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Not really. In Soviet Union it was possible to have connection to the outside world only in case you were completely trusted (checked by KGB many times). No one was prosecuted in SU for unauthorized access to western computer resources because they had not a single chance to get it without state permission.

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If we are talking about the same time period as the book (which opens up in the 30's, I believe) then you would absolutely be persecuted for having contacts with the West. And by contact, it could be something as innocuous as you were happened to a tailor who worked on diplomat's clothing.

The law was written to make it illegal to be suspected of counter-revolutionary activities. So it's the burden is not to prove the crime, just to prove the suspicion of a crime.

So you are working for KGB. Right? ;-)

Soviet Union and KGB are long dead.

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