Stories from RuNet Echo from July, 2010
Russia: Collection of Online Ideas
Blogger fritzmorgen published [RUS] a collection of ideas gathered from various Russian bloggers. Most interesting ideas include: Russian laws put into Wiki-like engine [RUS], several implementations of ‘Taxi 2.0′ idea (collaborative taxi service), hostels that travel with the travellers [RUS], etc.
Russia: Anna Chapman – the Most Popular Facebook User
German Klimenko, CEO of LiveInternet.ru, developed a new rating of Russian Facebook [RUS] users. According to it, the most popular Russian FB-user is Anna Chapman [EN], one of 10 Russian spies arrested in the U.S. and returned to Russia within spies’ exchange deal between Russia and U.S.
Russia: Priest's Blog Hacked
While police denied to start investigation [RUS] of the hack attack of Maxim Sviridenkov's blog [EN], one more blog had been hacked [RUS]. This time the victim of “Hacker Hell” (alleged Bonn-based hacker Sergey Maksimov) is Yakov Krotov [EN], a priest and a publicist. Content of both his LJ-account and personal site krotov.info had been...
Russia: New Election Codex Project Discussed Online
Last month, a Russian non-governmental election-monitoring organization, Golos (A Voice), published an alternative Election Codex on the internet, that is designed to provide free, fair and transparent elections in Russia. It is one of a few recent examples of publicly developed draft bills that are promoted online.
Russia: Photo of Four Rainbows
Taiga.info posts a picture [RUS] of unusual natural phenomena that occurred in Tomsk (Siberia) – four rainbows were caught by photographer at one time.
Russia: Tax Service Lacks Paper to Process Documents
Saleksashenko posts [RUS] a photo of the announcement in the office of a local Tax Service [RUS] that says the department lacks paper to process documents. This case illustrates the real situation in the country's budget, blogger suggests. LJ-user grey_dolphin sarcastically calls [RUS] it an example of Russian understanding of the “new public...
Russia: New “One Day Rule” for Censoring Comments on Demand
Alexey Sidorenko analyses the new practice of comment removal on news media websites introduced by the Russian authorities. Although not direct and not efficient, it threatens to significantly limit online discussion.
Russia Launches Social Network for Governmental Officials
President Medvedev introduced “gosbook.ru“, a social network for governmental officials. According to [RUS] Gazeta.ru, the network was Medvedev's personal idea and costed 1 million roubles (approx. $35.000). The platform is supposed to trigger and facilitate discussions among officials.
Russia: Internet Draft Bill Published Online
Robert Shlegel, a “United Russia” [EN] party member and a political blogger, published [RUS] a new Internet draft bill. According to the draft, that mainly consists of updates for the current law “On Information, Information Technologies and Data Protection,” Russia has a jurisdiction to prosecute anyone suspected in committing online crimes against its...
Russia: Political Regime as a Model for Social Network
User art_of_press ironically compares [RUS] Facebook to its clone Vkontakte, Russia's most popular social network. His conclusion: Vkontakte's model reminds current political regime. Vkontakte changes Terms of Service without informing users, doesn't allow content from third-party sources, allows only pre-moderated applications, and tends to create an isolated “Internet inside the Internet”.
Russia, Czech Republic: ‘Prague Watchdog’ Closing
A Step At A Time reports that “Prague Watchdog, the Prague-based North Caucasus human rights NGO and monitoring service, is closing down after 10 years of operation.”
Russia: RT's “Peculiar” Russian Lessons
Global Chaos writes about RT's “peculiar” way of teaching their audiences Russian.
Russia, U.S.: More on the “Spy Ring” Story
More reactions to the “Russian spy ring” story (earlier posts are here and here): Craig Pirrong of Streetwise Professor – here and here; Julia Ioffe at True/Slant; Robert Coalson at RFE/RL's Power Vertical; Sean Guillory at Sean's Russia Blog; Clare Sestanovich at FP's Passport; Irina Filatova at the Guardian's Comment...
Russia: More on LGBT Rights
A Good Treaty writes more on the Russian opposition's stance on LGBT rights (the previous post is here), reacting to Oleg Kozlovsky's statement in response to Sublime Oblivion‘s question about why he feels “the need to forcefully disassociate Solidarity [movement] from support for LGBT rights in Russia.” Austere Insomniac interprets...
USA, Russia: Discussing ‘Spies’ 2.0
The arrest of 11 individuals belonging to a network of alleged Russian spies became the topic of the week on the Russian Internet. Alexey Sidorenko reviews the online discussion.
Ukraine: #KyivRain Photos
Heavy rains cause flooding in some of Kyiv's neighborhoods. Twitter hashtag is #kyivrain (RUS, UKR); photos by @mrija – here, here, here and here; by @woofer_kyyiv – here; by @meua – here. Some more photos from various sources – at LJ user solar-side‘s blog.
Ukraine: Mysterious Deaths at the Kiev Zoo
The Kiev Zoo has recently attracted attention of both the traditional and citizen media because of the alarming events happening there: quite a few animals at the Zoo have died under unclear circumstances during the last year.
Russia: Hackers Provoke Closure of the Major News Website
Several articles of Ura.ru, one of the major media outlets, had been significantly transformed by unknown hackers, kommersant.ru reported [RUS]. Aksana Panova, executive editor of the portal, suggested, hackers added severe critics towards regional and federal authorities in order to provoke Roskomnadzor [EN] to issue a legal notice, which might...
Russia: Human Rights Website Hacked and Blocked
First page of Prison.org, a website Moscow Center for Prison Reform, of one of the oldest Russian human rights NGOs, had been hacked, Russ.ru reported [RUS]. The content of the website hasn't been deleted, however, users can't access the website and are constantly forwarded to Yandex.ru search engine instead. Russ.ru suggests...
Russia: Executive Director of Moscow Airport Uses Blog to Blame the Mayor
Michael Vasilenko, executive director of Russia's second largest international airport Sheremetyevo, wrote [RUS] a blog post accusing [ENG] Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov in a deliberate transport blockade of the airport. Vasilenko declared that authorities started roadworks [ENG] on purpose in order to block Sheremetyevo and promote city-owned airport Vnukovo.
Russia: Gay Rights
A Good Treaty writes about “the sad state of gay rights in Russia” and highlights opposition activist Oleg Kozlovsky's reaction to a mention of the Solidarnost movement in a blog post about the “small, brief” gay pride march in Moscow: “He was angry that they claimed ‘representative(s) of Solidarnost’’ had...
