If you mean the samizdat, realize that those news/opinion flyers were reproduced by hand. Most were copied on manaual typewriters with carbons. Some hand written. There were no “Xerox” type copiers in the USSR at that time, back when trade restrictions actually meat something.
In Czechoslovakia, as late as the mid 80’s copier access was strictly and rigidly controlled. In a government engineering office the sole copier was in a locked room with a political officer having the keys. Who inspected every page brought in for copying. Related to me by a Czech architect emigre.
During the Shah’s regime in Iran, the Ayatollah Khomeini from exile in Paris had hundreds of tape cassettes smuggled into the country which contained his exhortations to depose the Shah. France is reaping what they sowed.
There are tens of thousands of home printers available in garage sales, consignment shops and else that are sold for cash, no receipts or ID required. Anonymous.
Fact is no western government can controll the flow of private information without first having to resort to Soviet era restrictions.
Think about phone and camera memory chips from equipment that has become obsolete or out of style. Easy to store huge chunks of text and pass them on, destroying the identifiable source instrument.
Thank you for enriching this thread!
‘There are tens of thousands of home printers available in garage sales, consignment shops and else that are sold for cash, no receipts or ID required. Anonymous.’
Right. A window of opportunity.
And actually, there should be plenty of computers with USB ports. A USB stick [or is ‘flash drive’ the more common term?] could RAPIDLY relay info if you can meet someone directly.
So it was even tougher for the Soviets?
I had heard some guy on TV mention ‘printers’, so that was the extent of my knowledge.
You mentioned cameras which reminded me of the Billion Dollar Spy.
He had photographed massive amounts of Soviet secrets for the CIA — impacted our air superiority tremendously. We might have lost air superiority if not for him.
But digital cameras can copy pages of data far more efficiently and then as you say, they can be conveniently relayed to USB ports on other computers.
But still, better to defeat Hillary than ‘enjoy’ such excitement.
Even the Billion Dollar Spy had a tedious life. A lot of people would resort to substance abuse before they learned how to be effective.