Kremlin is advancing on another front in its battle for total control

[noumoe]

POLITICO: As Russian troops grind into eastern Ukraine, the Kremlin is advancing on another front in its battle for total control. This time, the target is its own population.

Taking a page from the Chinese playbook, Moscow is pushing its citizens to use a messaging app that gives the government access to user data, while isolating them from the rest of the internet.

The app, called Max, has drawn comparisons to China’s WeChat for its lack of end-to-end encryption and a privacy policy that allows authorities to access personal information such as chat logs, contacts, photos and location data.

“The app’s makers are basically saying they’ll hand everything over,” said Mikhail Klimarev, head of the exiled Russian Internet Protection Society.

To register on Max, a user must provide a Russian or Belarusian phone number, which in turn requires a government ID, meaning that any data collection is traceable to an individual.

https://www.politico.eu/article/russia- ... lin-china/