Russia to monitor 'all communications' at Winter Olympics in Sochi

Athletes and spectators attending the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February 2014 will face some of the most invasive and systematic spying and surveillance in the history of the Olympic Games, documents shared with the Guardian show.

Russia's powerful state security service FSB plans to ensure that no communication by competitors or spectators goes unmonitored during the event, according to a dossier compiled by a team of Russian investigative journalists. Government procurement documents and tenders from Russian communication companies indicate that newly installed telephone and Internet spying capabilities will give the FSB free rein to intercept any telephony or data traffic and even track the use of sensitive words or phrases mentioned in e-mails, webchats and on social media. Ron Deibert, a professor at the University of Toronto and director of Citizen Lab, which co-operated with the Sochi research, describes the Sorm amendments as "Prism on steroids," referring to the program used by the National Security Agency in the US and revealed to the Guardian by the whistleblower Edward Snowden.