Russian security agency to buy typewriters to avoid surveillance

[The Straight Story]

Russian security agency to buy typewriters to avoid surveillance


Russia’s Federal Protection Service (FSO), the Kremlin agency that protects state officials like the president and the prime minister, has ordered 20 typewriters in an apparent bid to avoid leaks and surveillance like those revealed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

An order for 20 typewriters and 600 ink cartridges costing up to 486,500 rubles was placed by the agency earlier this month, according to documents published on the official site for government tenders.

According to sources in the agency, security agents want to use typewriters instead of computers to avoid leaks and electronic surveillance.

“After the scandals over WikiLeaks, Edward Snowden’s revelations [about surveillance], reports of taps on [Prime Minister] Dmitry Medvedev during his visit to London for the G20 summit, it was decided that the use of paper documents needed to be expanded,” the Izvestia daily quoted an unnamed FSO source as saying.

Typewriters are still used in Russia’s power structures, like the Defense Ministry, the Emergencies Ministry, and the security services, the source said, and they’re used predominantly for top secret messages addressed to the president or the defense minister.

http://themoscownews.com/russia/20130711/191758523/Russian-security-agency-to-buy-typewriters-to-avoid-surveillance.html

[snappyturtle]

1. Ha. Not a bad idea. Along with a good courier service, hey.....nt

[pinboy3niner]

2. When not in use they'll be stored...

...under the floor of the kitchen threshhold.

(Reference to the excellent movie, The Lives of Others.)

[Pretzel_Warrior]

4. that was a damn good movie. I was so sad the actor playing Stasi agent died

He is what made that movie so brilliant.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

3. they will also rescusitate the long-dead Russian Pony Express

this was all predicted in Austrian economist Joseph Kayak's book "The Road to Amish"

[pinboy3niner]

5. I miss typewriters in a way

The feel of the key tension, the sounds of the letter strikes, hitting the carriage lever and hearing the bell...

In a journalism competition I lugged a Smith-Corona portable to the Rose Bowl to do my first spot sports story and won a $100 scholarship.

Later, my wife gave me an expensive West German-made typewriter. And when I took it in for repair once, the tech told me, "Young man, you have a very fine machine."

I still have fond memories of typing my stories for college newspapers using a long roll of double paper with carbon paper in between. Instead of 8x11 sheets, your copy might be 3 feet long before you tore it off at the end.

Unlike computers (which certainly are an advancement), using a typewriter also was a sensory experience that had its own charms...