Just that easy: Moscow Police and FSB Listen In on Mobile Phone Calls
Mobile phone providers, acting “in
accordance to the existing law and in order to prevent crimes,” shut off the encryption of cell phone users for a 24 hour period earlier this month.
The decision to shut down encryption follows the double suicide bombings
that killed 14 people at the Krylya rock festival Saturday. A cellphone was
found on one of the female suicide bombers, and the FSB is examining its
SIM card for clues as to whether the bombers coordinated the attack with
accomplices, according to local media reports.The last time Moscow callers saw the encryption alert on their cellphones
was during the Dubrovka theater crisis in October, when a group of 41
Chechen rebels took more than 800 people hostage. After a three-day
standoff, special forces piped gas into the theater to knock out the
captors and rescue the hostages. But more than 120 hostages died, most from
the effects of the gas. …Mobile phone providers shut down their encryption systems in St. Petersburg
for security reasons during the city’s 300th anniversary celebrations
attended by world leaders early last month.
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