Russian Communications Watchdog Notifies Google Of Personal Data Violations By Vote Smart

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd June, 2021) Russia's communications watchdog, Roskomnadzor, has asked Google to provide details on the administrator of the Vote Smart website and has notified the internet giant of the need to stop violating the laws on the processing of personal data, a Roskomnadzor spokesperson told Sputnik.

"To ensure the protection of the rights of Russian citizens, Roskomnadzor sent a letter to Google LLC, which ensures the operation of the internet resource on the appspot.com platform, with a request to provide information about the actual administrator of the [Vote Smart] resource that collects and processes data," the spokesperson said.

According to Roskomnadzor, the information in question is needed to send a request to the personal data operator about the legal basis for the collection and cross-border transfer of personal data.

"Roskomnadzor also notified Google of the need to stop processing the personal data of Russian citizens, which is in violation of Russian law," the spokesperson of the communications watchdog told Sputnik.

The Vote Smart website collects extensive personal data, including information about Russian citizens' place of residence, email addresses and full Names, according to Roskomnadzor. Users are not informed about the cross-border transfer of their personal data and there is no information on the details of the processing of personal data bases.

Andrey Elantsev, a Russian attorney who heads the Yekaterinburg legal center "Reputation," told Sputnik that the Vote Smart website stores the information about its users, including addresses and phone numbers, abroad, on US servers. According to Elantsev, the Russian citizens' data is collected under the pretext that in the future, users will be able to become election observers.