The expanding program — formally known as the System for Operative Investigative Activities, or SORM — was an imperfect means of surveillance. Russia’s telecom providers often incompletely installed and updated the technologies, meaning the system did not always work properly. At first, the technology was used against political rivals like supporters of Aleksei A. Navalny, the jailed opposition leader. Russian authorities turned to local tech companies that built the old surveillance systems and asked for more. The new technologies give Russia’s security services a granular view of the internet.

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Persons: —, Aleksei A, Anton Cherepennikov, ”, Ksenia Ermoshina Organizations: Citadel, U.S . State Department, United, “, Citizen, University of Toronto, MFI Locations: Ukraine, United States, Russian, Russia