A. Introduction: Data
localization is neither a new topic nor an under-argued one. The
world stage has been lit with debates on this topic for quite some
time now1. In 2013 when Edward Snowden, a former
contractor with CIA, leaked to the media details of extensive
internet and phone surveillance by American intelligence agency,
establishing border control provisions on the internet gained an
impetus2. China, Russia, Australia, Canada and several
other countries have already adopted data localization provisions.
In fact, Russia has already set an example of enforcement of its
'data border control' provisions against
LinkedIn3 in 2016, and last year4 the Russian
Data Protection Authority, Roskomnadzor, published its 2018 plans
for conducting inspections of local companies' compliance with
Russian privacy requirements including data localization
requirement.
