“Yarovaya’s Law” – what is it in simple words? The Yarovaya Law may violate EU norms. What else is he criticized for?
“The law is harsh, but it is the law,” says one of the formulas of Roman law. But can the law be too harsh, especially for those who have not committed a crime and do not intend to commit it? Judging by the reaction to the documents adopted on Friday, May 13, 2016 in the State Duma in the first reading, this may be the case.
So, the deputies discussed the bills “On Amendments to the Criminal Code Russian Federation and the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation in terms of establishing additional measures countering terrorism and ensuring public safety" and "On amendments to certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation regarding the establishment of additional measures to counter terrorism and ensure public safety."
Among other innovations, the first of the documents states: “... The Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation is supplemented by a provision according to which, on the basis of a court decision and in the presence of sufficient grounds, the investigator is allowed to obtain information contained in electronic and other messages. In this case, the receipt of such information can be established in relation to communications transmitted or received by the user within three years before the date of the judgment."
The amendments proposed to be made to the Law “On Communications” should oblige operators to inform law enforcement agencies “about the facts of reception, transmission, delivery and processing of voice information and text messages, including their content, as well as images, sounds or other messages from users.” The current law obliges operators to store data only about connection facts for three years.
That is, telecom operators are asked to store all information about their clients’ communications for three years - records telephone conversations, sometimes long and incoherent, sms, photos, pictures. From the outside, the proposal looks more than logical, but only from the outside.
To a person who has no idea about modern technologies, it seems that recording and hiding all our conversations in storage is a trivial matter. All the same, all information passes through servers. Access to it without the sanction of the prosecutor will be prohibited, therefore, a guarantee of inviolability privacy remains (yes, yes, conditionally, very conditionally, but constitutional rights will be guaranteed). However, when everything is recorded and protected only by codes and passwords, then advanced specialists still have a chance to steal someone’s personal secrets. And how can they be used later... I won’t list the options; I’ve read and watched all the detective stories.
However, the main problem Yarovaya's amendments are not at all in danger of violating privacy. Actually, no one can open servers with personal secrets yet. Simply because they don’t exist, and creating such a huge data warehouse is problematic, to put it mildly. Both operators and experts consider the task unsolvable today.
According to rough estimates, storing traffic for three years will cost about 5.2 trillion rubles, which is equal to a third of the Russian budget. Moreover, due to the gradually introduced data encryption, more than half of this information will not be used. The share of encrypted traffic in telecom operator networks is now 49 percent, and in three years it will grow to 90 percent. Consequently, half of the stored information is no longer suitable for analysis, and in the future, almost all the data will be encrypted.
If the law is passed, it may be cheaper to return switchboards and “girls”, as in the world’s first telephone exchange, than to build storage facilities for information
The Big Three operators estimate the cost of storing such data in a volume of five to six exabytes (one EB is equal to one million terabytes) at 18-20 billion dollars each, and each notes that these costs are several times higher than annual revenue (not even profit , namely revenue) of operators.
The Expert Council under the Russian Government echoes the operators. The conclusion posted on the Council’s website says: “The bill on amendments to the Federal Law “On strengthening measures to counter terrorism and ensure security” needs to be finalized, excluding articles that are technologically and economically unrealizable.”
The experts, as stated in the conclusion, share the concerns of government agencies regarding the issues of ensuring counteraction to terrorism and extremism, but:
“Given the volume of information that needs to be stored for 3 years, radical changes will be required in the mechanisms for obtaining and processing this information on the part of authorized government bodies carrying out operational investigative activities and ensuring the security of the Russian Federation. Control points and transmission channels organized in accordance with the requirements of current legislation data and control connecting lines from communication networks to the control systems of authorized government agencies support data transfer rates from 2048 kbit/s to 155 Mbit/s and will not be able to ensure the prompt processing of several hundred exabytes of information by authorized government agencies. In connection with this, it is obvious that the adoption The bill will require expenses covered by the federal budget to provide authorized state bodies, and will also entail changes in the financial obligations of the state."
Experts have found that there are either no examples of storing information in such volumes in world practice, or such storage is prohibited. Experts consider the amount of 5.2 trillion to be quite realistic, but they understand that businesses will not be able to find such funds; providers simply do not have the resources to implement the initiative.
The conclusion is disappointing - the adoption of the law in its current form will force many players to leave the market, and as a result - the general degradation of the Internet industry.
Experts believe that the current legislation, which obliges telecom operators to store for three years only data on the facts of reception, transmission, delivery of information without the content of voice information and text messages, is quite enough to resist terrorists. In terms of storing information about the content, the current legislation is limited to the requirement to ensure the possibility of storing it for authorized government bodies in relation to at least 2000 subjects of control for a period of at least 12 hours in accordance with the order of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications of Russia.
