So, the Russian equivalent of what the NSA has been doing the last 20 years?
I find it far more likely that this is a sensible move to protect the data of Russian citizens from the US, who have shown time and again that they can't be trusted in these matters.
In Russia, there's a public law that mandates ISPs to install surveillance equipment that federal law enforcement agency can use basically at will (for now, they still need technically warrants, although in practice it's impossible to enforce; next year, a new law comes into force that removes the requirement for a warrant). And another public law, which requires ISPs to block websites according to a list that is maintained by the government.
How are those challenges going? Any courts out there overruling FISC?
> In Russia, there's a public law that mandates ISPs to install surveillance equipment that federal law enforcement agency can use basically at will
It's public law that created FISC(FISA @ 1978) and it's public law(Patriot Act, third party doctrine) that gave them the power to authorize the NSA's surveillance.
Ditto FISC - it might be rubber-stamped warrants, but at least there's a warrant, by an actual judge.
The practical degree of Internet surveillance, and, - especially! - censorship is still vastly lower in US than it is in Russia.