The Duma is serious about the ‘right to be forgotten’

A parliamentary committee has approved a first draft of legislation that would introduce the “right to be forgotten” in Russia, which would allow individuals to force websites and Internet search engines to remove certain records about past events in their lives.

Despite criticism from Russia’s Internet industry, the head of the Duma’s committee on information policy, Leonid Levin, says the legislation should be adopted and amended in a second draft.

On May 29, Russian lawmakers introduced legislation that would institute a “right to be forgotten.” The law would allow individuals to order Internet search engines delete any information about them that’s either untrue or more than three years old. Search engines would also become legally responsible for linking to information that libels or slanders individuals. The only exception written into the legislation currently applies to information about past criminal convictions.

In July 2014, Vladimir Putin signed a law that will require websites and businesses to store all Russians’ personal data on servers located inside Russia. The law was initially supposed to come into action in 2016, but the Duma accelerated the process last year. The law now takes effect on September 1, 2015.