The conclusion is strict: “Articles 7 and 10 of the bill in its current version are technologically and economically unrealizable, contradict the existing ruling of the Constitutional Court and do not seem to be effective even in the short term.”
The official response to the bills given by the Government of the Russian Federation is generally positive, but the Government also proposes to reduce the period during which telecom operators in the Russian Federation will have to store data. In conclusion, the government recommends that the document be finalized for the second reading in accordance with the comments made. That is, no one plans to completely give up storing our pictures and SMS of the most varied content.
“The Council believes that the ultimate beneficiaries of this amendment will not be law enforcement agencies, not the state, but Internet companies that have made excessive investments in data storage centers, since the practice of applying federal law"On personal data" did not allow them to fill enough server racks."
Like this. Human rights experts suddenly found free server racks in some Internet companies (although a rack without a server could only store papers or books).
But the Human Rights Council is the only organization so far that has seen beneficiaries behind the bill. Everyone else sees only losses and problems in the responsibilities that can be imposed on operators. The head of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications, Nikolai Nikiforov, is confident that the adoption of the bill in its current form will lead “to a dramatic increase in prices for communication services.”
The result of the discussion that unfolded as soon as the deputies came up with a new legislative initiative, so far there is only one - the document was adopted in the first reading. Perhaps the deputies will have time to pass the bill in the second reading before the holidays, and in the fall, after the holidays, the decisive third reading will come.
The task of the noise that arose around the promotion of the project to the status of “law” is to correct the document before it is too late. We are accustomed to the fact that communication services are inexpensive, which Mobile Internet accessible anywhere in the city, which cellular telephone always in touch. But it seems that the data retention law will take us back at least a decade and a half, to a time when mobile phone was a luxury item and a sign of wealth, although he “knew” only how to make calls and send SMS.
However, okay, as long as the terrorists don’t get through. Let's sacrifice the operators. True, catching terrorists through negotiations will not be easy. It is hardly possible to record such a dialogue on air: “Hey, Mustafa, take the bomb to Said, and let him and Alibaba go to the airport. The time of the explosion is 12.30.” Lawbreakers, without a doubt, have already developed their conventional language, the phrases in which do not arouse any suspicion, because it is impossible to be interested in every kilogram of potatoes or a box of lemons, for example. And in the summer, negotiations about “butter” do not seem suspicious. So three years of data storage threatens everyone except terrorists. Honest citizens - loss of privacy, telecom operators - billions of losses. The only winners will be equipment manufacturers, who can raise prices on the sly, and legislators will add a plus for themselves for the adopted document. However - mutual responsibility- communications will become more expensive, unlimited tariffs will be a thing of the past, there will be nothing to keep in these huge storage facilities. The most modern and fastest growing industry Russian economy will begin to lose ground and, accordingly, reduce tax contributions to budgets of all levels.
The prospect is bleak, but inexorable as the formula of Roman law.
I remember:
At the beginning of July, high-profile anti-terrorism laws were adopted in Russia. In the media they began to be called by the name of one of the authors - a deputy from “ United Russia» Irina Yarovaya.
The biggest resonance was caused by changes related to information storage and access to it. Operators cellular communications obliged to store the contents of all calls and messages from subscribers for six months. All messages and actions of users on the Internet will be stored for the same amount of time. Data that a conversation or correspondence took place, but without content, will be stored even longer. From July 2018, intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies will have unhindered access to this information, even if it is encrypted.
Also, according to the new law, an article on international terrorism appeared in the Criminal Code. According to it, for an attempt on the health or life of citizens of the Russian Federation outside the country, a punishment of 10 to 20 years in prison or life imprisonment is provided.
Failure to report a crime has become a criminal offense. For "non-reporting" international terrorism, training or participation in terrorist communities, illegal armed groups and riots criminal liability occurs at the age of 14.
Punishment for extremism has been increased. Users of social networks who “justify terrorism” will be held accountable for their words in the same way as the media: they face up to 7 years in prison.
The law has tightened verification postal items and cargo. Missionary activity is significantly limited - for example, preaching in apartments and residential buildings is now prohibited.
The “Yarovaya Package” has been sharply criticized for interference in the personal lives of citizens and unprecedented costs for companies that will be forced to purchase expensive equipment and build additional data centers.
Expert opinion
The goal of the Yarovaya Package is to ensure greater security of the state in information sphere. I talked to the people who are responsible for this security. The gentlemen generals told me that they have everything. They already have everything they need. They don't need this package to perform the functions that are included in it.
