Banks seek to obtain biometrics of Russians
Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2025 10:47 am
The State Duma and the Federation Council criticized the Interior Ministry's initiative to gain access to citizens' gadgets without a court order
Representatives of both chambers of the Russian parliament have criticized the Interior Ministry's bill, which proposes to give security forces the ability to remotely access data from data centers, cloud storage, telecom operators, and citizens' devices before a court order.
"The law does not provide for armenia whatsapp resource the authority of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to arbitrarily request information about transfers of any citizen without appropriate grounds. At the same time, if such grounds are present - namely, the agency receives information about illegal actions committed - then the banking secrecy regime and the requirement for the confidentiality of personal data are unlikely to become an obstacle to the transfer of information about the citizen to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. This is due to the fact that the legislation provides for a number of exceptions to the general rules regarding the banking secrecy regime and the processing of personal data, which, among other things, may include the aforementioned information interaction between the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Bank of Russia," added Ilya Lokhanin.
Vladimir Slashchev, senior partner of the law firm Koblev and Partners, reported that disclosure of banking secrecy could previously occur after an investigator sent a request to the bank, to which the bank is obliged to provide a certificate of accounts and deposits (in accordance with Article 26 of the Federal Law "On Banks and Banking Activities"); or on the basis of a court decision (in accordance with Article 183 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation).
"The amendments to Article 26 of this law expand the cases in which this secret may be disclosed to the internal affairs agency, but the internal affairs agency will not be able to obtain such information about an attack on the funds of a citizen or organization except from a statement from the victim about the crime," added Vladimir Slashchev.
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The Russian Ministry of Digital Development reported that organizations have begun to receive state accreditation to work with biometrics. The first were Rosselkhozbank and Alfa-Bank.
When asked by a ComNews correspondent whether it was possible to extend this practice to the Unified Biometric System (UBS), Pavel Katkov, lawyer, economist, member of the RF CCI Committee on Entrepreneurship in the Media Communications Sphere, said that it was possible, but would require separate amendments to the law. "The situation with banks has become urgent, and there is a demand in society for a more effective fight against banking fraud. No less compelling reasons would be needed to duplicate the simplified procedure with respect to the UBS."
Vladimir Slashchev also believes that in Russia there is a high latency of financial frauds, which are difficult for law enforcement agencies to uncover, so it cannot be ruled out that in order to ensure the safety of citizens, law enforcement agencies can gain access to all necessary databases, including biometrics.
Representatives of both chambers of the Russian parliament have criticized the Interior Ministry's bill, which proposes to give security forces the ability to remotely access data from data centers, cloud storage, telecom operators, and citizens' devices before a court order.
"The law does not provide for armenia whatsapp resource the authority of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to arbitrarily request information about transfers of any citizen without appropriate grounds. At the same time, if such grounds are present - namely, the agency receives information about illegal actions committed - then the banking secrecy regime and the requirement for the confidentiality of personal data are unlikely to become an obstacle to the transfer of information about the citizen to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. This is due to the fact that the legislation provides for a number of exceptions to the general rules regarding the banking secrecy regime and the processing of personal data, which, among other things, may include the aforementioned information interaction between the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Bank of Russia," added Ilya Lokhanin.
Vladimir Slashchev, senior partner of the law firm Koblev and Partners, reported that disclosure of banking secrecy could previously occur after an investigator sent a request to the bank, to which the bank is obliged to provide a certificate of accounts and deposits (in accordance with Article 26 of the Federal Law "On Banks and Banking Activities"); or on the basis of a court decision (in accordance with Article 183 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation).
"The amendments to Article 26 of this law expand the cases in which this secret may be disclosed to the internal affairs agency, but the internal affairs agency will not be able to obtain such information about an attack on the funds of a citizen or organization except from a statement from the victim about the crime," added Vladimir Slashchev.
Read also
The Russian Ministry of Digital Development reported that organizations have begun to receive state accreditation to work with biometrics. The first were Rosselkhozbank and Alfa-Bank.
When asked by a ComNews correspondent whether it was possible to extend this practice to the Unified Biometric System (UBS), Pavel Katkov, lawyer, economist, member of the RF CCI Committee on Entrepreneurship in the Media Communications Sphere, said that it was possible, but would require separate amendments to the law. "The situation with banks has become urgent, and there is a demand in society for a more effective fight against banking fraud. No less compelling reasons would be needed to duplicate the simplified procedure with respect to the UBS."
Vladimir Slashchev also believes that in Russia there is a high latency of financial frauds, which are difficult for law enforcement agencies to uncover, so it cannot be ruled out that in order to ensure the safety of citizens, law enforcement agencies can gain access to all necessary databases, including biometrics.