Skype Apparently Threatens Russian National Security 144
Mr.Bananas writes "Reuters reports that 'Russia's most powerful business lobby moved to clamp down on Skype and its peers this week, telling lawmakers that the Internet phone services are a threat to Russian businesses and to national security.' The lobby, closely associated with Putin's political party, cites concerns of 'a likely and uncontrolled fall in profits for the core telecom operators,' as well as a fear that law enforcement agencies have thus far been unable to listen in on Skype conversations due to its 256-bit encryption."
the 21st century is a bitch (Score:5, Informative)
'a likely and uncontrolled fall in profits for the core telecom operators,'
Yeah, I bet the horse shoe manufacturers lobbied hard against the introduction of the self-propelled carriage too.
Re:Security? (Score:5, Informative)
A few fun facts about Russian laws on the matter.
Russia has a mandatory program for all telecommunication providers (ISPs included), wherein they should have equipment to log all network usage. According to the law, access to that equipment is restricted to law enforcement and intelligence services, and only with court permission; however, they do not have to show the court order to providers, and some parts of the law can be interpreted as meaning that order can be obtained after the fact.
On to more funny stuff. In Russia, "in the interests of informational security", it is illegal to "research, develop, sell or use encryption measures, as well as protected storage devices" without a license; as well as import them (all quotes are translations of the actual law). Enforcement of this is explicitly assigned to the police and Federal Security Service.
Now, I've no idea if Skype has a license or not. They probably do, but I imagine that FSS guys aren't very happy about present state of affairs regardless...
Re:Security? (Score:1, Informative)
Re:I have to wonder (Score:2, Informative)
Soul of Russia feeds on this stuff (Score:5, Informative)
When the Kremlin-backed government of Chechnya killed Estmirova, it killed the soul of Russia.
While the killing is tragic, I find that statement humorous.
The problem with Russia isn't just one man - whether it is Putin or his sock puppet president - being cruel. The whole administration, culture, etc. is deeply corrupt. I challenge anyone to drive across the country... No, half the country... Without being stopped by the "police" (militia) for no real reason and having to pay them directly some fine that they just came up with. And I'm not saying that "This will happen once". It will happen about a dozen times.
And the people there are fine with it or at least very used to it. Have learned to live with it. Over all politics - or lack of them - is not a light subject for discussion in Russia but if you do take it up there, you won't hear much heated arguments about how things will need to change.
I was once listening to an lecturer who talked about Russian mindset in Engecon (University of Engineering and Economics in St. Petersburg) and am very willing to agree with her that it well predates the communist era. Their whole history has been full of conquest and dictators. They have never even tried actual democracy and have learned to not really care all that much.
In fact, nationalism is extremely strong in Russia. I mean, they are willing to take the "We have a great country and must respect and support it and it's leaders, no matter what!" even further than people from USA...
So, it is entertaining to read "They killed the soul of Russia". Honestly, if majority of Russians cared about this, it would not have happened. While the Militia is pretty cruel, a few percent of people can never oppress everyone else if the majority really hates the situation enough. But they don't. It's not that they feared too much, it is that they care about completely different things.
Re:Kremlin fears even unarmed middle-aged women. (Score:4, Informative)
I don't think it was government who killed her.
Chechnya is a bit like Iraq - it's a mix of different clans (they are called http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teip [wikipedia.org] ), warring with each other. Some of these clans are pure savages - there were documented cases when people were kidnapped and enslaved by them (even in the USSR). Kadyrov is only a leader of a very authoritative clan, but he's definitely not the single power center there.
I don't think he ordered to kill her. Why should he? Cynically, nothing Natalia Estemirova could have done would be able to harm Kadyrov. He's got backing right in Kremlin. Probably, he'd be able to get away even if he was caught eating babies.
So it's all much more complex than you think (I have relatives from Checnhya and know a bit about situation there).
Re:Security? (Score:3, Informative)
"On to more funny stuff. In Russia, "in the interests of informational security", it is illegal to "research, develop, sell or use encryption measures, as well as protected storage devices" without a license; as well as import them (all quotes are translations of the actual law)."
It's more complex than that... The current laws apply only to private entrepreneurs and legal persons, they don't apply to private persons. However, creating a software which uses cryptography (SSL for example) can be interpreted as violation of licensing rules (you must be licensed to work with crypto).
Re:Skype is open to taps (Score:4, Informative)
German police let that one slip, so did a few other arrests.
http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Skype_and_SSL_Interception_letters_-_Bavaria_-_Digitask [wikileaks.org]
I don't think you've read that document. There's even an English version [wikileaks.org]. While it's not improbable that Skype does have a backdoor of some sorts, the document doesn't prove anything about that.