Alexey Venediktov
editor-in-chief of the radio station "Echo of Moscow"
On the ineffectiveness of the “Yarovaya package”
Irina Yarovaya “On storing user data and disclosing encryption keys,” which states that providers and Internet companies are required to store user correspondence and disclose the keys to decrypt it to the authorities.
There has long been bad news on the Internet about the consequences of the adoption of the “anti-terrorism package”: shutdown of services, players from the market, increased prices for services, privacy, and so on.
And here’s what Russia’s largest telecom operators think about this.
Megaphone
The Russian communications industry is facing stagnation, since all the money, instead of developing new technologies, will be spent on recording and storing telephone conversations, videos viewed on the Internet by every citizen and all other files, texts and documents sent by individuals and legal entities.
– Pyotr Lidov-Petrovsky, PR Director at MegaFon
The company is confident that the cost of maintaining the appropriate equipment will amount to several trillion rubles, so prices for communication services will increase by two or even three times. Tele2 adheres to the same position.
Tele2
We still believe that if the law is passed (remained final stage), then operators will incur such expenses that prices for cellular communications for absolutely all subscribers may increase at least two to three times. These costs will in any case exceed our large-scale investment program for the construction and expansion of cellular networks, and this will lead to a slowdown or even stop the development of the entire cellular infrastructure in the country.
– Head of Tele2 Communications Department Konstantin Prokshin
According to Senator Viktor Ozerov, co-author of the bill, if mobile operators prove the increase in tariffs that awaits us after the adoption of the law, the Federation Council will return to the law and make changes. In addition, he admitted that he had never heard of such a mobile operator as Tele2.
MTS
Considering that our tax profit at the end of 2015 amounted to 22.5 billion rubles, and the income tax - 4.5 billion rubles, with such expenses we will not be able to pay income tax for about 100 years, and the budget will receive a shortfall of 450 billion rubles.
– MTS representative Dmitry Solodovnikov
Solodovnikov believes that because of the bill state treasury There will be less replenishment and not only telecommunications companies, but also the state itself will suffer. Considering the financial losses, this certainly won’t help get through the next crisis.
Beeline
It is already obvious that the adoption of the bill could lead to a slowdown in the pace of network development and to a significant increase in tariffs for communication services... The expenses of each operator will amount to at least 200 billion rubles. And this is just the first stage.
– representative of VimpelCom
The company will also not be able to pay income tax if the Yarovaya package is adopted. The costs of companies will increase several times, which will cause an increase in tariff prices.
What ultimately awaits the average user?
In fact, everything is quite simple. Storing not only information about user activity, but also their data for six months will lead to huge financial costs, which, in turn, will affect the wallet common man. Prices for communication services in the country will increase. In addition, this law will put any user or subscriber in an uncomfortable position - he will forever be suspected of any offense.
All calls, SMS, correspondence, including instant messengers, will be recorded and saved, and also provided to special services upon the first request.
UPD: The creator of the bill, Irina Yarovaya, gave an official response to the claims of cellular operators:
There is no reason to increase the price of communication services. This is unequivocal, categorical and unambiguous. Definitely, because the information that the law establishes requirements for a certain volume is unreliable.
She is confident that operators have no reason to claim that prices for their services are increasing. In order to consider this appeal, she needs facts.
Since the end of January 2017, the mobile operator Yota has stopped connecting new subscribers to tariffs with unlimited Internet. Since February, also at Megafon. At the same time, the intention to revise the tariff schedule at MTS. The Village I figured out why the operators first introduced unlimited service one after another, and now they are abandoning it.
Version No. 1. Nobody needs unlimited Internet
Operators who have already abandoned unlimited Internet claim that this is a niche option that is not really in demand by subscribers - package traffic is enough for most users.
Olga Alekseeva
PR Director Yota
We analyzed the traffic consumption of our clients. 85% of them spend no more than 5 gigabytes per month. In addition, the share of those who consume large amounts of data is falling every month.
This indicates that all users who really needed unlimited Internet, have already connected to Yota. That is why we decided to completely change the principle of providing services for smartphones, maintaining unlimited access for those who connected before January 25th. We also provided unlimited access to the ten most popular applications.
Yulia Dorokhina
Head of the press service of Megafon
The option is closed for new connections due to low demand - for last month we saw an extremely small number of new connections, which, on the scale of the federal operator, essentially means a complete lack of interest in the proposal.
Those clients who needed unlimited have already connected it. For the vast majority, the volumes of traffic that are included in the package offers are quite sufficient. To watch TV channels, films and series online, they can use the Megafon TV service. Traffic for them is not charged.
