back to article LinkedIn officially KickedOut of Russia

Russian telecoms regulator Roskomnadzor has made it official: LinkedIn is no longer welcome in Putin's formerly-socialist paradise. The regulator's brief statement confirms what we knew last week , namely that LinkedIn hasn't been able to satisfy Russia that it complies with laws requiring personal data to be stored on Russian …

  1. Mark 85

    LinkedIn argued that Russian authorities made their inquiries to the wrong office

    Huh? I'm assuming the Russians inquired to a LinkedIn office and not an Apple office.. so don't the LinkedIn offices talk to each other? A rather bizarre defense....

    1. Simon Sharwood, Reg APAC Editor (Written by Reg staff)

      LInkedIn says Russia's letter came to its US office, but LinkedIn Ireland has responsibility for Europe. Pretty thin, yeah

      1. a_yank_lurker

        So LinkedIn is too incompetent to forward a letter to the proper office. Maybe they are a good fit with Slurp with that level of incompetence. Off hand I do not know the FedEx charges to overnight a letter from US to Ireland or even scanning and sending an email would be dirt cheap.

        1. Ole Juul

          What is LinkedIn hoping to gain?

          I would think that the "letter" was sent to enquire as to why they did not comply. I'm sure LinkedIn was quite aware of the law in the first place, since it's similar to other countries and was much talked about when instated in September of last year. I'm puzzled as to why LinkedIn didn't just comply with the law of the country rather than pick a fight. What are they hoping to gain?

          1. Warm Braw

            Re: What is LinkedIn hoping to gain?

            why LinkedIn didn't just comply with the law

            Possibly because the investment required to store personal data on Russian territory wasn't justified by the amount of revenue they get from Russia? Or possibly because Russian territory will expand to include the location where the data is presently stored soon enough anyway?

            1. P. Lee

              Re: What is LinkedIn hoping to gain?

              It always amuses me that that customers "don't need to care about where the data is stored" for cloud purposes, but vendors seem incapable of managing their own cloud locations. Its cloud - its supposed to be all about modular, replicated architecture, automation and so on.

              Of course, it could be that linkedin don't want to be liable to Mr Putin. The NSA generally keep their slurping quiet if they can, but I doubt Putin would be so careful. Being stuck with two competing, privacy-invading agencies might be more trouble than its worth.

              1. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: What is LinkedIn hoping to gain?

                Err, if the data is in Russia, they would have difficulty justifying three letter agencies spearhead attacks and data slurps, and it would be a serious crime.

                They would be confronted with secret tribunals from both sides.. and my guess is that they decided the risk was too high.

                BTW, LinkedIn served nice 0day trojans specifically for a single center on my previous company... that building is full of ppl working in clasiffied military projects..

                Anon, as I no longer work there but I dont want to have more points.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Joke

          Much more likely is that the Merkin office forgot that the rest of the world exists.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        But would have Russian accepted an answer from a different office, different from the one they addressed the request to? Formal requests - exactly because they are "formal" - have to follow the formally correct path.

        But after all, probably the real reason is LinkedIn didn't accepted to pay the required bribe...

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          But after all, probably the real reason is LinkedIn didn't accepted to pay the required bribe...

          You are mistaking Russia for Bulgaria. It is in Bulgaria "As our friends, Bulgarians say, whatever cannot be bought with money can be bought with a lot of money" (this is a quote from Costurica's Time of Gypsies).

          In Russia, there are cases where it does not matter how big of a bribe you offer, noone will take it. Because "Mr Chrisoprase will be very unhappy". The issue of bringing in all data processing of Russian subjects within the legislative realm of Russian data protection is one of those. No bribes will be taken - everyone values their life more and does not want to end up like this guy.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            1. The quote is from "Black cat, white cat"

            2. The name is Emir Kusturica not Costurica

            3. There is no corruption in Bulgaria, we legalized it and sold it off to Italy.

    2. Kevin McMurtrie Silver badge

      That would be an honest mistake. LinkedIn built a new campus next to a neighborhood of Apple satellites. In the middle of moving, LinkedIn did a land swap with Google and decided to move their future HQ down the street behind Synopsys. (many blocks of abandoned HP buildings around there) Apple leased the new building that is no longer LinkedIn's future HQ.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      re. wrong office - I'm pretty sure the Linkedinen decided to take a piss as they would with any letter from a regulator in a western country "sent to the wrong office", knowing too well the issue of where the letter should be delivered would be pushed back and forth for a century or so (meanwhile, business as usual!). How unfortunate this approach doesn't work in Putinoland! Schadenfreunde? You bet as it couldn't happen to nicer spammers!

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    That's too bad...

    My latest LinkedIn contact, a certain V. Putin, was just about to 'Endorse' me for several skills. A very particular set of skills; skills that I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. ...

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Like this move from the Kremlin...

    Who feels comfortable giving nice juicy employment info to Microsoft to pair with Win-10 inescapable snooping??? Talk about KGB / FSB / Stasi all rolled into one.

    1. a_yank_lurker

      Re: Like this move from the Kremlin...

      You forgot a few TLAs who would be or are drooling over 'bloat 10s built-in, user installed, sort of authorized spyware.

