PRESS: Russian ministry wants Rostec be in charge of data retention

MOSCOW, Sep 2 (PRIME) -- Russia’s Industry and Trade Ministry has suggested putting the National Center of Informatization (NCI), a unit of state industrial giant Rostec, in charge of the fulfillment of the data retention laws, and operators would pay the center for the services 3–4 billion rubles per year, business daily Vedomosti reported Friday.

The ministry has submitted the suggestion to President Vladimir Putin. “Execution of the laws on storage of phone talks and correspondence, initiated by deputy Irina Yarovaya and senator Viktor Ozerov should be entrusted to the National Center of Informatization,” the ministry said, as quoted by the daily.

The NCI can create a distribution system of data processing centers. A ministry spokesperson said that having a single operator would save money on unification of technical solutions. Telecom companies would pay the center for maintenance of the system instead of independently investing in data storage.

According to Rostec, operators’ payments would count 95–105 billion rubles over five years, or 3–4 billion rubles per year for a big telecom operator.

Putin signed in early July a package of anti-terrorism laws obliging telecom and Internet companies to store metadata and content of users’ talks and correspondence, as well as provide access to these data to special services upon request.

(65.2566 rubles – U.S. $1)

End