Latest posts by Alexey Sidorenko from July, 2011
Russia: Policeman that Promised to “Rob and Kill” Dismissed
A policeman that was caught on camera saying that if he would be dismissed he would “go to the streets to rip, rob, and kill” (video [ru]) was dismissed, lenta.ru reported [ru]. The dismissal (result of a bloggers’ activity in spreading the word about the case), however, didn't solve a...
Russia: While LiveJournal Experiences DDoS Attack (Again), Users to Twitter and Facebook
LJ-user igrick (head of LiveJournal development team) publishes [ru] (the link might be temporary unavailable) evidence of another serious DDoS attack against the platform. Roem.ru, on the other hand, brings up graphs [ru] that say that bloggers deprived of their publishing platform move to Twitter and Facebook.
Russia: “Double-Entry Bookkeeping” in Moscow State University
Blogger Vladimir Varfolomeev writes [ru] about strange occurrences during the entry exams to the prestigious Journalism Department of the Moscow State University. Varfolomeev brings up a story of the entrant who received the highest possible mark for the interview. After the interview, however, the mark was significantly reduced by a...
Russia: Envisioning the “Cloud Democracy” Utopia
'Cloud Democracy' is the title of the new book written by Leonid Volkov and Fyodor Krasheninnikov, two political bloggers from the Urals region of Russia. The book displays the authors' vision on how a system of 'future' democratic governance can be built with the help of online tools.
Russia: Online Effort to Discredit Environmentalists Exposed
Suren Gazaryan, Russian environmentalist, publishes [ru] the scan of the document that describes the strategy of discrediting local environmentalist organizations protesting against the development of the Tuapse oil terminal. The “plan” includes prices for the paid posts in the blogs, forums, media outlets, as well as a list of possible...
Russia: President Medvedev's Gadgets Evaluated in a YouTube Video
YouTube user tebedam publishes a video [ru/en] entitled as “Medvedev is NOT corrupted,” that provides market prices for the gadgets president Medvedev had been spotted with on various photos, including Leica S2 camera (Price 22,995 US dollars), other top shelf Swiss watches, and a spacious Moscow flat. According to the...
Russia/Belarus: Two More ‘Revolutionary’ Initiatives Appear Online
Ukraine-based Looo.ch launches [ru] street-art initiative called “Belarus Front of Street Art,” which idea is to spray word “Скоро” (“Soon”) on the streets of Belarus thus inspiring people to oppose the regime of Alexander Lukashenko. In Russia, the community “Crayon Revolution” [ru] calls people to draw “This government should resign”...
Belarus: Vkontakte Social Network Blocked by the Providers
Update: Access to the Vkontake site is now restored. Vkontakte, Russian social network, is unavailable for Belarus Internet Users. The network hosts “Revolution Through the Social Network” [ru] group used to organize non-violent protests, telegraf.by reported [ru]. Individual Belarus-based users told GV that the page loads only header but the...
Russia: Popular Curse Temporarily Becomes a Worldwide Twitter Trend
#хуи [ru], Russian swearword for penis (plural), for a few hours became a global trend. Lenta.ru notes [ru] that the sudden appearance of this hashtag marks the launch of Cyrillic hashtag functionality.
Russia: Anti-Cop Blogger Is Granted Political Asylum in Estonia
Savva Terentyev, blogger from Syktyvkar who was accused of inciting hatred towards policemen in 2008, was granted a political asylum in Estonia, BBC's Russian Service reports [ru]. Terentyev decided to emigrate because he couldn't find job in Syktyvkar after the trial. “All the doors were shut for me due to...
Russia: Banksy-Style Graffiti at Child Charity Organization
Dmitry Markov, photoblogger who works for Pskov child charity organization “Rostok,” [ru] publishes [ru] pictures of Banksy-style graffiti at the walls of the organization's building. The graffiti were created by the kids that “Rostok” takes care of together with Markov. Instead of dull white walls, now there are rainbows and silhouettes...
Russia: Wednesday Clapping Protests Organized Online Spread from Belarus
Anonymous Facebook group RusFlash (@RusFlash) [ru] that copies Belarus model of non-violent clapping protest has been created, Echo Moskvy reported [ru]. Organizers invite everyone to come out to the central squares of their cities every Wednesday at 19:00. “We're fed up. With thieves and crooks! With lies and lawlessness!” So...
Russia: Expert Goes Public to Prevent Passing New Law on Private Data
Yevgeni Tsarev, security and privacy expert and blogger, publishes an open address [ru] to president Medvedev. Following the meeting with the bloggers Medvedev promised to adjust the law on private data in order to make it closer to the European and international norms. The draft bill that was prepared after...
Belarus: Independence Day Clapping Protest (Videos)
Streets of several Belarusian towns and cities were flooded with people on Belarus Independence Day on July 3, 2011. People just stood there, clapping. They showed up for the clapping protest, even though clapping was officially forbidden on that day. As they said, they came not even to protest, but rather to fight the fear inside them.