Bits are not atoms, no matter how hard governments insist that they be treated as such.
The latest “thou shalt treat them the same” edict came from the Russian bear.
According to Roskomnadzor, the Russian government’s mass media and telecom overseer, Google, Facebook and Twitter must register as “organizers of information distribution” and “keep information about their Russian users on servers located inside the country.”
So much for the cloud, eh?
In addition, the three must turn over data to the government by request, no court order needed.
But there’s more to the law that triggered the announcement:
[B]loggers whose pages receive more than 3,000 visitors per day [must] register as mass media and comply with a strict set of requirements — similarly to Russia’s newspapers or television stations, but without any of the professional media’s rights.
This is a case where resistance should not be ignored as being futile. Governments have a right – and a responsibility – to step in when our personal information is being abused or misused. But telling a computer company where bits have to be put to rest or sleep? Ummm. No.
The harder governments try to suppress (Russia) or monitor (the US) digital communication and activity, the more clearly we can see its true disruptive potential.
This, folks, is a story to follow.
Known for gnawing at complex questions like a terrier with a bone. Digital evangelist, writer, teacher. Transplanted Southerner; teach newbies to ride motorcycles. @kegill (Twitter and Mastodon.social); wiredpen.com