Khinshtein: Blocking VPN won’t solve the problem of transferring user data

You cannot ban VPN services and hold accountable for their use, since blocking will not solve the problem of possible transfer of user data to third parties. About it declared Alexander Khinshtein, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Technologies, in his Telegram channel.

“My position on VPNs has remained unchanged: I believe that they should not be banned, nor should anyone be held accountable for using these services,” Khinshtein wrote.

The head of the Duma Committee noted that Russian users have switched to domestic platforms, so blocking bypasses are not widespread. He stressed that the main problem is that VPN users do not fully understand the risks to their digital security.

“Most of the creators of such services collect personal data and user activity history, after which they can transfer them to third parties. It is important to systematically communicate this to people. Blocking this problem cannot be solved,” Khinshtein believes.

Former member of the Federation Council Artem Sheikin informed RIA Novosti, which sent a letter to Roskomnadzor with a request to check the compliance of VPN services with the law and, if necessary, block them and remove them from RuStore.

September 1 Russian Ministry of Digital Development published a bill that proposes to allow Roskomnadzor to restrict the operation of sites that contain information about ways and methods to bypass blocking in Russia. VPN services that Russians began to use after blocking a number of media outlets and foreign social networks are not mentioned in the project. The document is in the public comment phase, which should end on September 15th.