill — a procedure that, most political pundits say, implies endorsement from the Kremlin, which has not commented on the initiative.
The government intends to set up a roster of companies found to have violated the new law, a Duma representative was cited by Kommersant daily on Thursday as saying. He did not elaborate on penalties for lawbreakers, but Russia has been actively blacklisting websites since 2011.
INC News, 25/09/2014
