Russian officials offer to fine for the use of foreign Internet services in the service

Photo: Chris Helgren / Reuters

An interesting proposal was made by a member of the State Duma Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption Ilya Kostunov. Thus, the deputy proposed to introduce responsibility for the use of foreign Internet services (Gmail, Viber, WhatsApp and others) when working with proprietary information. According to Kostunov, various government agencies should work out for themselves the requirements for working with this kind of information. Responsibility for violation of the requirements will be established by special legislative acts - they are now being developed. And the punishment can be quite significant - from fine to dismissal.

This opinion is also supported by the Secretary of the Russian Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, who yesterday criticized officials using Google, Yahoo and WhatsApp. According to the official, at the present time “the presence of foreign technical intelligence software in the information systems (state authorities) is noted”.

In the opinion of Ilya Kostunov, foreign telecommunication services, despite being free of charge, receive something from the user. This is information about the user himself, and if an official works with the service, the service receives data on the civil service of the person. Plus, similar services cannot give security guarantees to domestic users, since they work in a foreign legal field. Interestingly, the official supports the work with the Windows OS, since, according to him, this operating system has been certified by the FSB and works without problems in a government agency.
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As an alternative to communication services, Kostunov suggests using sms-messages and voice calls. According to him, instead of foreign mail services, it is necessary to use corporate mail systems. To store data in the cloud, you need to work with domestic Internet services, the official said, and if there are no analogues in Russia yet, they need to be developed.

Earlier, officials have stated that it is difficult to work without personal mail. “There is no remote access to work mail, therefore, unfortunately, one cannot do without a personal one - do not sit at the computer for whole days,” said a government worker who wished to remain anonymous.