KEY CONCLUSIONS

“Development of the internet of things is progressing, whether we want it or not. The market is exploding both in Russia and all over the world. According to different assessments, over the course of three years it can grow by three times reaching as much as 270–300 billion roubles,” Vladislav Onishchenko, Head, Analytical Center for the Government of the Russian Federation.

“The internet of things must increase business revenues many-fold as well as opportunities for getting personalized healthcare etc. for citizens, management and manageability for the state; these are huge opportunities. And for all participants the main thing is the economy growth,” Alexander Zharov, Head, Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor).

PROBLEMS

“According to analysts, over a half, namely 54 percent, of customers have digital devices. But only 14 percent of them are informed about the safety of their devices,” Lyudmila Bokova, First Deputy Chair, Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building.

“We can impose as many bans as we like, but they will not work until our society is aware of the digital hygiene, until we together start preparing people for this future. Ignorance about data protection will always open access to them for malevolent people,” Savva Shipov, Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation.

“We have disturbing levels of digital illiteracy, and issues of personal cyber security are really pressing,” Igor Lyapunov, Vice President for Information Security, Rostelecom.

“Ninety-nine percent of people do not care about the safety of their personal data. No matter how we educate them, it is going to take decades for people to start bothering about some data that are not evident at all. People do care about the safety of their logins or passwords, but they do not think or know about other data that are collected by large companies. That is why these companies will always find opportunities to collect some data,” Alexander Ivanov, General Director, Vostok; Founder, Chief Executive Officer, Waves Platform.

SOLUTIONS

“We need to draw up draft laws, discuss them; we could postpone them, but the situation is unlikely to resolve by itself, we need to regulate it anyway,” Dmitry Mramorov, Chairman of the Board of Directors, SKB Kontur.

“It is important for us to protect both opportunities for economic growth and privacy. <…> It is crucial not to include too much unnecessary stuff into the laws. We have to introduce the notions of public data, anonymized data; set standards of how data become anonymized; think how to prevent these data from being collected from different sources and allowing to identify a person again. These notions are necessary to move forward. It is still not clear how we should specify all rights and obligations of the involved participants,” Savva Shipov, Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation.

“Big user data are the fuel for digital economy, and they require adequate protection,” Alexander Zharov, Head, Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor).

“Big companies are willing to invest money into big data, but they need a clear legitimate ground,” Nadezhda Surova, Director, Institute of Administration and Socioeconomic Design, Plekhanov Russian University of Economics.

“It is clear what we should do here; in medicine there is a concept of ‘informed consent’. A person gives their consent and signs a document stating that a certain manipulation can be carried out. And then it is carried out. We need a dialogue between the state, its citizens and the society based on the principle of user’s informed consent that their data can be used, or they can likewise refuse it and block the access to their data. This principle of informed consent is fundamental, and we need to discuss it,” Alexander Zharov, Head, Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor).

“The time has come for a dialog between business, regulators, and lawmakers, because the question that we are discussing is really complicated. Everybody is talking about big data, personal data, but this topic is huge, it has to be broken down into more comprehensible blocks,” Dmitry Mramorov, Chairman of the Board of Directors, SKB Kontur.