St. Petersburg authorities said that passport or driver's license information will be required to access Wi-Fi on the city metro and on other public Internet networks under a new government decree that public network operators require user identification, the government's official newspaper reported Monday.
Municipal authorities have met with public Wi-Fi operators to discuss the implementation of the new law, but said the new measure should not affect Internet access in privately owned places, including restaurants, Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported.
Public Wi-Fi is available in 40 stations of the St. Petersburg metro, as well as on the city's main street, Nevsky Prospekt, at the airport and the Peterhof Palace complex, among other places.
The former capital is not following the example of Moscow, which said Friday that the new law would only apply to certain "collective access points" and not require people to submit their personal information to use public Internet in parks, cafes, universities and public transportation.
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