Google Allegedly Closing Down Russian Engineering Office In Response To Russian Data Laws

from the not-messing-around dept

It appears that Google may be done messing around with ridiculous laws. Just after announcing that it was shutting down Google News in Spain due to a ridiculously bad copyright law that is about to go into effect, it's been reported that the company is also shutting down its Russian engineering office, likely in response to new Russian laws, requiring that any personal data of Russian citizens be held inside the country. The Russian government, of course, claims this is to better protect Russian citizens, but most people believe it's actually to allow for greater surveillance of Russian citizens:

Google Inc has plans to shut down its engineering office in Russia amid a crackdown on internet freedoms and a law regarding data-handling practices, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Of course, Russia is not alone in either requiring localized data storage or in ramping up digital surveillance. It's going to be worth watching how a variety of large internet companies start dealing with these new challenges. Ever since the Snowden leaks first came out, many in the tech industry warned of the threat of "localization" rules that might splinter the internet, by requiring all data to be stored "locally" (greatly diminishing the economies of scale of global data centers). Closing down one office in protest is worth noting, but it only foreshadows a much bigger global fight to come.

Filed Under: data laws, data retention, engineering, laws, russia, splintering
Companies: google