Experts Propose Easing Confidentiality Laws to Boost Digital Services
The non-profit organization “Digital Economy” believes that making it easier for third parties to access banking, medical, and tax secrets—as well as relaxing telecommunications confidentiality—could foster the development of new technologies without significantly compromising security.
Outdated Laws Hinder Digital Innovation
The “Digital Economy” organization is implementing a massive program with a budget of 3.5 trillion rubles. However, experts argue that many promising initiatives are blocked by outdated legislation, particularly strict professional confidentiality laws. These include banking, tax, medical, and telecommunications secrecy. According to RBC, a draft law to expand access rights to such closed information is already prepared.
What Constitutes Confidential Information?
- Banking secrecy covers information about clients’ transactions, accounts, and deposits at credit institutions.
- Tax secrecy includes any data obtained by tax authorities or law enforcement about taxpayers or insurance contributors, with some exceptions like taxpayer identification numbers and debt information.
- Medical secrecy refers to information about seeking medical help, health status, diagnoses, and other patient data obtained during examination and treatment.
- Telecommunications secrecy involves the content of phone calls, correspondence, mail, and any messages transmitted via communication networks or postal services.
Proposed Changes to Confidentiality Laws
Experts suggest allowing banks to share client information with third parties, provided the client consents. Currently, banks cannot do this, even if it benefits the client. According to Sergey Izraylit, head of regulatory development at the Skolkovo Foundation, these changes would enable the growth of related digital services based on payment information and reduce banks’ risks of violating banking secrecy laws. Izraylit believes this would expand client options and allow other organizations to process financial data and offer commercial services, but only at the client’s request and with the bank’s agreement.
Telecommunications Secrecy and Fraud Prevention
Experts from “Digital Economy” recommend relaxing telecommunications secrecy to help fight fraud. This would allow operators to share subscriber data with third parties. Of the major telecom operators, only MegaFon commented, stating that such data processing is necessary for quality service and for automated information exchange between law enforcement and operators. Currently, technical data like phone IMEI numbers are considered confidential by courts, but sharing them could help develop new digital services and combat fraud. Experts also note that operators might use this opportunity to legally monetize data for marketing and other purposes.
Tax Secrecy and Public Services
Proposed amendments to the Tax Code would allow the transfer of information about taxes and fees owed by individuals from the Federal Tax Service database to the Unified Public Services Portal. Currently, only debt information is available on the portal, making it easier for people to delay payments until debts appear online. The changes aim to make settling with the government more convenient.
Medical Secrecy and Telemedicine
To support the development of telemedicine, the draft law proposes expanding the list of parties who can receive medical information with the client’s consent. Currently, only officials are responsible for protecting medical secrecy, but the amendments would extend this responsibility to organizations as well. Experts explain that this would pave the way for modern intermediary services between medical institutions and clients, such as ordering specialized tests involving third parties. Izraylit notes that responsibility for information protection now lies more with information security infrastructure than with individual employees, making it logical to assign this responsibility to organizations.