The Reality of Russian Surveillance
James Lewis of CSIS has an excellent post on the reality of the Russian surveillance system, a reality that is quite different from the impression created by Vladimir Putin during his recent televised exchange with Edward Snowden. The post is brief and worth reading in its entirety. In the unlikely event you were in fact fooled by Putin's libertarian posturing, though, and in case you don't have time to click through, please at least read this excerpt:
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Published by The Lawfare Institute
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James Lewis of CSIS has an excellent post on the reality of the Russian surveillance system, a reality that is quite different from the impression created by Vladimir Putin during his recent televised exchange with Edward Snowden. The post is brief and worth reading in its entirety. In the unlikely event you were in fact fooled by Putin's libertarian posturing, though, and in case you don't have time to click through, please at least read this excerpt:
... Russian law gives Russia’s security service, the FSB, the authority to use SORM (“System for Operative Investigative Activities”) to collect, analyze and store all data that transmitted or received on Russian networks, including calls, email, website visits and credit card transactions. SORM has been in use since 1990 and collects both metadata and content. SORM-1 collects mobile and landline telephone calls. SORM-2 collects internet traffic. SORM-3 collects from all media (including Wi-Fi and social networks) and stores data for three years. Russian law requires all internet service providers to install an FSB monitoring device (called “Punkt Upravlenia”) on their networks that allows the direct collection of traffic without the knowledge or cooperation of the service provider. The providers must pay for the device and the cost of installation. Collection requires a court order, but these are secret and not shown to the service provider. According to the data published by Russia’s Supreme Court, almost 540,000 intercepts of phone and internet traffic were authorized in 2012. ... SORM is routinely used against political opponents and human rights activists to monitor them and to collect information to use against them in “dirty tricks” campaigns. Russian courts have upheld the FSB’s authority to surveil political opponents even if they have committed no crime.
Robert (Bobby) Chesney is the Dean of the University of Texas School of Law, where he also holds the James A. Baker III Chair in the Rule of Law and World Affairs at UT. He is known internationally for his scholarship relating both to cybersecurity and national security. He is a co-founder of Lawfare, the nation’s leading online source for analysis of national security legal issues, and he co-hosts the popular show The National Security Law Podcast.
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