Stories from RuNet Echo from February, 2010
Russia: What Happens To Suitcase In Airport
Blogger sergeydolya posted a series of pictures showing what happens to a suitcase after it's been checked in at Domodedovo airport in Russia.
Russia: 17-Year-Old Builds Popular Video Chat
The New York Times blogs [EN] about Andrey Ternovskiy, a 17-year-old Moscovite, inventor of popular random video chat Chatroulette.com.
Russia: Tracing City Buses in Real Time
The city administration of Ryazan [ENG] in the Central Russia became the first in the country to launch an interactive map of the public buses [RUS], gov-gov.ru reported. Equipped with GPS devices, the buses can now be traced online in real time.
Russia Liberilizes Rules For Wi-Fi
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev signed the law [RUS] liberalizing the installation of the Wi-Fi networks. Previously, the installation required tons of paperwork and a formal permission from the government.
Russia: Moscow Wants Its Own ‘Silicon Valley’
The Moscow Times writes [ENG] about the new Kremlin innovation center modeled after the American Silicon Valley. President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree on creating a working group that would deal with the project.
Russia: Theater Play to “Reconstruct” Lawyer Magnitsky's Death
The death of Sergei Magnitsky, a 37-year-old lawyer who spent nearly a year in jail awaiting trial, received much publicity and prompted Russian authorities to introduce some changes. The case also inspired a public discussion of prison conditions in Russia, which is now likely to move to a new level, as a Moscow theater is working on a documentary play that would "reconstruct" the horror of Magnitsky's final hours.
Russia: Visual Ride On Trans-Siberian Railway Available Online
Google and Russian Railways launched a site allowing everyone to visually experience [ENG] a ride on the Trans-Siberian Railway going from Moscow to Vladivostok, the larges Russian city on the Pacific Ocean.
Russia: Copy-Paste Online To Become Illegal
The Russian Telecommunications Agency is about to propose a new anti-plagiarism law that will require all Web sites to provide hyperlinks to the original source of the information that they use, newspaper Vedomosti reported [RUS]. Experts argue that the law will be hard to enforce.
Russia: More Prominent Reporters Go Online
Another two popular Russian journalists started to blog recently, a contemporary artist Dmitri Vrubel reports [RUS]. The prominent reporters for the major Russian newspaper “Kommersant” Andrei Kolesnikov [RUS] and Valery Panyushkin [RUS] joined the community of bloggers.
Russia: Another Newspaper Web Site Attacked
One of the most influential Russian business newspapers Vedomosti has been experiencing DoS-attacks [EN] for at least four days, Lenta.ru reported [RUS]. This is the second DoS-attack on the major newspaper's Web site in 2010. A Web site of an oppositional weekly Novaya Gazeta has also been attacked earlier [ENG].
Russian Search Giant Plans To Buy ICQ
The Russian online search giant Yandex.ru became one of the top candidates to purchase a popular instant messaging service ICQ, Russian news agency Lenta.ru reported [RUS].
Russia May Use E-mail Addresses As ID Tools
The Russian minister of communication and mass media Igor Shegolev said [RUS] that Russia considered using e-mails accounts as additional identifications for Russian citizens along with traditional passports. According to the minister, it would make it easier for the government to communicate with citizens.
Russia: Pictures and Videos of Arctic Winter
Russian traveler Dan Kislov (a.k.a. LJ user nub1an) posted [RUS] a video and pictures of the Nenetsky Autonomous District [EN], one of the most perspective oil and gas provinces in the country. Oil towers, snowstorms and kilometers of unpopulated terrain.
Russia Wants To Be Twitter Trend
A new Russian Internet campaign [RUS] focuses on Twitter and aims to make #Russia one of the ten most discussed hashtags. So far, about 3,000 users joined the Russian Twitwave [RUS]. The campaign was initiated by a member of the Russian parliament and Internet activist Konstantin Rykov
Haiti: Russian Interpol Officer Blogs About Disaster
A Russian Interpol officer in Haiti shares his accounts of the disaster and its aftermath on his blog.
Russia: “Most Influential Intellectual” Online Vote
At OpenDemocracy.net, Lyubov Borusyak writes that “a recent internet vote on the [Russia's] most influential intellectual saw instead postmodern ambiguity emerge victorious.”
Russia: Blogger Addresses Russian President With Environmental Claim
Blogger tebedam from Norilsk, one of the most polluted cities in the world, wrote a post [RUS] addressing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and demanding the introduction of innovative environmental technologies.
Russia: Forbes Magazine Publishes List Of Top Government Bloggers
Forbes magazine published the list of the top-20 official bloggers [RUS]. President Medvedev [RUS] tops the list, followed by an ex-oppositionary Maria Gaidar [RUS] and Perm Governor Oleg Chirkunov [RUS].
Russia: Liberal Policy Report Provokes Online Debate
The Institute Of Contemporary Development [EN], a think-tank related to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, recently presented a policy report “Russia of XXI Century: Image of the Desired Tomorrow” [RUS]. Recommending massive reforms of police, electoral system and strategic partnerships with the U.S. and E.U., the report provoked a big discussion...
Russia: Bloggers Saved Tourist's Life
A blog campaign saved the life of Alexey Kalabin, a Russian tourist bitten by a snake in Indonesia, Svpressa reported. Desperate to contact a Russian insurance company, Kalabin's daughter Anna asked one of the top RuNet bloggers to spread the word online and that led to a happy ending.
Russia: Threat to dispose of parliamentary chairman
LJ users drugoi and Alymov Aleksandr comment [RUS] on a threat to remove Sergei Mironov, chairman of the Russian parliament's upper chamber, the Federation Council, from office allegedly due to critique against Prime Minister Putin's policies.