Version No. 2. Operators cannot cope with demand
An employee of one of the telecom operators refutes the first hypothesis. According to him, market participants could not foresee that such a number of very active Internet users would be interested in unlimited tariffs. They download a lot and thereby overload base stations, which leads to a deterioration in the quality of Internet access for all subscribers. His words are confirmed by analysts.
Timur Nigmatullin
The main problem with unlimited tariff plans initially it was that they were positioned incorrectly in terms of cost. This led to the rapid exhaustion of frequency resources due to massive connections.
The reason for the incorrect positioning could be increased competition with Tele2 for relatively high-margin consumers of data services. Tele2 in last years actively built 3G and 4G networks in Moscow and the regions. The situation was also aggravated by a drop in household incomes and a decrease in demand for communication services.
Since the 2G and 3G frequency range is used by all the largest Russian operators was already heavily loaded, intensive implementation of new tariffs for low prices led to a rapid deterioration in the quality of communication - owners of gadgets without 4G support also began to switch to unlimited. Thus, among Megafon users, only a third had gadgets with LTE support. Moreover, even they had a negative impact on the overall infrastructure due to insufficient coverage of the country with 4G networks.
Version No. 3. Unlimited hinders market development
According to another version, operators initially planned to abandon unlimited tariffs. They were launched as an effective marketing tool during a time of tightening competition, but now they only hinder the development of the market.
Sergey Libin
Raiffeisenbank analyst
Unlimited mobile internet is a rare event in the world. Usually it is offered temporarily as part of some promotions, as Russian operators have also announced.
The introduction of unlimited services in Russia was due to increased competition - both in connection with Tele2’s entry into new markets, and due to the intensification of the struggle within the “Big Three” after MTS ceased cooperation with Svyaznoy and began to take aggressive measures to protect its market shares. The desire to change the situation is likely due to the realization that the current competitive environment brings nothing but deterioration to market participants financial indicators. By having unlimited tariffs, operators actually deprive themselves of the opportunity to increase revenue.
Olga Galushina
Tele2 press secretary
Unlimited tariffs are a niche offer for users for whom mobile Internet is very important and to a lesser extent need minutes and SMS. For now, we do not plan to abandon them: this offer helps us attract new subscribers.
Anna Aibasheva
head of the press service of VimpelCom
Unlimited has become a marketing tool to attract attention to other offers. In the current situation, they are more of a constraint on the further development of the market: data consumption in total is growing, but both active subscribers and those who use the Internet a little pay the same. And this is despite the general trend of declining voice consumption and the need for operators to invest in infrastructure that can support growing volumes of data.
Version No. 4. The option is disabled due to the “Yarovaya law”
Analysts agreed that another reason for disabling unlimited tariffs could be the adoption of the “Yarovaya package”. During the discussion of the document in the State Duma, companies repeatedly complained that they would have to incur multi-billion dollar costs to develop and maintain infrastructure for storing data on subscriber activity. However, now operators have chosen not to link their decisions to changes in legislation, calling them planned.
Timur Nigmatullin
financial analyst at Finam Group of Companies
Unlimited tariffs promise higher costs in implementing the requirements of the Yarovaya-Ozerov amendments, since operators will need to store more data. To solve the problem, the optimal strategy is to close mass unlimited tariffs for new connections. It's probably wise to keep them as a relatively expensive option - costing double or triple the average bill. A significant increase in prices can be attributed to the entry into force of the amendments. In this case, operators will not only not lose market share, but will also be able to relieve networks even without revising existing tariffs.
When preparing the document for the second reading, which was originally scheduled for June 22, a provision appeared on fines for “organizers of information dissemination on the Internet” for refusing to provide the FSB with data for decoding received and sent messages. The State Duma explained that the provisions of the bill apply to the work of instant messengers, postal services And social networks that use encryption.
In case of refusal to provide the secret services with keys to decrypt messages, companies face fines from 800 thousand to 1 million rubles.
The bill will affect messengers Telegram, WhatsApp, Viber, ICQ, which use end-to-end encryption. The HTTPS Internet protocol, which ensures the secure transmission of data on many Internet portals, may also be affected by the document. In particular, Facebook, VKontakte, Twitter and other communication services will be under threat. This mechanism They also use online banks, hotel and ticket booking sites, some media, online encyclopedias and various other resources. Head of Roskomnadzor Alexander Zharov, the share of encrypted traffic in RuNet is 30%. Your assessments on this matter in different time Internet companies also gave: from 50 to 80%.
