Stories from RuNet Echo from March, 2015
Russian Journalists, You're Now Being Ranked in Real Time
A new online service launched that ranks Russian-language journalists according to the amount of social-media traffic their articles generate.
Russian Girls Show Conservative Beauty Contest Just How ‘Modest’ They Can Be
Almost immediately after the contest was announced, VKontakte users began criticizing the Parliamentary League’s decision to make modesty and headscarves the focus of its contest.
Belarus Tightens Grip on Internet With New Data Retention Decree
The new data retention demands are just the latest in a string of restrictive Internet measures employed by Belarus in the wake of the next presidential election.
Russian Social Media Users Write 30 Million Daily Posts
For all the people registered on these websites, only 5 percent of users actually create original content. (The vast majority of Web activity is reposting someone else's material.)
American Blogger Offered Money to Publish Russian Propaganda
Ironically, Swanson and his blog actually support pro-Russian views, which seems to have made the incident doubly disappointing in his eyes.
Russia Will Deploy “Digital Fingerprinting” to Enforce Copyright Online
A new intellectual property register, based on the principle of digital fingerprinting, is in the works in Russia to track and protect copyrighted files online.
8-Year-Old Ukrainian Girl Is War's Latest Victim
A Ukrainian armored vehicle ran onto a sidewalk on Monday, killing a eight-year-old girl in a terrible tragedy that led to rioting in the eastern Ukrainian town of Konstantinovka.
Outing the Russian Military in Eastern Ukraine
A number of citizen data verification initiatives, both Ukrainian and Russian, specifically focus on tracking down information about the origins and fates of individuals fighting in Donbas.
Google Art Project Now Features Ukrainian Street Art
Ukrainian graffiti and street art, previously visible mostly to Ukrainians and tourists walking the streets of Ukrainian cities, is now available to Internet users across the globe.
TJournal's Vadim Elistratov Reviews Russia's ‘Homeland’ Adaptation
TJ’s Vadim Elistratov explains why it’s hard to dismiss the Russian adaptation as a failure, though its creators are clearly afraid of deviating too much from the American show.
Government Takedown Requests from Russia Double, Facebook Reports
Facebook restricted access to 55 pieces of content in Russia since July 2014, based on requests from Russian authorities, compared to 29 fulfilled during the first half of 2014.
Inside the Kremlin Troll Army Machine: Templates, Guidelines, and Paid Posts
A new cache of documents on the inside operations of the Kremlin's troll army provides a list of LiveJournal accounts operated by employees and talking points provided to the commenters.
Ukrainian Journalist Detained, Questioned by Russian Security Services in Crimea
Crimean FSB officials detained and questioned a journalist from Simferopol's Center for Investigative Journalism in connection with a criminal investigation on "public calls to separatism."
Who Killed Nemtsov? Chechen Cops or Kremlin Cops?
The charging of Chechens with Nemtsov's murder and comments by Ramzan Kadyrov on Instagram revived speculation that Nemtsov was killed for supporting Charlie Hebdo. But the Russian Internet remains unconvinced.
Access to Grani.Ru and Other Censored News Websites Restored by Digital Activists
As part of Operation Collateral Freedom, activists used the technique known as mirroring to duplicate the nine censored sites and place their copies on the servers of large Internet companies
Russia's Internet Ombudsman Advocates for Storing User Data Abroad
Internet Ombudsman Dmitry Marinichev has proposed allowing foreign Internet companies to store Russians’ personal data abroad with the permission of the owners.
Russian Imperialism's Internet Triumph
Packed full of twirling, burning, zooming images, the video is an uncompromising defense of Russian imperialism, and boasts impressive production value, as well as subtitles in ten languages.
Russian Journalist Crowdfunding New Media Project on Kickstarter
The project's description on Yakovlev's Kickstarter page claims the goal is to create a media outlet to counteract the Russian "state propaganda machine" and help “turn zombies back into people.”
Roscomnadzor Threatens Complete Block of RuNet Encyclopedia
Russian telecom watchdog Roscomnadzor wants to block pages about "drugs and child porn" on RuNet culture encyclopedia Lurkmore.ru, but will instead block the entire website, because it uses https encryption.
Mapping Geolocated Tweets About Putin and Poroshenko
North America, Western Europe, and parts of Eastern Europe have the largest share of geolocated content in our dataset of tweets about the presidents of Russia and Ukraine.
Epic Car Chase in Moscow's Red Square Caught on Video
A towing truck chased by police drove through the Red Square in the heart of Moscow—and went viral on the RuNet.
