Well, unexpectedly it turns out that Russian legalese translated into English is not suddenly easier to understand, especially when a lot of it references other laws.
I also plugged the result into GPT4. FWIW, my reading and GPT4s both are somewhere between OP and TorrentFreak. TF indeed seems overly alarmist, but there are also a lot of worrysome tendencies in the text.
Anyway, GPT4 replies and the translated text in full follow.
GPT4’s interpretation:
The detailed specifics of which “certain information systems and website pages” are subject to extra identification and authentication are not directly specified in this legal document excerpt. The law does refer to internet services or information systems that are owned by a Russian entity or citizen and operating within Russia’s territory. However, a comprehensive conclusion may require a full text review, including portions not contained in this excerpt, along with a deeper understanding of the specific context of related Russian laws and regulations. It’s also possible that specific applications of this law could be subject to further clarification or regulation by the Russian government.
GPT4’s summary:
This Russian law covers changes to the Federal Law on “Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection.” The amendments include:
A change in language from “rendering services” to “carrying out activities.”
Requirements for website owners who are Russian legal entities or citizens to provide specific forms of access to their pages or information systems. Identification requirements could include using a mobile radiotelephony operator, the “Unified system of identification and authentication," the “Unified system of identification and authentication of individuals using biometric personal data," or another system offering user authorization compatibile with protection requirements.
The establishment of regulatory responsibilities for hosting providers, including notifying federal bodies when they start providing computing power for information placement, ensuring protection requirements are met, and allowing authorized state bodies to carry out operational and investigative activities. Hosting providers are now also required to be listed in a new register that will be maintained by the federal executive body. Failure to comply with certain requirements can result in removal from the register, and those not listed in the register are not allowed to offer hosting services.
A definition that a news aggregator owner can be a citizen of Russia without dual citizenship, or a Russian legal entity controlled by the Russian Federation, an entity of the Russian Federation, a municipal entity, a citizen of the Russian Federation without dual citizenship or the persons controlled by them.
Regulations requiring that certain operators use hosting providers listed in a specifically approved list. Operators are also not allowed to use information systems or programs for electronic computing that belong to foreign legal entities or foreign citizens.
An addition of information on restricted access to information resources as part of the telecommunications services that can be intercepted by the authorized body.
And finally, the deepl translated text (with only 2 or 3 notes by myself in [brackets].
Article 1
To introduce the Federal Law dated July 27, 2006 N 149-FZ “On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection” (Collection of Legislation of the Russian Federation, 2006, N 31, Art. 3448; 2010, N 31, Art. 4196; 2012, N 31, Art. 4328; 2013, N 14, Art. 1658; N 23, Art. 2870; N 52, Art. 6963; 2014, N 30, Art. 4223; 2015, N 1, Art. 84; N 29, Art. 4390; 2016, N 26, Art. 3877; N 52, Art. 7491; 2017, N 18, Art. 2664; N 24, Art. 3478; N 31, Art. 4827; N 48, Art. 7051; 2018, N 18, Art. 2572; N 27, Art. 3956; N 49, Art. 7523; N 52, Art. 8101; 2019, N 18, Art. 2214; N 49, Art. 6986; 2020, N 14, Art. 2035; 2021, N 1, Art. 18; N 11, Art. 1704; N 27, Art. 5059, 5094, 5116, 5183; 2022, N 50, Art. 8772; 2023, N 1, Art. 19, 32, 51) the following changes:
in paragraph 18 of Article 2 the words “rendering services” shall be replaced by the words “carrying out activities”;
. 2 of Art. 1 comes into force from 01.12.2023.
Article 8 [Right of access to information] shall be supplemented with part 10 as follows:
"10. The owner of a website and (or) page of a website on the Internet, and (or) information system, and (or) program for electronic computing machines, which is a Russian legal entity or a citizen of the Russian Federation and carries out its activities on the Internet on the territory of the Russian Federation, in case access to information placed on its website and (or) page of a website on the Internet, and (or) in its information system, and (or) program for electronic computing machines, is provided to users who have passed authorization, about
using a subscriber number of a mobile radiotelephony operator in accordance with the procedure established by the Government of the Russian Federation, on the basis of an identification agreement concluded by the owner of a website and (or) a page of a website on the Internet, and (or) an information system, and (or) a program for electronic computing machines with a mobile radiotelephony operator, except as provided for by this Federal Law;
with the use of the federal state information system “Unified system of identification and authentication in the infrastructure providing information and technological interaction of information systems used to provide state and municipal services in electronic form” (hereinafter - the unified system of identification and authentication);
with the use of the state information system “Unified system of identification and authentication of individuals using biometric personal data” in the manner prescribed by Articles 9 and 10 of the Federal Law dated December 29, 2022, N 572-FZ “On identification and (or) authentication of individuals using biometric personal data, on amendments to certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation and invalidation of certain provisions of legislative acts of the Russian Federation” (hereinafter - the unified system of identification and authentication).
