Russia is obliged to fill in passport details at public Wi-Fi hotspots

The Russian government now requires users of public Wi-Fi hotspots to enter their passport details before they can go online. With the measure, the government wants to prevent anonymous use of hotspots.

The hotspot provider will be responsible for collecting the passport data, according to the text of the new law signed by Prime Minister Medvedev. In addition to the user, he must also record the MAC address and record the communication for at least six months, it seems in the text. The motives are not clear from the legal text, but in any case it seems that no one is allowed to log in anonymously anymore.

Russian media differ on what exactly the new law means. The state-owned ITAR/TASS news agency reports that the total ban on anonymous internet browsing via Wi-Fi hotspots, while the Slon.ru website, according to a Moscow city government official, says it only applies to government networks that support it. public may use.

The Russian government has recently announced more measures related to the use of the internet: for example, companies must store data of Russian users in Russia itself and there are laws to prevent anonymous blogging.