zrm@mit-eddie.UUCP (Zigurd R. Mednieks) (12/17/83)
The government of the Soviet Union actively uses fear to keep people it sends abroad from defecting. It is rare that all the close relations of, say, a scientist visiting the research institution where I worked in Austria would be allowed to visit at the same time. Sometimes noone from his or her family would be allowed a visit for the whole term their stay. This tactic, combined with survaillance by embassy staff and other persons know to be loyal, is what keeps most of the talented people allowed to travel outside the Soviet Union from staying outside. It is interesting to note that this is in sharp contrast with standard practice in Hungary, where travel to neighboring Austria is almost as free as travel in the opposite direction. It is also quite true that the average shlep has little to fear from the KGB. If the government of this country were to become inordinately interested in what I did with computers, I would probably take up fixing cars full time so as to arouse less interest in my activities. Indeed, if you are really curious as to how the avaerage computer hacker might be treated in the Soviet Union, you might consider enrolling in one of the cultural or academic exchange programs that still exist. I am told that their popularity has declined and so it is much easier to get in. Cheers, Zig
ucbesvax.turner@ucbcad.UUCP (12/25/83)
#R:mit-eddie:-106100:ucbesvax:7500066:000:1096
ucbesvax!turner Dec 18 13:58:00 1983
/***** ucbesvax:net.politics / mit-eddie!zrm / 2:43 am Dec 18, 1983*/
Indeed, if you are really curious as to how the average computer hacker
might be treated in the Soviet Union, you might consider enrolling in
one of the cultural or academic exchange programs that still exist. I am
told that their popularity has declined and so it is much easier to get
in.
Cheers,
Zig
Good advice, if you can be *very* discreet. However, be advised that two
friends of mine who have taken advantage of such programs carry a burden of
guilt: during or after their stays, some of the people (students) they had
befriended were incarcerated in mental hospitals. They were released after
a week or so. But still, in view of Valeri Tarsis' accounts [1], those
hospitals must be real "Cuckoo's Nests". My friends also report that things
are, if anything, worse under Andropov. (They weren't in C.S., by the way.)
---
Michael Turner (ucbvax!ucbesvax.turner)
[1] "Ward 7", a novelization of this dissident's experiences of Kruschev's
more "humane" post-Stalinist policies.