Russia's Information Market
Bruce Schneier mysteriously titles a post “Russia’a Black-Market Data Trade.” But its not clear to me that this is black-market at all. Does Russia have a data protection law? Quoting from The Globe and Mail:
At the Gorbushka kiosk, sales are so brisk that the vendor excuses himself to help other customers while the foreigner considers his options: $43 for a mobile phone company’s list of subscribers? Or $100 for a database of vehicles registered in the Moscow region?
The vehicle database proves irresistible. It appears to contain names, birthdays, passport numbers, addresses, telephone numbers, descriptions of vehicles, and vehicle identification (VIN) numbers for every driver in Moscow.
Is this so different from Choicepoint’s AutoTrackXP? (Sales of which are now “restricted.”)
Yes, it is really black-market, because we certanly have sort of data protection law for financial information (such in a Bank of Russia leak) And you know – it’s really funny how computers looks like now in CBR 😉