· October, 2011

Stories about Russia from October, 2011

Russia: Alternative Voting Portal Launched

RuNet Echo  31 October 2011

Habrahabr-user uhaby writes [ru] about otdamgolos.ru, a web-portal that offers users to propose alternative parliamentary and presidential candidates as well as to vote for them. The author claims that within 10 days his website attended 137,500+ visitors. In the virtual parliamentary election three parties received most votes: 1. The Pirate Party,...

Russia: Izhevsk City Manager Caught on Camera Talking About Election Bribery

RuNet Echo  31 October 2011

Udmurtia.tv publishes a video [ru] of Denis Agashin, Izhevsk city manager, telling the representatives of veteran organizations that the next year's financial support will depend on the results of “United Russia” party in their district. As Alexander Kynev, a prominent political analyst, points out: “Progress it's not only forcing students...

Russia: Pirate Flag Over Novosibirsk City

RuNet Echo  31 October 2011

LJ-user dedmaxopka publishes [ru] pictures of himself placing a pirate flag over Novosibirsk city administration. “We just wanted to make nice pictures of the city,” explained the blogger to the police that identified him the same day. Blogger was charged with ‘petty hooliganism’ and had to pay a small fine.

Russia: Fake ‘Crowd Sourced’ Election Monitoring Portal Launched by the Ruling Party

RuNet Echo  28 October 2011

Gazeta.ru writes [ru] about government-sponsored NGOs that help simulate legitimacy of the election process. Among others authors mention ktonarushil.ru, a fake crowdsourcing monitoring portal launched by “United Russia” party. Not only it reminds kartanarusheniy.ru [an authentic monitoring website run by independent election monitor “Golos.org”] but it also doesn't allow to file...

Russia: Crowd-Sourced Citizen Lawmaking Platform

RuNet Echo  28 October 2011

The Economist writes about WikiVote (e.g. see projects dedicated to the laws on education, Sberbank, state-owned bank), Russian croudsourcing platform to comment and contribute to the creation of the laws. Pavel Burov, creator of the platform, claims his project can ‘prevent idiocy [in lawmaking] from happening.’

Russia: Site of Political Phone Pranks Launched

RuNet Echo  26 October 2011

politicprank.ru, website dedicated to the phone pranks with politicians has launched on October 26, 2011. The first prank [ru] has been conducted allegedly with the head of the security of Vladimir Putin. Authenticity of the recording, however, is not proved yet.

Russia: Hacked Mailbox of Anti-Corruption Blogger Published Online

RuNet Echo  26 October 2011

Private mailbox allegedly belonging to Alexey Navalny, famous anti-corruption blogger, has been hacked and published at navalnymail.kz by an attacker nicknamed onenavnav [ru]. Navalny hasn't confirmed the authenticity of the leaked e-mails yet. Observers suggest that the leak might be connected to the plan of Navalny's discreditation.

Russia: Ministry of Justice Plans to Monitor Online Content

RuNet Echo  25 October 2011

Russian Ministry of Justice had published a public procurement proposal [ru] to purchase a content monitoring system worth of ~115,000 US dollars. The system is aimed to monitor the information published about the ministry and its representatives as well as about the president and prime-minister. The scale of the system...

Russia: Government to Launch Content Monitoring in December 2011

RuNet Echo  24 October 2011

Roskomnadzor, Russian telecommunications control body, will launch content monitoring system in December 2011, Kommersant.ru reports [ru]. The system ordered in March, 2011 (see GV analysis here) is now in pre-release condition. Its documented abilities allow the monitoring of up to 5 mln keywords published at the websites registered as online mass media...

Russia: ‘Occupy Wall Street’ Demonstration Attracts Only Few

RuNet Echo  24 October 2011

“A Just Russia” party staged a Moscow version of the #OccupyWallStreet demonstration, reports Ridus.ru [ru]. The action decorated with printed posters saying “We're the 99%” attracted only 10-15 people. So far it's the only event in Russia to refer to the global protest movement.

Russia: Cursing Policeman Fired After YouTube Video Leak

RuNet Echo  24 October 2011

Russian policeman who has been caught on camera [ru] cursing at his colleagues was fired after the video became public, corrupcia.net reported [ru]. Company commander of Omsk traffic police was accusing other policemen of producing not enough violation protocols. The case highlighted the so-called “sticks” system, in which police evaluation is based...