“At the Sochi winter Olympics this February, every word you tweet, text or say on your cell will be monitored by the Russian state,” Cyrus Moussavi of Now This News quips in the video above.
Moussavi cites a report by The Guardian which revealed that “athletes and spectators attending the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February will face some of the most invasive and systematic spying and surveillance in the history of the Games.”
Russia is currently updating their surveillance capabilities so they can monitor conversations by key word, similar to programs used by the NSA in the United States.
“One security expert called it ‘Prism on steriods,’” Moussavi said, referencing the NSA program leaked by intelligence contractor Edward Snowden earlier this year.
“[N]ewly installed telephone and internet spying capabilities will give the [Russian intelligence agency] FSB free rein to intercept any telephony or data traffic and even track the use of sensitive words or phrases mentioned in emails, webchats and on social media,” The Guardian’s report states.
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