Yandex was fined for refusing to provide the FSB with round-the-clock access to Alice’s “smart home”

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The magistrate of court district No. 425 of the Moscow district of Khamovniki fined the Yandex corporation ten thousand rubles under the article on failure to comply with an order to eliminate violations of the law.

The reason was the company’s refusal to provide the FSB with 24-hour remote access to information from the Alice smart home.

Lawyer of the First Department project Evgeny Smirnov notes that intelligence services are seeking access to data from “smart speakers” with which users regularly interact in their apartments.

“In my memory, this is the first such case; I have never heard of the FSB publicly trying to get at such equipment,” he says.

The violation protocol was drawn up on May 28, and the decision was made on June 10. Yandex said it would not comment on the verdict.

According to the Agency, this decision shows: if previously the norms of the Yarovaya Law applied only to instant messengers, now they are interpreted more broadly - and in fact any IT infrastructure may fall under the requirements for the transfer of data to the FSB.