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The Internet

Inside Russia's Vast Surveillance State (nytimes.com) 67

Posted by msmash from the unprecedented-insight dept.
A cache of nearly 160,000 files from Russia's powerful internet regulator provides a rare glimpse inside Vladimir V. Putin's digital crackdown. The New York Times: Four days into the war in Ukraine, Russia's expansive surveillance and censorship apparatus was already hard at work. Roughly 800 miles east of Moscow, authorities in the Republic of Bashkortostan, one of Russia's 85 regions, were busy tabulating the mood of comments in social media messages. They marked down YouTube posts that they said criticized the Russian government. They noted the reaction to a local protest. Then they compiled their findings. One report about the "destabilization of Russian society" pointed to an editorial from a news site deemed "oppositional" to the government that said President Vladimir V. Putin was pursuing his own self-interest by invading Ukraine. A dossier elsewhere on file detailed who owned the site and where they lived. Another Feb. 28 dispatch, titled "Presence of Protest Moods," warned that some had expressed support for demonstrators and "spoke about the need to stop the war." The report was among nearly 160,000 records from the Bashkortostan office of Russia's powerful internet regulator, Roskomnadzor.

Together the documents detail the inner workings of a critical facet of Mr. Putin's surveillance and censorship system, which his government uses to find and track opponents, squash dissent and suppress independent information even in the country's furthest reaches. The leak of the agency's documents "is just like a small keyhole look into the actual scale of the censorship and internet surveillance in Russia," said Leonid Volkov, who is named in the records and is the chief of staff for the jailed opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny. "It's much bigger," he said. Roskomnadzor's activities have catapulted Russia, along with authoritarian countries like China and Iran, to the forefront of nations that aggressively use technology as a tool of repression. Since the agency was established in 2008, Mr. Putin has turned it into an essential lever to tighten his grip on power as he has transformed Russia into an even more authoritarian state. The internet regulator is part of a larger tech apparatus that Mr. Putin has built over the years, which also includes a domestic spying system that intercepts phone calls and internet traffic, online disinformation campaigns and the hacking of other nations' government systems. The agency's role in this digital dragnet is more extensive than previously known, according to the records.

It has morphed over the years from a sleepy telecom regulator into a full-blown intelligence agency, closely monitoring websites, social media and news outlets, and labeling them as "pro-government," "anti-government" or "apolitical." Roskomnadzor has also worked to unmask and surveil people behind anti-government accounts and provided detailed information on critics' online activities to security agencies, according to the documents. That has supplemented real-world actions, with those surveilled coming under attack for speaking out online. Some have then been arrested by the police and held for months. Others have fled Russia for fear of prosecution. The files reveal a particular obsession with Mr. Navalny and show what happens when the weight of Russia's security state is placed on one target. The system is built to control outbursts like the one this week, when protesters across Russia rallied against a new policy that would press roughly 300,000 people into military service for the war in Ukraine. At least 1,200 people have already been detained for demonstrating. More than 700 gigabytes of records from Roskomnadzor's Bashkortostan branch were made publicly available online in March by DDoSecrets, a group that publishes hacked documents.
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Inside Russia's Vast Surveillance State

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  • Is this breaking news for anybody? I mean, who would have guessed? Almost all governments do this nowadays.

    • Re:Is this breaking news for anybody? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 22, 2022 @01:34PM (#62905033)
      Not breaking news. But still relevant because not almost all governments have you fall out of a window or drink poison tea if you're too "anti-government" for them, which these days seems to be a very thin line.
      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by CAIMLAS ( 41445 )

        You're mistaken. Most governments do that. It just doesn't make the news as such in your own country.

        People mysteriously dying of a double gunshot to the back of the head suicide is, for instance, particularly common in the US.

        • Some degree of monitoring is necessary, otherwise you end up with a violent mob trying to overthrow a legitimately elected government!

    • More a matter for scale (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Everybody produces CO2, but transportation produces 27% of all manmade CO2 emissions

      So, whatboutism really doesn't work when Russia (I am suspect of China as well) have always relied on invasive data collection, while Western nations usually provide numerous free speech and free association rights

    • Not a surprise at all. Give a government unlimited budgets, ample weapons and the ability to print their own money (or just take it from their citizens) and it will ultimately be abused for the purpose of perpetuating the government (and enriching those in and around government).

