Stories about Eastern & Central Europe from January, 2010
Russia: Prosecution Against Opposition Blogger Stopped
The first criminal case against a blogger in Russia with a happy ending unfolded over a long period of time. After two years of investigation and three socio-linguistic assessments, experts didn't find any evidence of "incitement hatred against police and Russian Security Service officers." But the blogger's victory, however, is rather an exception than a rule.
Belarus: Politics and Economy Update
Belarus Digest reports on the ongoing political repressions in Belarus; the governement's plan “to introduce censorship on the Internet about a year before the next presidential election”; the new price of Belarusian entry visa (if issued at the airport) – 180 euro; and Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom, which...
Belarus: “Hating Haiti?”
Andrei Khrapavitski writes that Haiti “has become a popular topic” for Belarusian bloggers “to chatter about and for some to sarcastically grin at the pain of Haitians. It hurts to read how my compatriots, some of whom have received foreign aid themselves, seem to be quite cynical about the Haitian...
Russia: Draft Law to Limit Daytime Access to Explicit Online Content
Svetlana Gladkova of Profy writes about a Russian draft law aiming to limit access to explicit online content during daytime: “It is obvious that internet here is taken as some wider analogue of television.”
Russia: Yandex vs Google Search at Mail.ru
Svetlana Gladkova of Profy writes about Mail.ru's relationship with Google and Yandex.ru.
Europe: BloggingPortal.eu is One Year Old
Kosmopolito announces the first anniversary of Bloggingportal.eu: “More than 500 euroblogs, 25 editors and thousands of visitors!”
Russia: Lyudmila Alexeyeva; “Zhivago's Children”
IZO links to a New York Times’ profile of the 82-year-old Russian dissident Lyudmila Alexeyeva (who blogs in Russian at http://lm-alexeeva.livejournal.com/) – and to a review of Vladislav Zubok's Zhivago's Children: The Last Russian Intelligentsia, posted at Languagehat.
Russia: Newspaper Web Site Hacked
The Web site of a popular Russian newspaper “Novaya Gazeta” has been hacked today, RIA news agency reported [EN]. Allegedly, the attack has been provoked by the article [RUS] about a controversial demolition [ENG] of houses at the luxury Rechnik neighborhood in Moscow.
Hungary: The Invisible Marsh
Marietta Le reports on the story of one of Hungary's most successful citizen campaigns, whose goal is to save an endangered marsh by preventing an allegedly illegal expansion of a shopping center.
Russia: Editor Of Major Newspaper Says Police Treats Internet As Traditional Media
Commenting on the recent arrest of a former Russian police officer who used a video blog to expose police corruption in the country, an editor of a major Russian newspaper “Vedomosti” said that Russian police “treats Internet as an extension of traditional media and fights bloggers as they do journalists.”
Russian Blogger Harassed For Marrying Chinese
Maria Gromakova became a victim of comprehensive virtual attacks of Russian extreme nationalists. Online harassment eventually turned into a real-life nightmare forcing Maria and her family to leave Russia. She tells her story to GVO.
Greece: Fiscal Deficit
This month's updates on the 2009 Greek fiscal deficit – by Edward Hugh at A Fistful of Euros: here, here, here, here, and here. And a warning to Hungary – here: “So, Hungarian politicians be warned – You are not Greece right now, but you could so very easily end...
Serbia: Belgrade Photos
Many new Belgrade photos at A Yankee-in-Belgrade, including this one of a man on a bus and this one of “winter foods” sold at a local market.
Russian Spam Tycoon Shares His Methods And Targets
Russian “spam tycoon” Petr Ivanenko said [RUS] in an interview that his main targets were the U.S., Great Britain, Australia, Spain and Italy. He explained his new spam methods and talked about collaboration with credit cards online thieves.
Russia: Famous Police Video Blogger Arrested
Ex-police officer Aleksey Dymovsky has been arrested on Jan. 23 on fraud charges. Dymovsky became a Russian Internet sensation when he released an online video address publicly accusing several high-ranked Russian police officers in corruption.
Russia: Gamer, Cat And Intellectual Are Most Popular Memes On RuNet
“Hero of the Runet” prize is awarded this year to the following Internet memes of Russian Internet: computer games reviewer Ilya Maddison, cute Cat Manul and Russian flamboyant intellectual Anatoly Vasserman.
Video: Drug legalization and life post-prohibition
There are groups of people advocating for the legalization of drugs, but what would that actually mean? From Hungary to Colombia, from youth to teachers, from cops and clergy, individuals and groups are taking to citizen media to put forth their arguments regarding this potentially controversial subject.
Russia: Regional Officials Urged To Go Online
Russian regional officials may lose their jobs if they don't start blogging soon, Russian daily “Nezavisimaya Gazeta” reported [RUS]. Allegedly, the Kremlin is disappointed with declining influence of traditional media in regions and it calls for government officials to adopt a new form of public life online.
Ukraine: Citizen Media and Political Forecasting
There was no lack of interest in the outcome of the presidential election in Ukraine, and, as a result, the blogosphere was overflowing with political forecasting attempts on the eve of the Jan. 17 first-round vote. Below are summaries of a selection of polls and forecasts that appeared on Ukrainian and Russian blogs.
Russia: Project Aims To Translate Popular Blogs Into Russian
The World Wide Web now hosts a new project that aims to make English-speaking blogosphere more accessible to Russians. Inoblogger [RUS] is a Web site that will be translating the most popular IT-related blog posts from all over the Web into Russian.
Poland: Government Approves Proposal to Create Registry of Banned Websites and Services
Sylwia Presley posts an update on the Polish government's controversial decision to create a Registry of Banned Websites and Services, and on the Polish netizens' ongoing protests against Internet censorship.
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