Yandex Fights For Users’ Privacy, Confirms Need For Decentralized Internet

Top Russian Internet group Yandex resists Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) requests to share the encryption keys with it. The company struggles to comply with Russian laws without violating user data privacy, according to the report by Reuters.

Yandex, Share Your Keys!

Russia’s most successful Internet company, Yandex, has faced hard choices after FSB, the national security agency, demanded the encryption keys providing access to users’ data and communications in Yandex. The request was made several months ago, but the company still hasn’t fulfilled the demand. The tech giant has developed an extensive infrastructure including web search, email, and machine translation tools. Now the authorities want the keys for its mail service and file hosting service, which will make the whole Yandex ecosystem vulnerable. As the Yandex press service stated, the company remains in full compliance with Russian legislation and is committed to data privacy. Thus it believes it’s essential to find the right balance between Russia’s security interests and user privacy.

No Secrets From The State

Recently, the Russian government has been vigorously adopting laws aimed to tighten its grip on the Internet. Perhaps, the most infamous of them is the ‘Yarovaya package’ that allows authorities to demand any encrypted personal data from Internet companies on the territory of the Russian Federation. They must store user data on servers within the country and be ready to share it with the state. Prior to Yandex, a similar case with the Telegram messenger showed what might happen to companies that refuse to cooperate with the government. For its refusal to hand over the encryption keys, Telegram was blocked in Russia (although despite all the authorities’ efforts, it is still available in the country). So, the Yandex resistance might also lead to a court case, a fine, and even blocking Yandex on the territory of Russia.

Privacy Concerns with Yandex

The examples of Telegram and, now, Yandex highlight the pressing need for innovative, decentralized models of the Internet. On the one hand, Big Tech companies sometimes don’t care about user data privacy, or even abuse it. On the other hand, even if they try to be privacy-friendly, their potential is very limited by the centralized nature of the Internet. They are still not able to provide their users with the same level of privacy and security that distributed ledger technology (DLT) offers. And finally, governmental efforts to tighten control over the Internet will further dent such ‘privacy-friendly’ stance of tech giants, forcing them either to neglect their users’ privacy or to turn to alternative blockchain-based solutions. As long as we have third parties to trust, privacy concerns will persist. Do you believe that government control over the Internet will push more traditional tech companies to alternative decentralized solutions? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!