      In that regard, there's really little difference between Russia/China/India/US/Germany/France/etc....big bureaucratic governments are a breeding ground for abuse of power. It doesn't matter what the "laws" are on paper as those ar

      • Re:Is this breaking news for anybody? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Darinbob ( 1142669 ) on Thursday September 22, 2022 @02:24PM (#62905195)

        I think there's a big difference in style here. Russia very much has a organized crime feel to it, as opposed to a too-powerful bureaucracy feel. Ie, in Russia you fall out of windows simultaneously with falling out of favor, or your car blows up, or you get poisoned. That's mafia type enforcement. So you've got the dysfunctional bureaucracy that keeps stepping on its own feet combined with surveillance, versus the murderous thugs in balaklavas with surveillance. You can complain about your government in US, Germany, or France, even in public, and nothing bad happens to you; if you do this in Russia you may get jail time on trumped up charges, or even get a beating, or your family has an accident. Feels like a huge difference. Do this in China and you'll just be detained without them even bothering to come up with fictitious charges. So these feel very different to me.

        • Re:Is this breaking news for anybody? (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Whateverthisis ( 7004192 ) on Thursday September 22, 2022 @02:57PM (#62905331)
          No kidding. People who compare the US and the West, where liberty and freedom of speech is enshrined, to places like China and Russia are so hyperbolic with the comparison that it lacks all meaning.

          In the US, a woman speaks out against a powerful "oligarch", leading to others to speak out against him, resulting in him landing in jail and a powerful movement to protect women from sexual misconduct in the workplace.

          In China, an Olympic tennis star [wikipedia.org] accuses a powerful politician of sexual misconduct, and she disappears, later recanting her story.

          In the US, a black man is killed by police (George Floyd). The police officers are held accountable, protests go nationwide, and a movement (BLM) is started to really bring to light the unfair situation of African Americans and police interactions.

          In China, people are unable to draw on their savings from a bank as the bank stops any withdrawls. They protest, and are assaulted by (government run) bank security [bbc.com]. The West has it's problems for sure, but it also allows for the airing of grievances and that can lead to political change. That's just not the case in Russia or China.

          • Yep.

            I'm Canadian. I just roll my eyes when people call the USA a "police state."

            Could the USA do better? Yes. Much better.

            But to suggest America is a "police state" is ludicrous in the extreme.
          • Are we in American supposed to wait until we're like Russia and China to complain about our problems? Isn't it better, from a citizen standpoint, to address these problems before they become too entrenched to address?

            • Isn't it better, from a citizen standpoint, to address these problems before they become too entrenched to address?

              The GP was specifically attacking the use of hyperbole by overstating situations in order to make dishonest comparisons. That sort of hyperbole makes a victim of the truth for the sake of one's own agenda. There's nothing in the best interests of a country's own citizens about it. It's inherently self-interested, disingenuous, and a massive waste of energy, attention, and political capital.

              I'm glad we don't have laws outlawing it, just like I'm glad the police won't be called if I foolishly order every item

            • No, but complain about our actual problems and donâ(TM)t claim they are as severe as these crazy places. I have spent a lot of time in all of these places and itâ(TM)s not the same thing at all. We do need to protect our freedom and democracy, and not go down the wrong path, but weâ(TM)re a long way from being anything like Russia. The only thing drawing thst comparison helps is Russia, they like to say weâ(TM)re the same as an excuse to continue their horrific actions. Please donâ

        • I think there's a big difference in style here. Russia very much has a organized crime feel to it, as opposed to a too-powerful bureaucracy feel. Ie,

          To be more precise, many of the FSB (ex-KGB) members in the Russian state are mafia members as well. For example, Nikolai Patrushev.

        • Snowden? Manning? Assange? I could go on.

          • Literally stealing state secrets. In some cases might've been justified but that that's the risk you take.

          • Snowden? Manning? Assange? I could go on.

            You do realize that offering that critique in public without any concern of jail time actually proves his point, right? Try that in Russia and you'll land yourself next to the 1200 Russian citizens who were jailed yesterday for protesting Putin's decision to call up 300,000 reservists.

            Sure, we can criticize the US' response to those three disclosing classified documents, but those are extraordinary, individual cases worthy of international headlines that in no way resemble the daily life in China and Russia

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Ichijo ( 607641 )

          So you've got the dysfunctional bureaucracy that keeps stepping on its own feet combined with surveillance, versus the murderous thugs in balaklavas with surveillance.

          That argument is called relative privation [rationalwiki.org] where you attempt to trivialize [reddit.com] a problem just because something else out there is even worse.

          Have you got anything other than logical fallacies and gaslighting to explain how US/Germany/France/etc. have no need to improve?

          • Im not trying to trivialize the behavior of the western governments. However I reject the idea that it's the equivalence of actual despot states. The post I was responding to said clearly, "here's really little difference between", and I'm pointing out there there's a huge difference. Doesn't mean one site is a saint and the other a demon, since both sides have a litany of sins.

