Meanwhile, back in the USSR - - -
https://heatst.com/politics/craziest-laws-putin-just-signed/
5 New Laws that Prove Putin is Channeling Russia’s Soviet Ghosts
By Heat Street Staff|1:59 pm, July 7, 2016
Meanwhile in Russia…Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed new “anti-terrorism” legislation that critics say is the most repressive in Russia’s post-Soviet history. Written by Duma deputy Irina Yarovaya, the amendments to existing criminal codes will allow the government to delve deeper than ever into the private lives of citizens. The legislation overall is exhaustive and convoluted, but five parts of it have been singled out as particularly odious:
1. No more private messages
Private messages are not so private anymore. Telephone operators will be required to keep records of all calls and messages made by their users for six months. They will also be required to keep metadata (the information about when and between whom the messages occurred, although not the content specifically) for three years so that the Federal Security Service also known as the FSB, (the modern remake of the Soviet KGB) can retrieve the information at any time.
2. Report the crime
Not reporting a crime is now itself a crime. Statute 205.6 says that anyone who fails to tell authorities what they know about a crime can go to jail for up to a year. The measure is intended to target terrorist activities, plans for rebellions and another half a dozen random offenses, but it’s unclear how and under what circumstances it will be used. As with most of these new codes.
3. Unencrypting Encryption
“Organizers of information distribution” – any online messaging service, website, email service, or similar – that use encryption measures will be required to help the FSB decrypt all messages if needed and share their encryption techniques. Putin has given the FSB two weeks to produce
‘encryption keys’ that would supposedly unlock any secret messages, but such keys do not exist.
4. Juveniles to Jail.
Yarovaya, a mother of two, expanded the criminal liability of teenagers. Now kids aged 14 and up can be prosecuted and jailed for any of 32 separate crimes (previously it was 22), including for “failing to report a crime.”
5. Social media watchdogs
Justifying terrorism on social media is now punishable by up to 7 years in prison. Any anti-Russian sentiments expressed online could potentially be called an incitement to terror or sedition. Individuals will now be held to the same standards as all media.