with the use of another information system providing authorization of users of sites and (or) pages of sites on the Internet, and (or) information systems, and (or) programs for electronic computers and complying with information protection requirements established by Article 16 of this Federal Law, the owner of which is a citizen of the Russian Federation who does not have citizenship of another state, or a Russian legal entity. Unless otherwise provided for by an international treaty of the Russian Federation, a Russian legal entity referred to in this paragraph shall be a legal entity controlled by the Russian Federation, and (or) a subject of the Russian Federation, and (or) a municipal entity, and (or) a citizen of the Russian Federation who does not have citizenship of another state, and (or) persons controlled by them jointly or separately. In this case, control means the ability to determine the decisions made by the said legal entity by virtue of having the right to directly or indirectly dispose of more than fifty percent of the total number of votes attributable to the voting shares (stakes) constituting the authorized capital of this legal entity.";
to supplement Article 10.2-1 as follows:
[Article 10. Dissemination of information or provision of information, seems to be about having identification for website owners]
"Article 10.2-1. Peculiarities of Regulation of Hosting Provider’s Activity
The hosting provider shall be obliged, in accordance with the procedure established by the Government of the Russian Federation, to send a notification to the federal executive body exercising control and supervision in the sphere of mass media, mass communications, information technologies and communications, of the commencement of activities on the provision of computing power for the placement of information in an information system permanently connected to the Internet.
The hosting provider shall be obliged to ensure the implementation of the information protection requirements established by the federal executive body in the field of communications in coordination with the federal executive body authorized in the field of security, when providing computing power for placing information in the information system permanently connected to the Internet.
The hosting provider shall be obliged to ensure the implementation of the requirements for computing power used by the hosting provider, established by the federal executive body in the field of communications in coordination with the authorized state bodies carrying out operational and investigative activities or ensuring the security of the Russian Federation, for carrying out activities by these bodies in cases established by federal laws in order to implement the tasks assigned to them, as well as to take measures to prevent the disclosure of the authority’s information to the hosting provider. The procedure for interaction between hosting providers and authorized state bodies carrying out operational and investigative activities or ensuring security of the Russian Federation shall be established by the Government of the Russian Federation.
The hosting provider is obliged to fulfill the requirements and obligations stipulated by paragraph 3 of Article 56.1, subparagraphs 1 - 3 of paragraph 8 of Article 56.2 and paragraph 4 of Article 65.1 of the Federal Law dated July 7, 2003 N 126-FZ “On Communications”.
The hosting provider shall be entitled to carry out activities on provision of computing power for placement of information in the information system permanently connected to the Internet to persons who have applied to the hosting provider only after the said persons have undergone identification and (or) authentication in accordance with the procedure established by the Government of the Russian Federation.
The federal executive authority exercising functions of control and supervision in the sphere of mass media, mass communications, information technologies and communications shall maintain a register of hosting providers. Information about the hosting provider shall be included in the register of hosting providers on the basis of the notification specified in paragraph 1 of this Article. The rules for forming and maintaining the register of hosting providers, the composition of information to be included in the register of hosting providers, the procedure for including such information in the register of hosting providers and excluding it from the register of hosting providers, the procedure for providing information contained in the register of hosting providers shall be established by the Government of the Russian Federation.
The federal executive authority exercising control and supervision in the sphere of mass media, mass communications, information technologies and communications, in accordance with the criteria determined by the Government of the Russian Federation, may engage the operator of such a register - an organization registered in the territory of the Russian Federation - to form and maintain the register of hosting providers.
Abs. 10 - 12 of item 3 of Article 1 shall come into force from 01.12.2023.
If the federal executive authority responsible for control and supervision in the field of mass media, mass communications, information technologies and communications reveals a violation of the requirements specified in paragraphs 1-5 of this Article and (or) receives the information from the federal executive authority in the field of communications, the federal executive authority authorized in the field of security, the federal executive authority authorized in the field of countering terrorist acts, the federal executive authority authorized in the field of countering terrorism, the federal executive authority authorized in the field of mass media, mass communications, information technologies and communications, and (or) the federal executive authority authorized in the field of countering terrorist acts.
The hosting provider shall, within the terms specified in the request of the federal executive body exercising control and supervision in the field of mass media, mass communications, information technologies and communications, sent in accordance with Part 8 of this Article, take measures to eliminate the identified violations, as well as submit information on the measures taken to the said body.
Failure of the hosting provider to eliminate the revealed violations specified in the request of the federal executive body exercising functions of control and supervision in the sphere of mass media, mass communications, information technologies and communications, sent in accordance with part 8 of this article, or failure of the hosting provider to provide the specified body with information about the measures taken in accordance with part 9 of this article is the basis for exclusion of information about the hosting provider from the register of hosting providers.