      • Perhaps they should have saved some of that money for a larger army and better armaments.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by fermion ( 181285 )
      It is not news because it is common in all most countries, not just dictatorships or socialist countries. Twenty years ago, the US, one of the last countries without a formal domestic spy agency, established the DHS. It is distressing but what we have to live with.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by splutty ( 43475 )

        Are you suggesting there's something distressing about the Department of Heimat Sicherheit?

    • Sure, lots of governments do it, but in Putin's Russia, top story penthouse surveils YOOOoooouuuuuuu.

    • Re:Is this breaking news for anybody? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by fazig ( 2909523 ) on Thursday September 22, 2022 @02:08PM (#62905157)
      It's another cautionary tale, a good reminder for how blanket surveillances can lead to very ugly outcomes if people are getting persecuted merely based on their stance towards the incumbent government.

      I has happened before in places like Romania (where I have some first hand experience). It's happening now in Russia as it appears given the current data. And it could happen in "the West" under the guise of something that people are being made afraid of. I've linked this before and I'll do it again, because to me it's an important issue for the today and the future to come: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] .

      We'd be foolish to believe that "we" are immune to such developments because our systems are so good and refined to protect the individual. Because in the last couple of decades we've seen an erosion of protections of privacy happen in many "Western" places from both private corporations and state institutions for both convenience and entertainment as well as some pretence of wanting to protect us from bad things (see the Four Horsemen).

      • Re:Is this breaking news for anybody? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by phantomfive ( 622387 ) on Thursday September 22, 2022 @03:22PM (#62905461) Journal

        And it could happen in "the West" under the guise of something that people are being made afraid of.

        I would have thought we were mostly safe from this, but considering how many people recently have been calling for censorship because of the other party, it is very clear we are not safe from it. "Democracy dies with applause" because we applaud when the dangerous guy gets censored.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by fazig ( 2909523 )
          Unfortunately it doesn't take much to make people afraid of something and then abusing that fear to warm people up to erosion of liberties under the guise of security.

          I've been marching in a hand full of protests against those data retention laws the German government (mostly the centrists parties of Christian Democrats and Social Democrats) kept pushing again and again because of "terrorists". On various occasions my ID was recorded by the police forces that were there "to protect us". So I'm fairly sur

          • Unfortunately it doesn't take much to make people afraid of something and then abusing that fear to warm people up to erosion of liberties under the guise of security.

            I would argue that the desire for revenge is more powerful than the desire for security.

      • ... could happen in "the West" ...

        It did happen in the west, as the French Reign of Terror and the German Nazi Party.

        The USA has experienced 90 years of 'evil socialism', 60 years of 'state rights' and 40 years of 'evil government' propaganda: That's a lot of cancel culture. The only thing holding the country together is, rich white people actually need all those poor people to buy stuff.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by CAIMLAS ( 41445 )

      I mean, it's the NYT. Who else can you depend on for late-breaking propaganda to justify the latest state sponsored terrorism from the US? That is what they -do-, and have done, for the entirety of my life.

  • If you're an admin of a cloud service, just an FYI. You'll want to consider blocking inbound and outbound connections to Russia if you haven't already. This can obviously be circumvented by VPN connections for inbound, but this is a compliance issue and applying a net block will strengthen your legal footing in demonstrating due diligence effort.

  • Hilarious (Score:1, Troll)

    by CAIMLAS ( 41445 )

    This is hilarious propaganda. For starts: let's just depend the NYT isn't wholly owned by the US State Intelligence apparatus, and hasn't been for a very long time.

    Let's further pretend that this kind of thing doesn't happen here and ignore the complete lack of reporting on the US spying apparatus, which is far more efficient and broadly scoped.

    • For starts: let's just depend the NYT isn't wholly owned by the US State Intelligence apparatus, and hasn't been for a very long time.

      Citation needed.

      • can't provide you with am easily digestible document... you need to have been paying attention to how the US Media Landscape changed since the 'Credibility Gap' of the Vietnam era and the actions of the US Administration in making sure there is no press free enough to expose it ever again.

        if you're asking for Citation, you're nowhere near ready for one.

        • can't provide you with am easily digestible document..

          Bro, there's conspiracy theories and then there's conspiracy theories without evidence. Wake up.

  • The CIA and FBI has been doing this for years and to much bigger scrutiny.

  • Funny how very little we saw on the far more capable US surveillance infrastructure.

  • Sadly, Russia has to do all of its own dirty work to surveil its citizens.

    Here in the West we are far more civilized, as we have strong laws against domestic agencies spying on citizens.

    We are so civilized we use our friends to do our dirty work for us.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

    Russa clearly needs to become more civilized.

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