Is Russia's Surveillance Programs As Extensive As The NSA's?

Edward Snowden, third right, leaving Sheremetyevo airport outside Moscow with his Russian lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, second right, on Thursday.(Photo: RUSSIA24 TV CHANNEL)

Expose Russia's Intelligence Network -- James S. Robbins, USA Today

Is Russia as guilty as the U.S. in the Internet snooping game?

Last Thursday, Russia granted temporary asylum to NSA leaker Edward Snowden, freeing him from his five weeks of limbo in a Moscow airport. The move was humiliation for the United States. It deserves a proportionate response, but that's not what we've done so far.

The next day, U.S. Ambassador Michael A. McFaul met with a senior aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss Snowden's new status. But they also addressed a number of other matters including nuclear weapons cuts, missile defense and the ongoing violence in Syria. It looked like business as usual.

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My Comment: I am sure that  Russia is as guilty as the U.S. in the Internet snooping game .... if not more so .... but .... I would like to think that what differentiates the U.S. and Russia is the rule of law in the U.S., and our privacy rights. It is this these principles that gives the U.S. the moral high ground and it's position in the world .... but if we are violating these principles ... then what is the point.