Abs. 13 p. 3 of Art. 1 comes into force from 01.02.2024.
It is not allowed to carry out activities on provision of computing power for placement of information in the information system permanently connected to the Internet by hosting providers, information about which is not included in the register of hosting providers.";
in Article 10.4:
a) in part 1:
in the first paragraph the words “program for electronic computing machines, the owner of the site and (or) page of the site in the Internet” shall be replaced by the words “site and (or) page of the site in the Internet”, and (or) information system, and (or) program for electronic computing machines";
in paragraph 1 the words “program for electronic computing machines, site and (or) page of the site in the Internet” shall be replaced by the words “site and (or) page of the site in the Internet, and (or) information system, and (or) program for electronic computing machines”;
b) part 12 shall be amended as follows:
“12. The owner of a news aggregator may be a citizen of the Russian Federation who does not have citizenship of another state, or a Russian legal entity. Unless otherwise provided for by an international treaty of the Russian Federation, a Russian legal entity specified in this Part shall be a legal entity controlled by the Russian Federation and/or a constituent entity of the Russian Federation and/or a municipal entity and/or a citizen of the Russian Federation who does not have citizenship of another state and/or persons controlled by them jointly or separately. In this case, control means the ability to determine decisions made by the Russian legal entity specified in this Part by virtue of having the right to directly or indirectly dispose of more than fifty percent of the total number of votes attributable to the voting shares (stakes) constituting the authorized capital of this legal entity.”;
Abs. 5 of Art. 1 comes into force from 01.09.2024.
Article 13:
(a) Supplement parts 2.1-1 and 2.1-2 as follows:
"2.1-1. Operators of state information systems, municipal information systems, information systems of state and municipal unitary enterprises, state and municipal institutions when operating information systems shall be obliged to use computing capacities of a hosting provider provided for placing information in the information system permanently connected to the Internet, information about which is included in the list of hosting providers approved by the Government of the Russian Federation. The procedure for inclusion of information about the hosting provider in the said list, as well as the procedure for exclusion of such information from it shall be established by the Government of the Russian Federation.
2.1-2. The list of hosting providers specified in Part 2.1-1 of this Article shall include information on a hosting provider that meets the following requirements:
is a Russian legal entity. Unless otherwise provided for by an international treaty of the Russian Federation, a Russian legal entity referred to in this paragraph shall be a legal entity controlled by the Russian Federation and/or a constituent entity of the Russian Federation and/or a municipal entity and/or a citizen of the Russian Federation who does not have citizenship of another state and/or persons controlled by them jointly or separately. In this case, control means the ability to determine decisions made by a Russian legal entity by virtue of the right to directly or indirectly dispose of more than fifty percent of the total number of votes attributable to the voting shares (stakes) constituting the authorized capital of this legal entity;
there is no record in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities about the unreliability of information about the legal entity;
ensures the implementation of information protection requirements when providing computing power for placing information in an information system permanently connected to the Internet to operators of state information systems, municipal information systems, information systems of state and municipal unitary enterprises, state and municipal institutions. These requirements shall be established by the federal executive body in the field of communications in coordination with the federal executive body authorized in the field of security and the federal executive body authorized in the field of countering technical intelligence and technical protection of information;
places technical means used in the provision of computing power for placing information in the information system permanently connected to the Internet on the territory of the Russian Federation;
information about the hosting provider is included in the register of hosting providers specified in part 6 of Article 10.2-1 of this Federal Law.";
b) to supplement part 2.4 as follows:
“2.4 Operators of state information systems, municipal information systems, information systems of state and municipal unitary enterprises, state and municipal institutions in the creation and operation of information systems, as well as in the implementation of interaction in electronic form, including with citizens (individuals) and organizations, shall not be entitled to use information systems and (or) programs for electronic computing belonging to foreign legal entities and (or) foreign citizens”.
paragraph 1 of part 5 of Article 15.1 shall be supplemented with subparagraph “m” of the following content:
“m) information on ways, methods of providing access to information resources and (or) information and telecommunication networks, access to which is restricted in the territory of the Russian Federation.”.
Well, unexpectedly it turns out that Russian legalese translated into English is not suddenly easier to understand, especially when a lot of it references other laws. I also plugged the result into GPT4. FWIW, my reading and GPT4s both are somewhere between OP and TorrentFreak. TF indeed seems overly alarmist, but there are also a lot of worrysome tendencies in the text. Anyway, GPT4 replies and the translated text in full follow.
GPT4’s interpretation:
GPT4’s summary:
And finally, the deepl translated text (with only 2 or 3 notes by myself in [brackets].
continued in reply, size limit
Continued, size limit