    2. Voland's right hand Silver badge
      Devil

      Re: Like this move from the Kremlin...

      Not the issue here.

      The issue here is USA continuing to refuse to provide adequate data protection to foreign subjects. The whole thing was long in the making and all interested subjects could have made the USA government negotiate with Russia an adequate bilateral data protection agreement which is different from the usual "banana republic bend over and comply" (like Privacy Shield).

      USA State Department, however, completely refused any negotiation (multiple times as well), despite that being clearly against USA business interests. While I can sort'a feel their pain, I disagree with the sour grapes approach. They have been trying "regime change" operations of all sorts for 20 years and have failed every single time. In fact, lately, Putin has been one move ahead of them most of the time. While doing that they have forgotten what they are actually paid for by the USA tax payer.

      As a side effect this is also a protectionist measure. With the requirement for the operation to be locally self-contained it becomes more difficult to pretend that large part of the service happens elsewhere. So advertising (and other) revenue and income has to be declared locally and taxed correctly.

  4. Jason Hindle

    It's a sad day...

    Presumably some of Russia's best engineering talent is on Linkedin?

    1. Oengus

      Re: It's a sad day...

      You'll find them on связанныйво.ru or связаны.ru...

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: It's a sad day...

        sad only if you're being sarcastic :)

  5. druck Silver badge
    Meh

    Owned

    Kind of hard to feel sorry for Linkedin now they are owned by Microsoft.

    1. bombastic bob Silver badge

      Re: Owned

      pwned by Micro-shaft - the main reason for the inquiry.

    2. BebopWeBop
      Facepalm

      Re: Owned

      You mean you actually found it easy to sympathies with Linkedin? When?

  6. LazLong
    Big Brother

    Screw the Russian government

    They simply want to have ready access to info without having to deal with the laws of other countries. Useless gesture. Those Russians who really want to work for non-Russian companies will simply use a VPN to access LinkedIn.

    On a related issue, I wonder how long it will be before Russia reinstates the exit visa requirement of the Soviet era to try and stop the exodus of their best and brightest.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Screw the Russian government

      1. They are entitled to do so according to their laws using the procedures specified in them. I suggest you do some reading on the various cases with court orders to Yandex or v Kontakte to disclose mail or contact info. It is significantly more difficult to get that court order approved in Russia then let's say in the UK - you have to get a court order, definitely not "senior policemen signed it". National security is roughly the same - the difference is they were public about it since Putin put it in in the late 90-es, instead of lying and pretending it never happened like Mr Clapper and GCHQ.

      2. This is different from USA pretending to own all data wherever it is located as per the case of NY vs Microsoft Ireland.

      3. I do not think Russia needs any exit visas at present. The situation is vastly different. I spent there 4 years in the late 70-es. If you started spouting patriotic drivel at the family dinner table you would have been laughed at or taken aside to sober up.

      In those days nobody valued the fact that they are Russian (or actually Soviet). It was something to be not discussed abroad - like a congenital condition. That is why you needed an exit visa (and an entry visa if you had a Soviet passport but permanent residence abroad - so you do not infect the locals with free thinking).

      Situation has changed. You seriously have no clue of the level of nationalism and feeling of exceptional destiny raised by Putin in those who have remained. It is NUTs. I was unfortunate to sit next to a table with Russians on my last holiday in the Canaries for several evenings in the same restaurant. The way they were brainwashing their kids was... just... crazy. Reminded me of the eruption of nationalism in the USA fostered by Reagan just taken to an Nth degree. End of the day after my daughter (she is the only other Russian speaker in the family) started listening too and asking way too many pointed question we chose to sit at 4-5 tables distance.

      In any case - the guys I am referring to were not exceptional or anything - typical Russian middle class as it is today. They do not need an exit visa. It will take a majestic failure at the top - something like a 8 year tenure of an imbecilic alcoholic ala Eltsin or an idiotocracy ala Brezhnev for them to lose their sense of manifest destiny and replace it with a sense of doom so that the powers that be will have to keep the corralled. I do not see that happening under Putin any time soon (if ever).

    2. Lord_Beavis

      Re: Screw the Russian government

      Nah, screw Linkedin. I dumped their ass a while back.

  7. phuzz Silver badge

    I've got pretty fed up with bloody Linkedin spam ending up in my inbox in the past, but banning the company from your entire country is taking it a bit far Vlad.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      LinkedIn spam

      I deleted my LI account ages ago yet I still get their spam 203 times a week.

      The Catch-22 is that they say that you need to login to change your email preferences but I don't have an account any longer so I can't log in.

      LI suppoer ate F*****g Uselss and their emails come from different places so even blocking one address only works for one week or so.

      I'd really like to have LinkedIn banned full stop.

      Posting AC just so that I don't tempt fate and get yet more spam.

  8. Mage Silver badge

    Only in Russia?

    I'm suspecting that the way they run stuff at least breaks intentions of EU and similar Countries' laws

    Same applies to Facebook.

