<i><font size="2">It seems fashionable for a number of countries to order such sniffers.<br>Providers are Israel, USA, maybe New Zealand, Australia. Keep the list open.<br></font></i>- - -<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Nov 9, 2011 at 13:39, Pranesh Prakash <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:pranesh@cis-india.org">pranesh@cis-india.org</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">From Techdirt: <a href="http://goo.gl/j7ZkU" target="_blank">http://goo.gl/j7ZkU</a><br>
<br>
# Russian Internet Content Monitoring System To Go Live In December<br>
by Glyn Moody<br>
<br>
Wed, Nov 9th 2011 2:33am<br>
<br>
Back in April of this year, [the Russian government put out a tender][]:<br>
<br>
> Last week, Roskomnadzor, Russian Federal Service for Telecoms<br>
Supervision, announced a public tender for developing Internet<br>
monitoring system. According to the tender, the budget for such system<br>
is 15 million rubles (about $530,000) and the job applications should be<br>
submitted by April 15, 2011. The system needs to be developed by August<br>
15, 2011 and the testing period should end on December 15, 2011.<br>
<br>
The stated purpose of the monitoring system was quite specific:<br>
<br>
> The major target of the monitoring, at least according to the Russian<br>
officials, is not traditional media websites or blogs, but comments at<br>
the online media outlets (it is important to note that the monitoring<br>
system is intended to be used for the content of the sites officially<br>
registered as online mass media).<br>
<br>
Here’s what it would be searching for:<br>
<br>
> Michail Vorobiev, an assistant to the head of Roskomnadzor, [told][]<br>
[ru] Russian information agency RIA Novosti that the system’s purpose<br>
was to discover content recognized by the Russian law as illegal. Such<br>
system will be based on two elements: a storage that would contain<br>
illegal materials (some sort of “thesaurus of illegal keywords”) and the<br>
search system that will scan through the online space and compare the<br>
online text with the illegal content in the storage.<br>
><br>
> The description of the tender is a long and openly published<br>
[document][] [ru], so what exactly the system should look for is not a<br>
secret. The number and the nature of goals that the search robot should<br>
achieve are surprising. It goes ways beyond incitement of national<br>
hatred or appeals to violence. In includes not only terrorism, appeals<br>
to actions that threaten constitutional order, materials that disclose<br>
classified security information, propaganda of drugs and pornography,<br>
but also false information about federal and regional officials, as well<br>
as content that threatens the freedom and secrecy of choice during<br>
elections. Another interesting goal is to discover content with hidden<br>
embedded components that seek to influence subconsciousness. If it�s not<br>
enough, the program would monitor not only textual, but also visual<br>
content (photos and videos).<br>
<br>
It’s hard to see how a system costing just half-a-million dollars could<br>
achieve all that. And as Russian commentators have pointed out, allowing<br>
just a few months for the development and testing is equally suspicious:<br>
<br>
> For instance, Maksim Salomatin from Park.ru [says][] [ru] that the<br>
fact that participants of the tender should finish the work on the<br>
system in impossible 3 months means that, probably, Roskomnadzor has in<br>
mind some particular organization that has already worked on this program.<br>
<br>
In other words, perhaps the whole tendering process was a formality, and<br>
things had already been moving forward on this front in the background<br>
for some time. Support for that theory comes from the fact that despite<br>
the “impossible 3 months” of development, [the system will indeed be<br>
rolled out next month][]:<br>
<br>
> Roskomnadzor, Russian telecommunications control body, will launch<br>
content monitoring system in December 2011, Kommersant.ru [reports][]<br>
[ru]. The system ordered in March, 2011 (see GV analysis [here][the<br>
Russian government put out a tender]) is now in pre-release condition.<br>
Its documented abilities allow the monitoring of up to 5 mln keywords<br>
published at the websites registered as online mass media outlets. It<br>
will also monitor user comments. The experts fear that the scale of<br>
monitoring will extend to non-registered blogs and sites.<br>
<br>
