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Residents of Kazakhstan are expressing concern over data privacy following an incident involving an ambulance call in Astana, infohub.kz reports.

What Happened

Dope Soz podcast host Arsen Tusupbekov claimed that after he called an ambulance, information about the incident unexpectedly appeared in his Yandex app order history.

“I don’t want a commercial company from a neighboring country with a questionable reputation in handling personal data to know things that don’t concern it. Did you get my consent to process my personal information? Why is confidentiality being violated?” he said.

Tusupbekov suggested that if such practices continue, services like “Yandex Ambulance” or “Yandex Police” could soon appear.

Company’s Response

Yandex previously announced the launch of a joint project with the Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan, which is reportedly aimed at informing citizens about the location of the ambulance and its estimated arrival time.

However, many users believe that such integrations should not take place without explicit and transparent patient consent.

Background

• In the summer of 2024, a major data leak occurred in the Yandex.Eats service, affecting Kazakhstani users.

• Earlier, it was also reported that Russia’s FSB had demanded 24/7 access to Yandex’s “Alice” smart home system, which further raised concerns about data privacy.