Tales from the IIDF: Russians can earn up to 5,000 rubles a month by selling their personal data

January 28 is the International Day for the Protection of Personal Data: people are told how to protect private information on the Internet, get rid of tracking and avoid phishing sites. Ironically, it was precisely today that the Internet Initiatives Development Fund (IIDF) proposed amendments to Russian legislation that would allow free circulation of personal data on the market (in a depersonalized form). IIDF promises that citizens can earn from 15,000 to 60,000 rubles a year by selling their data, that is, up to 5,000 rubles. per month.

The initiative is quite logical in the sense that it creates a legal framework around the real activities of Russian companies that buy and sell depersonalized user bases (for example, visited pages from a browser or search queries from a search engine). If amendments are accepted, then users will at least start asking for permission, and maybe even pay.

The draft amendments to the Law "On Information" have not yet been finalized. Before making it to the State Duma, amendments can be made to it, Alexandra Orekhovich, director of legal initiatives of the foundation , told Kommersant.

Key points:

• Citizens can offer their personal data to a business (for a specific purpose and time frame) for a fee (in various forms);
• a business will be able to buy data if a citizen agrees to their processing and deduct a percentage of the profit (in the case of subsequent resale of the data as part of a large package) in his favor;
• citizens have the right to prohibit the processing of their data.

Currently, the collection and processing of personal data in a depersonalized form usually occurs without paying a fee, and sometimes without the consent of the user.

IIDF hopes that an additional income of up to 5,000 rubles per month will be a powerful motivation for registering as self-employed and “allow bringing several billion rubles to the treasury” from individuals. In turn, the business will receive a tool for the legal exchange of user data and come out of the shadows.

Experts interviewed by Kommersant are cautious of the IIDF initiative and cite the overestimated figure of potential income from the sale of their personal data. With such an assessment, payments across the country will amount to trillions of rubles, while the entire advertising market of the Russian Federation is estimated at 450 billion rubles. Perhaps this is only an attempt to "bribe voters", that is, an attempt to persuade public opinion in favor of a bill that benefits banks, telecom operators and large Internet companies.