The Russian government has enacted a law which means that all cloud data must be kept within the confines of the country.
The move will mean that if US cloud operators want to work in Mother Russia they cannot send the data to their main warehouses in the US or EU.
Bill number 553424-6 specifies that “when collecting personal data, including information and telecommunications network, the Internet, the operator must ensure that record, systematisation, accumulation, storage, updated, modified, removing the personal data of citizens of the Russian Federation, in databases, of information located in the territory of the Russian Federation.”
On the face of it, it looks like the Russians are protecting their citizens from being spied on by the evil US spooks, but it also makes it easier for the government to spy on its own citizens.
Russia Today said the law could provide businesses with some major headaches. Airlines, for example, rely on hosted software and software-as-a-service providers are not going to be keen to have to build new data centres.
The law comes into force on September 1st, 2016, giving Russian companies plenty of time to set something up. It could be a boom time for local hosting companies.
