Russian communication ministry expects no veto on data storage bill

MOSCOW, Jun 30 (PRIME) -- Russia’s Communications and Mass Media Ministry is contacting with President Vladimir Putin regarding the much-argued bill obliging mobile operators and Internet companies to store data on users’ activities and exchanged content, but does not expect a veto to be imposed, Minister Nikolai Nikiforov said Thursday.

The clauses that provoked severe criticism among operators and experts are only a part of the whole package of antiterrorist bills, which makes them quite difficult to veto, Nikiforov said.

“I’m sure that we will succeed in avoiding dramatic consequences of the bill by the autumn session (of the State Duma, the parliament’s lower house),” the minister said.

“We will certainly submit amendments. We will offer them to the government, and if the latter agrees with our standpoint, they will be added to the law…Amendments could be added during the autumn session of the State Duma.”

If the bill is signed by Putin into law, operators’ expenses will count hundreds of billions of rubles, and connection services could quadruple, the minister said.

The Federation Council, the parliament’s upper house, approved earlier the bill, obliging operators to store information on calls, text messages, photos, sounds and video exchange on the country’s territory for three years and content of talks and correspondence for up to six months. Internet companies must keep this information for one year.

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