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Russia\u2019s internet regulator today confirmed that access to social networking site LinkedIn \u2014 which has been blocked in Russia since November 2016<\/a> \u2014 is not returning to Russia anytime soon, after it received a letter from the social network\u2019s VP of global public policy stating\u00a0that LinkedIn\u00a0will not move Russian user data to Russian territory. LinkedIn, which is now owned by Microsoft<\/a>\u00a0and has 6 million users<\/a> in the country, told TechCrunch that it is still working\u00a0on lifting the ban.<\/p>\n The bigger story here\u00a0has been how Russia has enforced\u00a0its rules to control how internet sites work in the country. In the case of data storage, Russia has argued that storing data within national borders is done in the name of protecting Russian internet users. Skeptics believe it simply creates an easier route for Russia to\u00a0access that data itself.<\/p>\n A short statement<\/a> (in Russian) on regulator Roskomnadzor\u2019s website notes that Pablo Chavez, LinkedIn\u2019s counsel, said\u00a0LinkedIn\u00a0is not ready to\u00a0clear its violations of Russian law, which requires<\/a>\u00a0internet companies to store Russian citizens\u2019 data on Russian servers.<\/p>\n The statement ends with a surprisingly broad conclusion to emphasize the point (italics ours): \u201cThe company has refused to fulfill the requirement of localization of databases with personal data of Russian citizens on the territory of the Russian Federation, thus confirming its\u00a0lack of interest in the Russian market<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n For a little extra\u00a0dramatic (and pretty Russian) effect, the regulator\u00a0also tweeted this<\/a>:<\/p>\n R.I.P. https:\/\/t.co\/g9st9q3PDW<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/S0sqCunlQa<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 \u0420\u043e\u0441\u043a\u043e\u043c\u043d\u0430\u0434\u0437\u043e\u0440 (@roscomnadzor) March 7, 2017<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Contacted for a response, LinkedIn,\u00a0unsurprisingly, said it is still trying to negotiate with the Russian authorities, after the regulator not only blocked access to its website but in January proceeded to order app stores to remove LinkedIn\u2019s apps<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cLinkedIn\u2019s vision is to create economic opportunity for the global workforce. We are disappointed with Roskomnadzor\u2019s action to block LinkedIn as it denies access to our services for our members and customers in Russia,\u201d said a spokesperson.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile we believe we comply with all applicable laws, and despite conversations with Roskomnadzor, including meeting with them in Moscow in December 2016, we have been unable to reach an understanding that would see them lift the block on LinkedIn in the Russian Federation. LinkedIn will continue to be available in the Russian language, and we hope that we are able to restore service in Russia in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n LinkedIn currently counts 465 million users globally, so Russia represents\u00a0a relatively small proportion of the company\u2019s audience \u2014 just 1.3 percent. However, it\u2019s not a stagnant market: That number grew by 1 million since November.<\/p>\n (As is often the case with these blocks, if you are in the country and use a VPN service that essentially makes you look like you\u2019re online in another country, you can continue to use LinkedIn and anything else that is or might get blocked. This might be one reason why the numbers continue to grow.)<\/p>\n A story parallel to the data storage theme\u00a0has been how Russia controls\u00a0what content it allows to appear on publicly accessible sites and apps, and blocking sites and apps that violate its content rules.<\/p>\n This, too, is done in the name of protecting users, although a more skeptical view could be that it shows that Russia is keeping a close watch on what is being published on the web, and it\u2019s not afraid to let\u00a0large internet companies know that it\u2019s prepared to act if something crosses the line.<\/p>\n One example from last week involved\u00a0Instagram removing<\/a> 300 pictures relating to \u201csuicidal content.\u201d The suicidal content rule has also seen both GitHub<\/a> and YouTube<\/a> blocked in the past.<\/p>\n In both the case of data storage and censorship, the implications are chilling when you consider the ongoing investigations and allegations about what role Russia may have played in hacking in the U.S. and spinning stories<\/a> to influencing major events\u00a0like the U.S. election \u2014 a theme that recurred even today<\/a> with the WikiLeaks dump of a data trove allegedly leaked from the CIA.<\/p>\n With data storage, it has been an inconsistent story so far both for Russia and LinkedIn.<\/p>\n The social network is not completely opposed to complying with national regulations when it comes to rules like this. When LinkedIn launched in China<\/a>, it did so by building essentially a completely separate site, with data hosted within the country, in order to meet similar regulatory requirements.<\/p>\n And in the case of data storage in Russia, as we\u2019ve noted before, there seem to be\u00a0a number of international sites accessible in Russia right now that do not host data within the country.<\/p>\n Facebook and Twitter, both accessible\u00a0in Russia, are among those that today appear still to keep their data housed out of Russia<\/a>.\u00a0Apple<\/a> and Google<\/a> reportedly have complied. Asked by TechCrunch earlier today, Microsoft declined to comment on whether it has any data centers in the country. (One note<\/a> some time ago implied that Azure does not have a Russia region, and this map<\/a>\u00a0indicates that it still does not. Microsoft offers these guidelines<\/a> for how businesses in Russia should handle alternatives to comply with the local laws.)<\/p>\n As we\u2019ve said before, it\u2019s not clear why LinkedIn was targeted here, but the fact that it\u2019s now owned by Microsoft does raise the stakes\u00a0for both sides. Two\u00a0questions are whether Microsoft will wade in to help LinkedIn, or, conversely, if Russia would consider trying to extend\u00a0its influence and control\u00a0to the services run by LinkedIn\u2019s much larger parent, too.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Article source: http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/techcrunch\/social\/~3\/sbiYw_5wCV4\/<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Russia\u2019s internet regulator today confirmed that access to social networking site LinkedIn \u2014 which has been blocked in Russia since November 2016 \u2014 is not returning to Russia anytime soon, <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[10,7,14,15,6,12,11],"class_list":["post-3950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-update","tag-computer-news","tag-downloads","tag-microsoft-download-news","tag-networking-updates","tag-technology-update","tag-wordpress-plugin-download","tag-wordpress-theme-download"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n