The President of Russia supported the introduction of fines and criminal responsibility for leakage of citizens' personal data. The Ministry of Digital Development has been developing a similar bill since May, but large Russian businesses oppose almost every version of the document.
Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the introduction of criminal responsibility for the illegal trafficking of personal data, including the use of leaked databases, at the meeting of the Presidential Human Rights Council, attended by Putin remotely.
The President promised to give appropriate recommendations and instructions to the Ministry of Digital Development, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Central Bank.
The idea was presented by Kirill Kabanov, head of the National Anti-Corruption Committee. Kabanov proposed to prescribe turnover fines and criminal penalties for companies that allowed leaks and used the databases. He reminded Putin about the 2022 Yandex Eats and Gemotest data leaks, pointing out that they could lead to “perfectly concrete negative consequences.”
Putin noted the need to toughen responsibility for offenses in the sphere of personal data. Those who use this data should know and understand that they are using stolen data, he said.
“Of course this needs to work and make balanced decisions that will protect the interests of citizens and will not be an obstacle to the development of relevant and very necessary for the state information technology.”
Businesses are currently minimally responsible for compromising the personal data they gather. Yandex Eats and Gemotest were fined 60,000 rubles each: this is the maximal fine that a court can impose, and it’s roughly equal to $960.
Source: Cnews
