RUSSIA PARLIAMENT'S COMMITTEE ENDORSED THE BAN ON ANONYMITY IN MESSENGERS

A draft law, that prohibits anonymity in messengers, has been approved by the Russian Parliament's committee on information policy, information technology and communications.

The Committee recommended the draft law for consideration on first reading. The date of the Parliament hearing on its regard is not yet fixed. The authors of the document expect that it will enter into force on January 1, 2018.

The draft law, that prohibits registration of users in internet messengers without identifying a person, was submitted to the Rrussian "State Duma" on May 24. Accroding to its authors, the identification of a messenger user will be carried out by the one's phone number "in the framework of interaction with mobile operators." A penalty is provided for the offenders. 

The bill also obliges the messengers to limit the distribution of messages at the request of the "authorized federal executive agency". If the ban is violated, the messenger is threatened to be blocked. The bill applies only to those messengers who registered with the Roskomnadzor (the Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies and Mass Communications ) as distributors of information. Worth noting that WhatsApp and Telegram are not included into the list.

source Meduza