Russia may ban Facebook, Gmail, Skype

Russia's parliament has reportedly passed legislation that will ban Western technology firms from operating on failure to store data within Russia.

According to CNET, the "Information, Information Technologies and Protection of Information" amendment, part of the country's anti-terrorism laws, would require Russian data handled by tech giants such as Facebook, Google's Gmail, and Microsoft's Skype to be stored within the country in order for it to be accessed by state security and intelligence services for legal inspection.

The move will facilitate the Russian government's surveillance plans that include snooping on user data.

However, the legislation is yet to be approved by Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Once the legislation gets the president's nod, Russia would force foreign companies to install servers and data centers inside the country in order to be compliant, which in turn would give greater control to the Russian Federal Security Service over the Russian Internet, the report adds