  9. hi_robb

    Hmm

    Their new website.

    www.linkedin.nyet

  10. Sleep deprived

    Poorly shod shoemaker

    So LinkedIn makes a business at connecting professionnals but can't connect it own offices? That's good to know.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Linkedin has already sold, er "lost" user data

    Linkedin has proven their data is available for sale, or not secure. If you believe their excuse that they just don't care about user data then you might accept their excuse of being hacked in which case Russia should protect it's citizens as all nations should.

    If on the other hand, like myself, you don't think it is all that hard to take basic steps to secure other peoples data (which Linkedin has not done) then you do not accept the "we're stupid" excuse and Russia should protect it's citizens as all nations should.

    The larger question is why is your nation selling or worst yet giving your data away to the world?

    1. toughluck

      Re: Linkedin has already sold, er "lost" user data

      The larger question is why is your nation selling or worst yet giving your data away to the world?

      My country did not sign me up to linkedin, it was my choice. If an individual doesn't sign up for any service where data is transferred outside the EU, how is their country giving away data?

      Though that gives me an idea. There are >400 million people in the EU. How about generating a random database of 40 million records with plausible sounding names, addresses, phone numbers, e-mails and implausible national id numbers and then selling it for 1 cent per name? It would generate a nice profit and be completely useless and innocuous at the same time.

      Countries could actually do that -- generate fake data and sell it.

  12. A. Coatsworth Silver badge
    Meh

    When Putin goverment...

    actually has the moral high ground, you know things are really fscked up.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The English part of the email sent to a Russian member

    Hello,

    As you may have already learned, the government of the Russian Federation decided to block LinkedIn in Russia because we do not store the personal data of Russian members on the territory of the Russian Federation.

    We are disappointed with this decision, which interferes with professional networking and the pursuit of economic opportunity for many of our Russia-based members. Additionally, we believe we are in compliance with all applicable laws, and we are currently evaluating the decision and our options. We expressed to Roskomnadzor, the relevant government agency, our interest in meeting to discuss their localization request directly.

    Depending on how this decision is implemented, many of our services may no longer be accessible within Russia for some time. However, you could still access LinkedIn from outside of Russia. You can also still be found and contacted by others for career opportunities, receive relevant content over email, and other benefits.Therefore, we will keep your account open unless you tell us to close it.

    If you purchased a paid LinkedIn service and can no longer access that service because of the government block, please let us know via email at linkedin_ru@cs.linkedin.com and we will make a prorated refund available to you.

    Thank you,

    LinkedIn Trust & Safety

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    LinkedIn

    Spam

    Say no more.

  15. Zap

    They want you onshore so they can raid your servers

    A service provider I use fell for this, they put servers on Russian soil, all seemed OK for a while, then came the demand for details of people using the site.

    The company declined and this went on for several months, then came the raid, all thei servers were stolen by the Russian authorities and they could not get out of there fast enough.

    Luckily their servers were encrypted but who knows.

    Russia does NOT present an opportunity if your business is going to be blackmailed, raided and maybe execs put in prison.

    So leave them to their pathetic 143m market, most of which are poor, meanwhile continue to keep up sanctions because they invade sovereign states.

    1. eldakka

      Re: They want you onshore so they can raid your servers

      How is this any different from the US?

      Hell, they raid and take data from outside their country, see the Megaupload saga and their attempts to get MS to hand over data store in Ireland.

      1. Zap

        Re: They want you onshore so they can raid your servers

        Well demanding data is one thing, raiding and taking servers is another.

        We have seen that Russia alleges tax fraud of $2m of anyone who goes against them, others get put in jail.

        I am no fan of what the US does but this does not make what Russia do OK

      2. Tomato42
        Unhappy

        Re: They want you onshore so they can raid your servers

        @eldakka in the US the courts at least have a resemblance of impartiality, it's not their fault that the laws governing US give foreigners less laws than pets of nationals

  16. sonibvc@gmail.com

    Unfortunately there is too much noise on social media today. It has become almost impossible to get attention and sell anything. This is what happens when channels get saturated. It pushes people to try and get more and more creative which only leads to higher costs in terms of time and money for a smaller and smaller reward. The most effective way and the only way that has held true for thousands of years is direct communication with the prospect. LinkedIn stands out for obvious reason. But even then the only valuable aspect of LinkedIn is the ability to connect to your prospect and start a conversion via chat. The system is simple. Send an invitation to connect and once accepted, introduce yourself to the prospect via chat. Then, try and move the prospect to continue communication via email or phone as soon as possible. Here is how I work and I get results:

    1. I send out 50 invites a day. Out of these 10-20 will accept which equals to 200-400 new prospects a month.

    2. I will then send a short intro message to the prospect introducing myself and my company (using www.linmessages.com to automate this as it can become frustrating rather quickly)

    3. As soon as I feel the prospect is interested enough to continue the conversion, I try and get him to continue on email or phone.

    It is simple, free and most importantly - effective!

  17. Alan Brown Silver badge

    And there was much rejoicing.

    Linkedin are one of the more egrarious spam outfits around.

    Here's a clue: Someone else giving you my email address is NOT permission to bombard me with "requests" to join, without any way of disabling them (other than creating an account and then disabling mail, which gets toggled off every 12 months)

    Eat shit and die, motherfuckers.

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