Actually, I give a low probability to any such system being put into place in the States, for the very reason that it would be opposed on valid civil rights grounds. That said, Russia != (IS NOT) the United States; social contracts are more than the paper they're written upon. Even in the darkest little hearts and minds in the States, they still have to fake it when it comes to the protection offered by the social contracts, tragic excepts notwithstanding. The 'habit' of freedom in Russia is weak, approaching zero, and so I would assign a higher probability of implementation (barring a cost assessment) in Russia. Note that the cost might still make it prohibitive. MW On Thu, 25 Jun 1998, Mark Hedges wrote: > > Gosh, this sounds like CALLEA's mandates that US phone companies install > wiretapping capability into every phone switch for 1% of domestic > phonecalls simultaneously, so the IC through FBI can wiretap remotely from > a desktop terminal. I'm not aware of any cryptographic access mechanism > which requires a court authentication signature ala warrant, but they > promise that they will get warrants before they conduct a tap, and after > all, they're the federal government, so we can trust them, right? > > If someone can prove that FIB will be effectively unable to tap without a > warrant using CALLEA-generated infrastructure, that's great, but otherwise > it's no different from this alleged FSB measure, except that the Russians > are a few years behind Amerikan "progress" in this matter. > > Congress gave the phone corps a stay of liberty execution of a couple of > years, but the law's still there. > > -hedges- > > >Put this in the 'important if true' category: > >http://www.jya.com/sorm-fsb-ru.htm > > > >----- > > > > > >From: "Maksim Otstavnov" <maksimat_private> > >To: cypherpunksat_private > >Date: Thu, 25 Jun 1998 22:28:02 +0400 > >Subject: SORM: New ex-KGB moves in telecom > >CC: John Young <jyaat_private>, Chris Oakes <chrisoat_private> > > > >-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > > > >To whom it may concern: > > > >The text between [Start of translation] and [End of translation] lines below > >is a verbatim translation of the two drafts of documents which are currently > >in the state of approvement by the two Russian ministries: Federal Security > >Service (FSB, one of the five special services inheriting to KGB) and State > >Committee on Communications (Goskomsvyaz'). The originals (and comments) are > >available at the Libertarium Webpages (www.ice.ru/libertarium/sorm). > > > >Inconsistencies of the original texts (including but not restrictive to: > >paragraph misnumbering, language vagueness etc.) are left intact. I left the > >two Russian abbreviations: SORM for the System of efficient research measures, > >and FSB for the Federal Security Service, to avoid confusion in future. > > > >In short: if approved, the rules will provide ex-KGB with technical > >facility to > >_directly_ and covertly wiretap _any_ information transmitted via > >telecommunication networks including telephone, telegraph, Internet etc. and > >there will be no means to ensure KGBists obtained a court warrant (required by > >Constitution and other federal legislation) before wiretapping. > > > >Any informed comments (of legal and technological, not emotional nature) from > >both organisations and from individual experts are welcome. > > > >I am grateful to all involved with obtaining the documents. Hope some day I > >will be in a position to mention them by their names... > > > >- - Maksim Otstavnov > > > >[reference the URL for the remainder of the document] > > >
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