Armenian internet under control: what data local operators ill be required to store

YEREVAN, November 26. /ARKA/. Armenia's Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) has come up recently with a draft decision to introduce new regulation for local Internet providers, requiring that they store Internet traffic data of their subscribers for 6 months.

Grigory Saghyan, vice chairman of  Internet Society public organization (ISOC), told reporters on Tuesday that the regulation called “Decision on the Setting of Standards for the Maintenance of Archives Regarding Internet Access Services Provided by Entities Regulated in the Field of Electronic Communications” implies that operators will need to store data about users' IP address, where they connected from, where the connection came from, what was the duration of the session and so on.  However, operators will not be obliged to record the contents of connections. All data will be stored by operators for six months and, if necessary, will be provided to law enforcement agencies. The decision is expected to enter into force on January 1, 2020.

According to Saghyan, there are three models of such regulation in the world, one of which is European, which provides for the storage of data, however its content cannot be  stored or given to  law enforcement agencies. Another model used in Russia and some other former Soviet republics implies control over all data, including the content of the communication, and providing access to it to  law enforcement agencies. The third model is used in the United States, where special services do not bother operators, getting access to data  through heir networks.

He said the case f Edward Snowden points to other various formats and methods of obtaining information, however, they are not among the official ones.

Saghyan said a similar regulation with regard to  mobile communications has been in force in Armenia since 2017, which obliges operators to store data on calls of subscribers for 2 years. As for Internet communications, according to Saghyan, the National Security Service has “black boxes” connected to the operators and has access to information it needs.

At the same time, there is no law regulating the Internet, however, as Saghyan noted, in practice, operators still store data on Internet traffic of subscribers.

“An example of this is a simple request for printing one's bills paid to the Internet provider for at least the previous three months.  This means that the operator still stores data for resolving disputes with subscribers,” Saghyan said.

The PSRC explained that it was guided by the European regulation of 2006, according to which such data should be stored from 6 months to two years. However, as Saghyan notes, this regulatory requirement became not mandatory in 2014.

At the same time, in May 2018, a special regulation was adopted, which imposes a number of obligations on the data storage operator, as well as provides for various fines, including for data leakage, which starts from 20 million euros up to 10% of the company's turnover.

Besides,  as Saghyan says,  in the next 5-10 years, taking into account the development of the Internet and information technology, such regulation becomes meaningless, as new protocols are introduced, which assume that after the Internet connection the operator will only have information about the IP connection to Google (only a fact connection and session time). All other information will be transmitted by special codes or encryption connection, which excludes the possibility of control.
Saghyan says PSRC's draft decision does not indicate which technologies and methods it will use for  data protection, including subscribers' personal data, data storage methods, and a list of persons who have access to such information.

In addition, if the three largest telecom operators in Armenia can ensure the safety of data storage, then in the case of small operators, this issue remains in doubt.

According to him, in view of the above-said such regulation is not quite relevant and it, in particular, should be considered in the context of the fact that  Armenia ranks 7th in Internet Freedom Index in 2019. –0—

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17:47 11/26/2019