When President Putin heard about PRISM, he was impressed and he called it a "workable system". That was in a news feed so he wasn't trying to hide anything. It was also in a news feed that he ordered stepped-up surveillance for the Sochi olympics. Again, he wasn't trying to hide anything.
Btw, I have a few issues with this article:
Americans have PRISM, and the Russians have SORM and PAK. — Phantom ReportIn most Western countries, law enforcement agencies and special services they need to get court approval for eavesdropping. This document is presented to mobile operators and ISPs.
The only court the US security services get approval from is the FISA court and they never refused any of their requests. And how can anyone get all the court orders they'd need to wiretap and spy on over 300,000,000 Americans?
Yes, Russia has SORM and I wouldn't be very impressed if they didn't. National security and surveillance are vital for any Nation that wants to survive. At least Russia let the people know what they were doing.
About Snowden: When he made all those leaks, I thought he was a traitor. Now I think he's just an idealist so I hope his new job works out. Maybe if he gets happy working and living in Russia, he can stop thinking about politics. I mean, how many people really believe that the internet or androids are private. I never believed that. And surveillance is a cool way to stop violence.
Anyway, Snowden is innocent. He didn't bust into the building to get the information. Our lame National security service let him walk in and take it. But did the Obama administration or Congress get all hot about that? No. They just wanted vengeance... and they still do. The real criminals are the ones that let him get into the building and take the information.
What really hurt about the Snowden thing was when I realized how weak our Country is. I mean we have a President that's all gay and a National security that's not secure and we've been sending money and arms to terrorists in Syria! And that's too nuts to even discuss!
Btw, "neo-soviet drivel" is a poor choice of words in an intelligent discussion. Just saying.