Special services: Results of 2012

The most disgusting event of the year was the introduction of Internet censorship in Russia with the help of a single register of prohibited sites. For the first time in our country, a legally designed and technically implemented Internet filtration system appeared. Under the pretext of taking care of the morality of the children, the Duma and the President approved censorship on the network, which still remained the last relatively free zone that ensures the freedom of expression of citizens.

From November 1, we began to live in a new network reality, in which any information can be filtered and any site is blocked without a court decision on the basis of a black list. Over the past couple of months, YouTube, Google+ Coats and the Lurcomorye Counteocultural Encyclopedia got into the register of prohibited sites.

Meanwhile, the main danger is the technology that all telecommunication operators and Internet providers in Russia should now arrange to comply with the requirements of the law.

DPI (technology of deep analysis of packages) allows the provider to look into the packages of the transmitted information and, as one engineer was figuratively expressed, not only see the address on the envelope, but also read the letter. This technology, which was originally used for commercial purposes to combat spamers, allows providers not only to monitor traffic, but also to filter it, suppressing a certain service or blocking content.

Specifically, the DPI is not mentioned in the law, but the largest Internet companies in force in Russia, together with the Ministry of Communications, came to the conclusion that it is this technology that will allow them to make “harmful information” with the lowest reputation losses. The use of DPI is necessary in order to effectively block the Internet pages without completely closing the site. Thus, you can block the pages of opposition groups on Facebook or VKontakte, while most users of social networks will not notice anything. It is DPI that is used in Chinese Firewall to filter the Internet.

In addition to obvious filtering opportunities, DPI technology gives new features for surveillance. With its help, you can identify all users who visited a seditious resource or mentioned in letters or chats, for example, protests.

In 2012, for the first time, it became known that the special services have recently been increasing the scale of listening to citizens every year. According to the statistics of the Judicial Department at the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, over the past five years, only legal interception of telephone conversations and e -mail of Russian citizens has almost doubled. According to these data, in 2007, law enforcement agencies received 265,937 permits for listening to telephone conversations from Russian courts, as well as interception of Internet traffic, in 2011 such permits were already issued 466,152.

In 2012, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation also first confirmed the right of special services to listen to the opposition only on the basis that they are conducting protest activities. On November 12, the Armed Forces recognized the observation of the deputy of the Yekaterinburg City Council by Maxim Petlin, who participated in the shares of the Solidarity movement, where the FSB authority was also involved in the shares of the FSB. Two years before, the FSB in the Sverdlovsk region received the sanction of the local court for all types of monitoring of the loop for six months-including wiretapping and interception of Internet traffic. The fact that the opposition failed to defend his right to the secret of correspondence is that now any activist can be put under observation only for participation in street protests.

This year, the FSB, the first two presidential terms of Vladimir Putin, continuously expanding his powers, demanded new ones. The special service pushed through the State Duma a law that has changed the concept of Stateizer: Criminal prosecution is now provided not only for the disclosure of the state of state, but also for any assistance to a foreign state, an international or foreign organization, if their activities are directed against the security of the Russian Federation. Now, those who provide “consulting or other assistance ... of a foreign organization” may turn out to be spies, and the appearance of a new 283 article in the Criminal Code allows you to punish not only those who transferred or disclosed the secret, but also those who heard it. These amendments have expanded the circle of people who may be under suspicion of the FSB. Not too effective organization in the fight against terrorism, the FSB successfully helps the Kremlin freeze the atmosphere in society.

The expansion of the concept of state receptions, as well as amendments adopted in December, prohibiting American citizens to work in non -governmental organizations in Russia - a signal that the state no longer needs an international exchange of ideas, as well as in any type of external examination, and turns into a hermetically closed, impenetrable system.

Photo by hedgehog