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From how I understanding "Russian state philosophy" (if there's such a thing) I'd even intuitively assume they're not necessarily primarily interested in gathering everything-about-everyone but in ensuring no other party (especially private western/multinational corps) gain potentially such an information advantage over them. We've arrived in an age when non-sovereign entities can gain leverage over sovereign entities and thus become "geopolitical players", to be "reckoned with".



That's my understanding of it, also. Just the other day I was discussing with a work colleague about what would have happened had FB not been blocked in China almost from the very beginning. Imagine all the Chinese' people data sitting on a server a couple of keystrokes away from entities like the NSA. Our example, made half-jokingly, was something along the lines of: "Imagine how much information you can gain just by tracking the GPS positions of the personal secretaries attached to important Chinese Communist Party power figures".


Totally. It's about control now, the possibility of control in the future, and taking away opportunities for control over you from your adversaries.




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