Russia is rolling out a new scheme to tag every internet user with a single tracking number that follows them across every website and app they visit, Deputy Digital Development Minister Bella Cherkesova revealed on December 24.

The government plans to link the permanent ID to people's mobile phone numbers before claiming to strip away their identity - though critics warn the system could still expose what Russians are watching, reading and doing online, Rossiyskaya Gazeta also reported on December 24.

Officials insist the tracking is needed because the same person using different devices currently gets counted multiple times, messing up audience statistics. But the real winners could be advertisers hungry for data on who's clicking what.

"No one will ever know what a specific user watched. Data is transmitted to Mediascope in already anonymised form," the ministry claimed, referring to the television and online audience measurement company that will hoover up the information.

The scheme has sparked alarm amongst industry insiders who say it won't fix the real problems plaguing digital advertising.

"The key problem consists in matching user profiles on different platforms, even those that do not require user authorisation. Ecosystems 'lock' data inside and do not allow cross-platform user synchronisation. As a result, communication with consumers is duplicated, leading to increased costs of quality contact," Alexander Papkov, vice president of advertising industry body ARIR, stated.

Papkov warned that simply creating tracking numbers won't solve anything - Russia needs secure systems for sharing data without exposing sensitive business secrets. He demanded equal access for all companies if the ID scheme goes ahead.

"In any case, even with introduction of a unified identifier, it is critically important to ensure full and equal access to possibilities of its use by all market participants, since advanced solutions can only appear through healthy competitive struggle," Papkov stated.

The ministry is still thrashing out details with online cinemas, social networks and other digital platforms about how the tracking system would actually work. Internet resources would strip away names before passing encrypted data to Mediascope, officials claim.