Russia Reverses Plan To Ban Encrypted Web Services

The head of the Federal Security Service labels Gmail, Skype, and their ilk as a threat to Russias security.

How do you say about-face in Russian?
On Saturday, Russias Federal Security Service (FSB), which is the countrys main successor to the Soviet-era KGB (Russias former secret police and intelligence agency), announced that it wanted to ban Skype, Gmail, Hotmail, and other types of Web mail that utilize encryption.
In a
release
made via Russias official news agency, Itar-Tass, the head of the FSBs information and special communication center, Alexander Andreyechkin, said that uncontrollable use of such services can create a major threat to Russias security. Rather than tolerating foreign encryption algorithms, which are difficult or impossible for the FSB to crack, the agency recommended blocking them entirely.
Many governments would chalk up such an unpopular viewpoint to having been a personal opinion, but officials said that he was speaking for his agency. FSB representatives dont express personal points of view. Naturally, that was the position of the agency, said Dmitry Peskov, Russian prime minister Vladimir Putins press secretary, according to the Itar-Tass release. But he also clarified that the view had been expressed in a government meeting in which agencies shared their viewpoints, and which had largely been held behind closed doors.
Soon after, however, Igor Shchyogolev, who heads the Russian Ministry of Communications, contradicted the FSB, telling Itar-Tass that while the government wanted to regulate such foreign services, it had no intention of blocking them. Confusingly, members of Andreyechkins own agency then began commenting that the FSB was only interested in regulating the online services,
not banning them
, according to
The Moscow Times
.
In fact, said the newspaper, the FSBs statement had apparently escalated into a dispute between Putin and Russian president Medevev--whos nominally in charge of the FSB--that ultimately led to the FSB backtracking. The emphasis is on apparent because Putin, whos seen as the person wielding the most power in Russia, and Medevev, his hand-picked successor, typically choreograph any statements they make in public.
Accordingly, the statement by the FSB could merely be a feint designed to make such companies as Google and Microsoft give up their encryption algorithms. In that case, Russia would be taking a page from the recent campaign waged by multiple countries,
including India
and
United Arab Emirates
, to force BlackBerry maker RIM to provide government agencies with access to BlackBerry email servers.
The countries that threatened a ban on Blackberry use reached an agreement with RIM, the Blackberry manufacturer, that allowed usage to continue uninterrupted, details of this compromise have never been revealed, said Rik Ferguson, director of security research & communication at Trend Micro, in a
blog post
.
Where do technology companies stand in relation to Russian authorities? Microsoft said its willing to cooperate with authorities. Likewise, a Google official told
The Moscow Times
that it would cooperate, but noted that the FSB hadnt ever submitted a request for information about Google users. Contrast that with authorities in the United States, which submitted 4,287 data requests last year, according to the
Google Transparency Report
.
If improving Russias security by finding criminals or terrorists is the FSBs primary concern, then why hasnt it ever queried Google for information on specific users?
For now, the next step in Russia is a committee. According to Russian state news agency
RIA Novosti
, a working group will create policies for using cryptographic tools in public communications networks, delivering its proposals by October 1, 2011. But only state agencies--and national telecommunications provider Rostelecom--will be involved. The committee will be chaired by Putin.

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Russia Reverses Plan To Ban Encrypted Web Services