huridocs-tech Russian security service threatens Internet

Edited/Distributed by HURINet - The Human Rights Information Network
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## author     : ccsi@u.washington.edu
## date       : 09.10.99
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The following message is cross-posted from the FSU Media
list (fsumedia@sovam.com). It concerns an important struggle
which has been going on in Russia for several years between
the successor agency of the KGB, the FSB, and independent
Internet service providers, which it wishes to turn into
instruments of electronic eavesdropping.

The original story is by Ivan Kurilla in Volgograd and comes
courtesy of the East-West Institute in New York City. (More
details can be found at the Website:
www.libertarium.ru/libertarium/sorm_bsc. The site, in
Russian and English, is excellent and worth a visit in any
event.)

Holt Ruffin
Center for Civil Society International

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 30 Aug 1999 14:48:25 +0400
From: Eric S Johnson <johnson@internews.org>
Reply-To: fsumedia@sovam.com
To: ccsi@u.washington.edu
Subject: FSB & internet, russia

      VOLGOGRAD INTERNET PROVIDER BATTLES FSB

For several months, Volgograd Internet provider
Bayard-Slavia Communications has rejected the demand of the
regional Federal Security Service (FSB) to place special
equipment on its server that would allow the security agency
to monitor customers' use of the World Wide Web and read
their e-mail. The equipment is known as SORM (sistema
operativno-rozysknykh meropriyatii). Bayard-Slavia Directors
Oleg Syrov and (since April 1999) Nail Murzakhanov say that
they are willing to accept the equipment, but only after
being ordered to do so by the court. The FSB wants to use
SORM to monitor e-mail without having its own activities
being monitored.

The FSB is using a variety of methods to pressure the
Internet service provider. Bayard-Slavia officials claim
that new demands made against them by Gossviaznadzor (the
state body that supervises telecommunications) were the
result of their resistance. On 19 May Bayard-Slavia was cut
off from the satellite channel that provided customers
access to the WWW. Now customers are limited to only using
electronic mail. Murzakhanov filed a protest with the
regional procurator, Valerii Shestopalov, on 20 July, and
now is awaiting the result. (More details and opinions on
the issue may be found on site
www.libertarium.ru/libertarium/sorm_bsc).

The questions arising from the case concern not only SORM
and the FSB's attitude on the privacy of correspondence.
There are at least five other Internet providers in
Volgograd and they all avoided a similar scandal. It is not
clear whether Bayard-Slavia was simply the first provider
approached by the FSB or if the others have simply agreed to
installing the equipment without a fuss. These events in
Volgograd demonstrate the growing influence of the Internet
and unprecedented freedom of speech and communications now
available in Russia. Clearly these freedoms bother the
special services, who were much better prepared to work in a
closed society than under current conditions.

--Ivan Kurilla in Volgograd

                               EastWest Institute
                            Russian Regional Report
                         Vol. 4, No. 32, 26 August 1999




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