Russia is strong-arming Apple; Moscow is demanding control over users’ personal data

“The Russian security services could soon have access to the personal data of thousands of Apple users in Russia, following the tech giant’s decision to comply with Russian law and store user data on servers in the country,” Amy MacKinnon reports for Foreign Policy.
“Roskomnadzor, the Russian government agency that oversees media and telecommunications, has confirmed for the first time that Apple Russia is to adhere to a 2014 law that requires any company handling the digital data of Russian citizens to process and store it on servers physically located in Russia,” MacKinnon reports. “Under Russian counterterrorism laws, Apple could be compelled to decrypt and hand over user data to security services on request.”
“With Apple products now able to gather vast quantities of information on their customers’ lives, the company has publicly positioned itself as a champion of data privacy, and CEO Tim Cook has condemned the ‘weaponization’ of personal data,” MacKinnon reports. “But in China and now Russia, Apple has quietly complied with local laws that could leave vast quantities of user data within the reach of the state.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: It’s a can of worms. Not every country offers the same rights as others.
We follow the law wherever we do business. — Apple CEO Tim Cook, August 1, 2017