Russian Social Network Involved in Privacy Scandal
Odnoklassniki.ru (translated as ‘classmates’), Russian most popular social networking site, has been in the center of information privacy scandal.
Rumor has it that it is quite dangerous to consolidate so much personal information in one place (especially in Russia where Internet privacy is legally banned). Private information stored at the site is rumored to be used by Russian investigative arms: a person’s contacts, records, photos, etc.
That would be also interesting to note that the site privacy policy is found nowhere at the site (the case hardly imaginable in the US): it is not there for public viewing (either in ‘About Us’ section or anywhere else), you are even not offered to put a tick on it when creating an account.
Image credit: Toilet Spy
That’s funny but now Russian tax police use some information from users profiles on odnoklassniki.ru like a way to get defaulters.
“Under the information reflected in a profile of the registered user, the police officers can make representation about property of the debtor. Besides, probably, money will be raised from telephone bills to extinguish debts, and on a debt will be informed on SMS.”