The Ministry of Economy has developed amendments to the law on communications, which will allow telecom operators, with the consent of customers, to transfer information about their connections, traffic and payments to a third party.

The ministry believes that the transfer of data, for example, to a bank will help fighting fraudsters. It also proposed transfering data on settlements of customers with the operator to banks for credit scoring (a system for assessing a person's creditworthiness). At the same time, the authors of the amendments suggest that the data may be of interest to tourist services to inform vacationers about events in the region.

MTS said that the proposed rule "should streamline interaction with customers." Other big telecom operators MegaFon, Beeline, and Tele2 declined to comment. As of now, operators can transfer information about subscribers, which falls under the secret of communication, only through the courts. The concept of "communication secrecy" means the content of calls and correspondence, the names of customers and information about the connections, including the duration and cost.

A complete list of information from which the secret of communication will be removed, as well as the procedure for their provision, will be determined by the government.

Original (in Russian)