Stories from RuNet Echo from February, 2011
Russia: Police Receives Right to Close Websites Without Court Order
Starting March 1, 2011, new law “On Police” [RUS] grants Russian police the right to order the heads of hosting companies to terminate the activity of those Internet resources that...
Russia: Bloggers Deconstruct Isolationist Propaganda
As Russia is approaching another election cycle (in 2011 Russians are supposed to elect the Parliament and in 2012 – the president) the voices of state propagandists get louder. The upcoming election process, tamed and controlled by the President's office and the ruling party "United Russia," will be happening in the context of the Arabian "Spring of Nations 2.0." This fact inspires pro-Democracy activists, as well as regime advocates.
Russia: Internet Freedom As Cold War 2.0
Gregory Asmolov analyzes bloggers' reactions to the Internet Freedom speech by Hillary Clinton.
Russia: One-Person Rallies by the Embassy of Libya
LJ user notavailablenow reports (RUS) on an hour-long series of one-person pickets held across the street from the Embassy of Libya in Moscow on Tuesday by two citizen activists, who...
Russia: Ulyanovsk News Portal Under Attack for Exposing Politician
73online.ru had been DDOS-ed for publishing compromising materials on Igor Bulanov, deputy speaker of Ulyanovsk legislative assembly. The portal published details on police detaining Bulanov and finding drugs in his...
Russia: Blog Mapping Project Launches
Creators of crowdsourcing mapping service blog-map.ru ambitiously aim to “unite all bloggers on one map.” Despite many incorrectly mapped blogs, the service offers quite unusual experience of finding Russian bloggers even...
Russia: Photos of “Putin's Palace” Published by Bloggers
Krasnodar environmentalist group “Open Shore” published a photo report that illustrates how a number of huge villas have been built on a place of a relict forest on the shore...
Russia: Popular Social Network Opens Its Profiles to Everybody
Russian popular social network Vkontakte.ru prohibited its users from limiting access to their online profiles. Now everybody is able to view personal information of other users. People started protesting against...
Russia: New .РФ Domains Could Be Sold Illegaly
The Prosecutor General's Office in Russia expressed its interest in the fact that the biggest domain registration company in Russia “RU-Center” reserved 60,000 domain names within first hours after open...
Russia: Famous AI Specialist Says Election 2018 Will be Won Online
Famous Russian AI specialist and programmer Igor Ashmanov gave an interview to Banki.ru where he stresses the importance of the Internet in Russia and said that Russian presidential election 2018...
Russia: Yakutia's Drinking Water; World's Deepest Ice Shaft
Among many other things, Bolot of AskYakutia.com writes about “the world’s deepest shaft in the permafrost zone” and about drinking water in Yakutsk.
Russia: Photos From Coal Miners’ Towns in Perm Region
Alexander Belenkiy (LJ user macos) posts photos (RUS) taken in the neglected – but not yet fully deserted – coal miners’ towns in Perm region, where the first mine appeared...
Russia: Recreating a Traditional Village Hospital
Mikhail Shlyapnikov (LJ user michael-077) writes in detail (RUS) about plans to set up a communal village hospital – old-style, but functional – in Kolionovo, Moscow region: “This, perhaps, is...
Russia: Blogger Pays for Badmouthing Putin Online
Rapid development of RuNet in recent years has only stared testing the limits of what one can say online. But the army of bloggers and their enthusiastic efforts to defend the online freedom paint an optimistic picture of the blogosphere's future.
Russia: “Danilkingate” – or “Parfyonov/Volochkova Syndrome”
Power Vertical reports on Natalya Vasilyeva, “Russia's latest whistleblower” – who “[revealed] that the judge in Mikhail Khodorkovsky's recent fraud trial was pressured from on high […].” LJ user stas-kucher...
Russia: 2011 State Budget Funding for Media Companies
LJ user sart posts info (RUS) from the Russian Federation's 2011 budget (RUS, .zip, 322MB) on the state funding allotted to media companies: e.g., VGTRK gets nearly 19 billion rubles...
Russia: Government Officials Dismissed for Compromising Online Photos
Government officials in Russia start to feel the pressure of ‘Privacy 2.0.’ 2 policemen have been dismissed [RUS] in Chita after anonymous commenter published pictures [RUS] of them drunk at a...
Russia: Reactions to the “Safe Internet League”
Radio Free Europe writes about the “Safe Internet League”, a new initiative that would use volunteer cyber squads to monitor and report ‘dangerous content.’ Reacting to the news, Jeffrey Carr...
Russia: Old and New Media Censorship Tactics
In its yearly report Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) analyzes situation with Post-Soviet online expression, noting that online censorship in the region has become more subtle without losing efficiency. “Accidents...
Russia: Blogger Detained for Spreading Bombing Rumors
Masha Egupova analyzes the cases of Ilya Korol, Far East blogger who got detained for a terroristic act rumor, and the new government initiatives that are aimed to monitor and control such "dangerous content."
Belarus: House Arrest, with KGB Officers Stationed Inside
According to LJ user ng68 (RUS) and to this RFE/RL story (ENG), KGB officers are stationed inside – not outside – the homes of former presidential candidate Uladzimer Nyaklyaeu and...