No keys
"IN modern implementations applications for encrypted communication, the keys are held by the interlocutors, and not by the company providing the service. That is, to begin with, the implementation of this point is technically impossible,”
— Vladimir Gabrielyan, vice president and technical director of Mail.Ru Group, told Gazeta.Ru.
Artem Baranov, the leading virus analyst at ESET, agrees with this and explained to Gazeta.Ru that a number of instant messengers (for example, Viber and WhatsApp) have recently introduced end-to-end encryption - this means that access to forwarded messages has Only the user and private keys are simply not stored with them. A similar technology works in secret Telegram chats.
A representative of Mail.Ru Group recalled that limiting the secrecy of citizens' correspondence is the prerogative of the judiciary and such a decision is made in relation to a specific person. “In the case of transferring certificates that allow traffic to be decrypted, the privacy of all users’ correspondence is essentially limited,” he added.
The Russian Association of Electronic Communications (RAEC), which is the main lobbyist for Internet business in Russia, warned that
the document jeopardizes the confidentiality of communications and carries enormous risks of leaks of confidential information.
The organization notes that most encryption standards do not provide for storing user keys, meaning that messages cannot be decoded without changing the algorithm. At the same time, when changes are made, cybersecurity risks arise.
At the same time, these measures will not affect the availability of encryption tools for attackers, RAEC emphasized.
One more negative consequence is the moment that Russian companies will be placed in unequal conditions. The bill applies to all users, which may violate the laws of other countries and international obligations Russia. Foreign enterprises may refuse to comply with these requirements in Russia, since they contradict their legislation. Other states may present similar requirements for the disclosure of keys to Russian corporations.
“The adoption of the bill in its current form may lead to withdrawal from Russian market large quantity players and the general degradation of the Internet industry",
- stated in RAEC.
The organization’s position went unnoticed, despite letters sent to the presidential administration, the Ministry of Communications and mass communications, State Duma and Federation Council.
Subscribers will pay for operators
When adopting the bill, deputies also did not take into account the opinions of telecom operators regarding the storage period for the content of voice calls, transmitted messages and media files. By replacing the initially proposed three years with six months, the State Duma did not reduce the potential burden on telecom market players. At the same time, according to the document, data on the facts of message transmission will be stored for three years.
“Implementation of the provisions of the bill will cost telecom operators several trillion rubles. Naturally, such exorbitant and ineffective business burdens will have a catastrophic impact on the entire economy in the telecommunications sector,” Megafon said.
“If the amendments come into force, operators will certainly have to raise tariffs for subscribers in order to maintain business,”
— says the operator’s representative.
Yota PR Director Olga Alekseeva agrees with this: “The likelihood that these costs will be offset by increasing the cost of services for the end user is very high.”
According to preliminary estimates from VimpelCom (Beeline brand), about 200 billion rubles will be required to comply with the requirements of the law at the first stage. Such investments can not only negatively affect the operators’ economy, but even reduce it to zero.
“It is already obvious that the adoption of the bill could lead to a slowdown in the pace of network development and to a significant increase in tariffs for communication services,” VimpelCom warned.
MTS representative Dmitry Solodovnikov told Gazeta.Ru that
Now, in principle, there is no equipment that can ensure the collection and storage of voice information in accordance with the requirements of the bill. And its creation will put the industry on the brink of collapse.
Thus, enormous expenses will be required for the purchase of equipment, the construction of new data center buildings, the purchase of software licenses, the strengthening of data transmission networks, the creation of a system for “receiving” and “outputting” traffic for storage, as well as indexing systems, traffic analysis and access systems to this data. Costs could amount to several trillion rubles.
“It is important that if operators incur costs of this level, they will not be able to develop the network for subscribers: build base stations, expand fixed-line networks, which,
taking into account the high growth rates of traffic, it can lead to degradation of the quality of head communications, interruptions in SMS delivery or the inability to access the Internet,”
- said the operator's press secretary.
Tele2 declined to comment. Rostelecom press secretary Andrey Polyakov previously announced that the operator welcomes the reduction in traffic storage periods to six months.
Gabrielyan also agrees with representatives of the Big Three: “Storing not only facts, but also data for six months will require gigantic investments from telecom operators and information dissemination organizers, which will lead to an inevitable increase in prices for communication services in the country.”
But even without taking into account the rise in communication prices, the law puts any user and subscriber in the uncomfortable position of always being suspected of some kind of offense. All messages and calls made via mobile phone or Skype will be recorded, saved and analyzed in case of any questions from the intelligence agencies. The same applies to any correspondence without encryption. Even for any law-abiding citizen, such a measure looks dubious, and the “anti-terrorism package” itself completely violates constitutional law citizens of Russia to the secrecy of correspondence.