As that points out, the danger is that once such a system is up and<br>
running, it will be progressively extended to include first “unofficial”<br>
media sites like blogs, and then, eventually, everything online. That<br>
might also explain why the tender quotes such a ridiculously small<br>
figure: the final system would be pretty expensive, but revealing that<br>
fact in the original tender would give away the true scope.<br>
<br>
The question then becomes: what will the authorities do with all that<br>
information? Since 2010, Roskomnadzor has been able to require online<br>
mass media to remove illegal comments, so it will presumably do the same<br>
when content is flagged up by the new system. But the very breadth of<br>
the online search is troubling, including as it does things like “false<br>
information about federal and regional officials”, something that could<br>
clearly be used against whistle-blowers.<br>
<br>
Moreover, the danger here is not just for Russian citizens. Once again<br>
we are seeing a government striving to keep a much closer watch on key<br>
parts of the Internet — in this case, mass media sites. Assuming it<br>
succeeds — or at least claims to have succeeded — that is likely to<br>
encourage other countries to do the same.<br>
<br>
Although it would be nice to think that only “repressive” governments<br>
would even think of doing such a thing, recent proposals by politicians<br>
in the US and Europe regarding [blocking sites][] and [spying on<br>
users][] indicate how naïve that would be.<br>
<br>
Follow me @glynmoody on [Twitter][] or [<a href="http://identi.ca" target="_blank">identi.ca</a>][], and on [Google+][]<br>
<br>
## Links<br>
<br>
[the Russian government put out a tender]:<br>
<a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org/2011/04/01/russia-new-government-iniative-questions-the-nature-of-online-monitoring/" target="_blank">http://globalvoicesonline.org/2011/04/01/russia-new-government-iniative-questions-the-nature-of-online-monitoring/</a><br>
[told]:<br>
<a href="http://www.radioportal.ru/law-club/12417/roskomnadzor-khochet-postavit-onlain-smi-pod-avtomaticheskii-kontrol" target="_blank">http://www.radioportal.ru/law-club/12417/roskomnadzor-khochet-postavit-onlain-smi-pod-avtomaticheskii-kontrol</a><br>
[document]:<br>
<a href="http://zakupki.gov.ru/pgz/public/action/orders/info/common_info/show?notificationId=258425" target="_blank">http://zakupki.gov.ru/pgz/public/action/orders/info/common_info/show?notificationId=258425</a><br>
[says]: <a href="http://www.cnews.ru/news/top/index.shtml?2011/03/21/432836" target="_blank">http://www.cnews.ru/news/top/index.shtml?2011/03/21/432836</a><br>
[the system will indeed be rolled out next month]:<br>
<a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org/2011/10/24/russia-government-to-launch-content-monitoring-in-december-2011/" target="_blank">http://globalvoicesonline.org/2011/10/24/russia-government-to-launch-content-monitoring-in-december-2011/</a><br>
[reports]: <a href="http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/1800370" target="_blank">http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/1800370</a><br>
[blocking sites]:<br>
<a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111102/01495216589/article-e-parasite-act-that-you-need-to-read.shtml" target="_blank">http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111102/01495216589/article-e-parasite-act-that-you-need-to-read.shtml</a><br>
[spying on users]:<br>
<a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111021/11554216450/eu-politician-wants-internet-surveillance-built-into-every-operating-system.shtml" target="_blank">http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111021/11554216450/eu-politician-wants-internet-surveillance-built-into-every-operating-system.shtml</a><br>
[Twitter]: <a href="http://twitter.com/glynmoody" target="_blank">http://twitter.com/glynmoody</a><br>
[<a href="http://identi.ca" target="_blank">identi.ca</a>]: <a href="http://identi.ca/glynmoody" target="_blank">http://identi.ca/glynmoody</a><br>
[Google+]: <a href="https://plus.google.com/100647702320088380533" target="_blank">https://plus.google.com/100647702320088380533</a><br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
--<br>
Pranesh Prakash<br>
Programme Manager<br>
Centre for Internet and Society<br>
W: <a href="http://cis-india.org" target="_blank">http://cis-india.org</a> | T: <a href="tel:%2B91%2080%2040926283" value="+918040926283">+91 80 40926283</a><br>
<br>
</font></blockquote></div><br>