Big Brother could be making a comeback, this time in hi-tech form. Russia's secret services are drafting a new regulation that will allow them to monitor electronic mail and Internet communications in real time and without having to apply for a warrant, Internet users groups warned this week.


If it comes into effect, the project, codenamed Sorm, will allow the Federal Security Service to track every credit card transaction, e-mail message or visit to a web site without the user ever knowing he is being watched, critics of the plan claim.


Sorm, which stands for "system of ensuring investigative activity," will require providers of Internet services to install a "black box" or special snooping device in their main computers and build a high-speed communication link to channel data from the providers to the Federal Security Service, or FSB.


The link will allow the FSB's operators to "download the information, incoming and outgoing for individual subscribers of each network," according to a leaked copy of the draft regulation, which was posted on the Internet.


The FSB could not be reached for comment but a consultant in the State Duma's committee on information policy, who said he had taken part in discussions with the Duma's security committee, the FSB and the State Communications Committee, or Goskomsvyaz, about the draft regulation, confirmed that such plans did exist. The source in the Duma, parliament's lower house, said the regulation could come into force in two months' time.


The government is believed to be pushing for the regulation to augment its fight against tax evasion and other economic crimes.


"Their reasoning is hard to argue with: We need to catch criminals," said Anatoly Levenchuk, an independent Internet expert who put the draft on his web site and started a discussion about its potential dangers. "But the mafia and all the pedophiles in the country together cannot bring more harm than uncontrolled power agencies, which can oppress the whole nation."


He added: "It looks like the state -- which is supposed to protect its citizens' privacy -- is itself coming up with the ways of violating it. ... We just began getting rid of this absurdity in the early 1990s, and now it seems to be coming back."


Levenchuk said the draft was leaked to him by the National Association of Electronic Data Communications that, he said, was invited by the government to take part in talks about the draft.


Internet users say that the Sorm project could become a reality because legislation governing the Internet is nonexistent in Russia, allowing the government to make up its own rules as it goes along.


According to the source in the Duma's information policy committee, who asked not to be identified, the project's authors do not intend to seek approval for it in parliament because, they believe, the Law on Investigative Activity already gives them the right to look at private correspondence.


However, while the Law on Investigative Activity requires law-enforcement agencies to seek a warrant from the prosecutor's office before opening mail or bugging telephone conversations, the Duma source and internet users say that under Sorm, the FSB will be able to monitor electronic mail and Internet correspondence without a warrant.


The source said the FSB had given their word that they would only monitor the correspondence of individuals they suspect of involvement in crime.


"We must not let the FSB get around the law using powerful technical means ... without issuing additional federal laws or amendments," the source said. "The FSB and Goskomsvyaz promised not to make any abrupt moves without consulting legal aspects with the Duma, so we can avoid a scandal. I hope they'll have enough common sense not to break confidentiality [when it's not necessary]."


However, Internet experts were dubious that the FSB would honor its word because, unlike in the case of telephone taps or opening of letters, monitoring of electronic mail and Internet communications can be done without leaving a trace.


"It is sad and unpleasant that instead of turning the Internet into a system which is more convenient and user-friendly, we have to deal with some black box ... and [start worrying about the] protection of our confidential information," said Andrei Sibrant, marketing director of Glasnet, one of the largest Internet providers in Russia.


Internet users are likely to respond to the FSB monitoring by encoding the information they send, Levenchuk said.


But Sibrant pointed out that even if the correspondence is encoded, the FSB will be able to accumulate information about a user based on who he corresponds with and which web sites he visits. This kind of data can be acquired automatically using special sorting engines and are not considered invasion of privacy by the law, said Sibrant.


The technical implementation of the project raises a number of issues too, said Sibrant. The draft regulation makes it the responsibility of the provider to ensure that the connection with the FSB monitoring station be no slower than the fastest link between a provider and a customer.


This would require laying direct fiber-optic cables between the provider and the FSB, for which the provider would have to foot the bill. "The scale of the engineering task makes the project comparable with the Russian Internet as it is," Sibrant said. "In fact, it duplicates it."


The costs of laying the cable, and operating the system, will inevitably be passed on to individual subscribers. Levenchuk said the additional expense could force a 10 percent to 15 percentincrease in the cost of subscription.