Russia may force web firms to store Russians’ personal data within its borders

The Russian parliament, the Duma, has passed a bill that would require web service providers to store Russians’ personal data within the country’s borders.

The bill was passed on its first reading.

This is a similar move to that proposed in other countries such as Brazil, following Edward Snowden’s US National Security Agency revelations. However, Brazil dropped its plans for mandating local data storage.

If approved by the Federation Council, the Russian requirement will go into effect in September 2016, meaning companies like Google and Twitter would need to establish data centers in Russia by then if they want to continue trading legally there.

What is more, those that don’t comply may find their services blocked on the order of telecommunications regulator Roskomnadzor, according to Lenta.ru. In other words, this may be a precursor to the shutting-off of major international web services in Russia at some point in the coming years.