Stories from RuNet Echo from August, 2011
Russia: New Legislation Against Online Extremism
Russian government submitted a new anti-extremism legislation for approval to the Russian Parliament. News agency ITAR-TASS reports that according to the news legislation, distribution of extremist content online can be punished with 5 years in jail. Vzglyad website explains the legislation treates the publication of content in blogs as public...
Russia: Bloggers Initiated Day of Garbage Cleaning
Thousands of people participated in the event “Bloggers against garbage” that happened in dozens of Russian cities. A special community was created in Livejournal that includes many reports about the event. People used Twitter, Facebook, Vkontakte and other online platforms to coordinate the blog-based subbotnik [ENG]. The event was an...
Russia: Photos From the Tyva (Tuva) Republic
Oleg Klimov's photos [ru] from the Tyva (Tuva) Republic – here, here, here, and here.
Russia: “Stolen Dreams”
Oleg Klimov posts a series of photos [ru] of people sleeping on a Moscow-Novosibirsk train.
Russia: Blogger Reveals Corruption at Moscow Journalism Faculty
This is the story of how one blogger was able to overcome corruption in the Department of Journalism at Moscow State University. It seems unbelievable and impossible even, that this issue revolves around entrance exams for the most powerful and prestigious university in Russia.
Russia: Police violence towards journalists and bloggers
Russian journalist and photoblogger Ilya Varlamov was threatened and attacked by Russian policemen when he covered oppositional demonstration in Moscow. He posted his story and photos [ru] of the attacker on his blog. Another story of police violence against a photoblogger during the same demonstration was told [ru] by Dmitriy...
Russia: Exodus from LiveJournal Shows the Power of Networks
The latest Distributed Denial-of-Service attack (the second this year) on the most popular Russian blogging network, LiveJournal, has prompted a mass exodus of bloggers to different platforms and is significantly re-shaping the country's blogosphere.
Belarus: Interpreting the Law on Freedom of Assembly
LJ user gabblgob lets [ru] a lawyer friend, LJ user redrok, take a look at the legal implications of changes in Belarus law on freedom of assembly, which are in stark contrast with the conventional meaning of the term.
Belarus: Almost 30% of Belarusans Get Lower Salary Than Moldovans
LJ user Pavel Kuznetsov points to [ru] recent statistics showing that almost 30% of employees in Belarus earn less than in Moldova – the poorest country in Europe.
