INFO281 Post 2: All your data are belong to us

Imamon. (2006, Oct. 30).”All your data are belong to us.” Wikimedia Commons, CC Attribution 2.0 Generic

We are reading about economic globalization.  One of the readings assigned is a January 6, 2017 New York Times article by Cecilia Kang and Katie Benner, “Russia requires Apple and Google to remove LinkedIn from local app stores.”  The main idea that I took away from the article is this quote: “Tech companies and civil rights advocates warn that the increasing push by nations to create their own internet rules will Balkanize the internet and potentially lead to privacy violations and the stifling of political dissent. ”  

This all stems from what is seen as an invasion of privacy by governments like Russia and Turkey who want their citizens’ data stored in the homeland.  The issue is seemingly unwarranted control.

But I wanted to get a better feel for this whole LinkedIn bit.  Why is LinkedIn refusing to comply to Russian law when many other companies have “caved” to Russia’s demands so that they can continue to operate in Russia?  I found that the Nabi Abdullaev’s December 8, 2016 Forbes article, “Why Russia’s LinkedIn ban is not about Internet freedoms”  helped me understand via an alternate perspective.  Abdullaev points out that Russian laws are similar to those in many other countries.  Also of interest is the author’s statement that Roskomnadzor (the “the relevant regulator and internet oversight watchdog”) just wants LinkedIn to amend its data collection policies, wherein “not only personal data of its users but also personal metadata (IP-addresses and cookie files) of its website’s visitors” is collected.  Abdullaev notes that Russia is trying to protect its citizenry, since unlike the U.S., and more like EU regulations, “certain types of cookie files” are defined as personal data.

We in the U.S., under the Protect America Act, allow the government a pretty incredible amount of data surveillance.  I’m not surprised by Russia and other nation-state’s desire to keep its citizens data out of the U.S. when our citizens must trust that our government’s access to data is all for the good.

Note on the image:  I knew I wanted to write about this, and I like to create a title to capture attention.  I thought about the old meme, “All your base are belong to us” and did a little research on that in Wikipedia.  The image that I used popped up, and I couldn’t pass it up.  Did you know that an unidentified group of April Fool’s Day pranksters scared the citizens of Sturgis, Michigan in 2003 when they posted signs with the meme around town.  “Police chief Eugene Alli said the signs could be ‘a borderline terrorist threat depending on what someone interprets it to mean.'” Very interesting…

References:

All your base are belong to us. (2017, September 25). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21:03, October 1, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=All_your_base_are_belong_to_us&oldid=802262208

Abdullaev, N. (2016, December 8). Why Russia’s LinkedIn ban is not about Internet freedoms. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/riskmap/2016/12/08/why-russias-linkedin-ban-is-not-about-internet-freedoms/#3df4aa81a78e

Kang, C. & Benner, K. (2017, January 6). Russia requires Apple and Google to remove LinkedIn from local app stores. New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/06/technology/linkedin-blocked-in-russia.html?_r=0