Russian authorities seek to block LinkedIn
Russia's Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies and Mass Communications, also known as Roskomnadzor, will strive to block the LinkedIn social networking service. According to officials, the website, where approximately 400 million people are registered, violates the requirements of the law on the protection of the personal data of Russian citizens.
Rambler News Service reported that the agency had applied to the Tagansky District Court of Moscow in August as it did not receive responses to two queries requesting information on the implementation of Russian laws. The judge then decided to proceed with the lawsuit.
“If the Moscow City Court agrees with the decision of the first instance court, we will put LinkedIn into the register of the violators of personal data. This implies that the networking service will be blocked in Russia,” Roskomnadzor stated.
The Press Secretary of Roskomnadzor, Vadim Ampelonskiy, explained to RIA Novosti that authorities have exercised their right to apply to the court as they are complying with the process of interacting with foreign companies who do not have representative offices in the Russia. According to him, LinkedIn has filed an appeal to the Moscow City Court against the decision of the Tagansky District Court.
LinkedIn is the world’s largest social networking site used for the establishment of business contacts and job hunting. It was recently reported that a Russian hacker, who had hacked the site, was detained in Prague.
The next court hearing in the case of LinkedIn will take place in the Tagansky District Court on the 10th of November.