They talk about two pieces of software. Their "Skype Capture Unit" is a trojan installed on the computer of the person under surveillance. If you have a trojan on your target machine, you can listen to anything, Skype or otherwise. The point of the name is probably to be able to sell the police other "Foo Capture Units" in the future. The other piece of software is a generic MITM attack on SSL-encrypted connection, nothing specific to Skype.
Re:Skype is open to taps (Score:2, Informative)
This paper describes a side channel attack (basically a trojan listening to the sound card when skype is active), not a real attack where skype traffic would be intercepted and decrypted.
If you're smart enough to know how to avoid getting a trojan on your computer, you're fine.
If the encrypted traffic of Skype was compromised, the FSB would probably know about it.
Russia now is Germany in 1933. (Score:3, Informative)
Russia slowly but constantly moves to the same destination as Germany where in 1933, believe me or not. It is obvious from Ukraine, where I'm living.
Re:Ban on *strong* encryption (Score:4, Informative)
There is a ban on strong encryption. I think the limit of key is 40 bits. In case you want to use something stronger (Internet banking and the like) you can but the key must be given to a trusted third party and revealed to the government if they so ask. Linky. [kioskea.net]
This has changed some time ago.
Personal usage of crypo is currently apparently free for keys of any size. However export may be subject to declaration or possibly in some cases prior authorisation. GPG and PGP may be used freely.
See http://www.ssi.gouv.fr/archive/fr/reglementation/regl_crypto.html [ssi.gouv.fr] for a summary (in French, also requires poking at a few other files to make sense of it, typical government site...).
I don't know what the stance is on key disclosure vis à vis the authorities.
Re:I have to wonder (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Kremlin fears even unarmed middle-aged women. (Score:4, Informative)
"Anyone who opposes a dictator harms him simply by breathing."
Kadyrov is not an idiot. He's a shrewd politician and won't do anything without clear advantage for him.
And there are lot of people opposing Kadyrov now. He hasn't got absolute power and if you think he can just come and shoot everyone he doesn't like then you're stupid.
Also, so called "human rights groups" like "Memorial" have almost no power and influence in Russia, they are gnats. And that's because they've managed to thoroughly alienate themselves by supporting almost exclusively only Chechens during the war in Chechnya and other events (like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_theater_hostage_crisis [wikipedia.org] ).
Re:Security? (Score:5, Informative)
I suspect you haven't read a single book on Soviet-era history, on the repression of dissidents, or any of the histories that have been revealed since the fall of the Iron Curtain. Pick up a book by Mitrokhin, and start reading about the actual history of the KGB as recorded in the KGB archives. It's amazing how well it confirms much of the supposed "CIA propaganda" about repression inside the USSR.
Then start reading some of the Venona decrypts. Hayes has an excellent book that tracks Soviet propaganda activity through the U.S., confirming the Soviets planted counterclaims, and pushed the idea of "CIA propaganda". Finally, start checking the stories out in the KGB's own words in books like Spy Handler by Cherkashin.
Or, if you just like reading stories about ordinary people being made miserable by a thuggish regime, pick up One Day In The Life of Ivan Denisovich.
Oh, yeah, it's all just propaganda. Sorry for my cruel, cruel joke.
Re:Kremlin fears even unarmed middle-aged women. (Score:4, Informative)
'Personal enemy' that's a bit strong.
"As for human rights organizations supporting Chechens: you can hardly expect anyone to cry over the Chechen assaults on the theater"
Yet that's exactly what these 'human rights' groups did. I distinctly remember them lamenting about horrible SWAT forces shooting all of the poor helpless sleeping terrorists.
"when most of the dead were caused by the Russians gassing the theater in the first place and the assault was a direct result of the Russian invasion."
You have it all backwards. Chechnya proclaimed independency in the early 90-s, after displacing several hundred thousand Russians - living in Chechnya became unbearable for them (there were cases when Chechen bands shot and raped whole families without any reaction from police).
Then Dudaev openly attacked Russian forces, which caused the First Chechen War. It was ended when Basaev captured a hospital and threatened to kill everyone ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budyonnovsk_hospital_hostage_crisis [wikipedia.org] ). Moscow was forced to sign http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khasav-Yurt_Accord [wikipedia.org] giving a de-facto independence to Chechnya as a result of this.
PLEASE NOTE: Chechnya was a de-facto independent state at this moment, Kremlin had zero power there. So such niceties as public executions according to Sharia law became commonplace in Chechnya.
And after 3 years of this independence Chechens attempted to invade Ingushetia (a neighbor region). That's how the Second Chechen War began. But this time Kremlin did not stop when Chechens tried to play the same trick with capturing hostages.
So I fail to see how Moscow can be called an 'aggressor' and how Chechens 'have the right to resist'. They were given independence, and they forfeited it by their own actions.
I bet you knew nothing about it, right? That's because a lot of conflicts have a much deeper story then CNN tells you.