Bill on checking ID by phone number to be ready in July

MOSCOW, Jun 28 (PRIME) -- The concept of a bill offering to confirm people’s identity by a mobile phone number will be ready in July, Dmitry Ter-Stepanov, regulation department’s head at Russia’s working group on statutory regulation at autonomous non-commercial organization Digital Economy said on Thursday.

“As identification is a key issue of the digital economy, preparation of the new document will be split into two stages. A full concept of the bill will be ready within two–three weeks, and drafting of the document itself will be the next stage,” Ter-Stepanov said.

The bill says that a person could be identified not only by a phone number, but also via an electronic signature, biometry or dactyloscopic data.

Darya Abramova, marketing director at global connection operator and IT services integrator Orange Business Services in Russia and CIS, said that ID confirmation by a phone number in Russia will facilitate the process of identification of a subscriber for many electronic services.

“Since long ago we’ve viewed a phone number as personal data of the subscriber. This is why we think that amendments will be able to simplify identification of the subscriber for many electronic services, making their provision and use more convenient,” she said.

Identification by a phone number could be applied to any services requiring passport information. “For example, now (the phone number) is used to identify users in pubic Wi-Fi networks,” Abramova said.

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