By Olga Razumovskaya
ST. PETERSBURG--Samsung Electronics Co. has recently started
transferring Russians' personal data to the state, the country's
communications watchdog said on Thursday, in compliance with a
controversial new law that requires such information to be stored
on servers within Russia.
Alexander Zharov, the head of Russia's telecom watchdog,
Roskomnadzor, told The Wall Street Journal that Samsung was among a
number of foreign companies that have started to transfer such
data.
Speaking on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum,
he later told reporters that eBay Inc. and AliExpress.com are some
of the other companies that also have started transferring data to
comply with the law, which takes effect on Sept. 1.
Samsung has declined to comment on whether it was transferring
data to Russia. eBay has previously confirmed its intention to
comply with the Russian law, while AliEpress couldn't be reached
for comment.
Mr. Zharov's comments suggest that foreign companies may be
starting to yield to pressure from Russia to allow the state to
control the movement of personal data.
The new law, which mandates that Russians' personal data must be
stored on the servers within the country's borders, has been
criticized by Internet companies. They say the legislation would
interfere with their operations in Russia and that it was adopted
too hastily.
Mr. Zharov said it is now too late to question the timing of the
bill and that "we will now be focusing on its implementation."
In April, a person familiar with the matter told The Wall Street
Journal that Google Inc. had begun moving servers to Russian data
centers, but the company declined to comment.
Write to Olga Razumovskaya at olga.razumovskaya@wsj.com