Drafted at the DMV? Military conscription goes digital in Russia.
In Russia, it used to be that to get called up for military service, an eligible recruit had to be issued a draft summons in person. Not anymore.
Under a new law rushed through the State Duma with almost no publicity and signed by President Vladimir Putin last month, potential recruits can be called up through the popular Gosuslugi network, a heavily digitized state services bureaucracy that most Russians use to obtain basic documents, from driver’s licenses to death certificates.
Some observers perceive the coming of a “1984”-like total surveillance society, a “” in which every element of life will be overseen, recorded, indexed, and, if necessary, punished. Focusing on the military implications,
