Latest posts by Gregory Asmolov
Russia: New Details About the National Search Engine
Russia is going develop the National Search Engine, Gazeta.ru writes [RUS]. Despite the recent denial [RUS] of such plans by minister Igor Schegolev, journalists published slides of a closed presentation of the project, defined as the “informational window of Russia” to the world. The search engine, that will cost more than...
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 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: 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: Chechen President Launches Blog
Ramzan Kadyrov [EN], president of the Chechen Republic [EN], launched a blog ya-kadyrov [RUS] at Livejournal. In his first post Kadyrov writes that he is “a sociable and to the limit outspoken person”, and that he “hopes to develop friendship and discuss various events with his readers”. There is no option to...
Russia: Bloggers React to President Medvedev's Silicon Valley Tour
For the first 24 hours, Dmitry Medvedev's @KremlinRussia Twitter account provided a unique opportunity to send unmoderated comments to the Russian president. Then all the comments were removed, and the era of the Russian unmoderated online democracy ended. Gregory Asmolov reviews Russian bloggers' reactions to the president's visit to California.
Russia: Flaws and Pitfalls of the Subsidized “Social” Internet Plan
Gregory Asmolov examines the potential of the Russian government's two new initiatives that aim at reducing the digital divide in the country.
Russia: Novaya Gazeta, An Opposition Newspaper Under Internet Attack
Novaya Gazeta is a liberal opposition newspaper in Russia that is famous beyond Russia's borders. Several of its journalists have been killed, and it continues to attract both online and offline threats. Sergey Sokolov, the deputy executive editor, shares with GV his perspectives on information security and the ongoing investigations into the journalists' murders.
Russia: Authorities Anounce “Social Plan” for Internet Access
Igor Schegolev, Russian minister of Communications, announced [RUS] today that country's largest, state-controlled, access provider “Svyazinvest“ [ENG] will launch a subsidized Internet access plan. Users of the new “Social” plan will be able to access few “socially important” websites for lower price (at reduced speed, though). Few days earlier, “Social Plug“, a parallel...
Russia: From “Sovereign Democracy” to “Sovereign Internet”?
Gregory Asmolov analyzes some of the recent Internet-related initiatives of the Russian government and explains what RuNet may possibly evolve into in the future.
Russia: Mysterious Death of a Soldier in the Far East
Alexey Navalny, famous anti-corruption blogger, posted a shocking video [RUS], depicting an observation of Roman Suslov's dead body. According to Russian military officials, Suslov committed a suicide during the transfer to Far East military base, though his family and independent journalists suspect [RUS] he was tortured and later murdered by military...
Russia: Famous Blogger Speaks About the Future of Social Networks
Sergey Kuznetsov, one of the first RuNet activists, discusses how social networks will look like in five years. In his interview to Lenta.ru [RUS] he argues that analysts should focus on functions but not platforms, describes the new ways of virtual connections between people, and suggests that the social networks and electronic devices...
Russia: Media Company Calls to Close Country's Biggest Social Network.
Alexander Akopov, head of a media company “Amedia“, called [RUS] to close Russia's biggest social network “Vkontakte” for massive copyright violations describing it as “the main pirate of the country” and its users as “30 millions of criminals”. He offered to prosecute both the network and its users and demand 100 million...
Russia: Bloggers Cover Moscow Gay Pride Parade
LJ-user Zyalt published [RUS] pictures from Moscow gay pride parade [EN] that took place despite it the ban by Moscow authorities. The event organizers had to change its location several times. Other pictures of the parade, which was just a few minutes long, can be found here, here and here.
Russian “Little Blue Buckets” Movement Reaches Ukraine
Ukraine-based feminist organization “FEMEN” [EN] conducted an action [ENG] in support of the Russian online movement “Little Blue Buckets” [ENG] and against the “unification of Russia and Ukraine under Kremlin patronage.” Activists with their breasts painted in blue tried to rally near the building of the Russian embassy in Kiev,...
Russia: Taking Children as a New Method of Pressure on Journalists
Children of Galina Dmitrieva, an oppositionary journalist and activist, were taken by Russian police after she published an investigation about Russian car manufacturer Avtovaz [EN], Anatoliy Baranov reported [RUS]. After instant blog-campaign her children were returned. Blogger Marina Litvinovich suggests [RUS] this method was used before against at least one oppositionary journalist.
Russian DST Group Will Increase Investment in Foreign Internet Companies
Yuri Milner [EN], chief executive of the Moscow-based Digital Sky Technologies [EN] (DST) investment group, revealed [ENG] The Guardian his plans to continue investing in major foreign Internet companies. One of them might be Twitter. DST had already invested in Facebook, Zynga and ICQ.
Russia: Video of a Man With a ‘Little Blue Bucket’ Attacking Government Car Raises Controversy
A viral video [RUS] of a man with a little blue bucket [EN] on his head attacking a government car near Kremlin has been distributed recently in the Russian blogosphere. The action is considered to be a part of the protests against government cars using emergency vehicle lighting [EN] (“migalki”). However, the...
Russia: Hacking of Women's Community Raises Gender, Ethical and Privacy Dilemmas
The legendary Russian women blog community "girls_only" with the most sensitive and private discussions was hacked by anonymous hacker and uploaded to a mirror site. The scandal raised a lot of legal, ethical and online security dilemmas. It also showed that men and women are creatures that live on different Internet planets and inspired online discussions about the gender differences.
Russia: Berkman Center Experts Visit Moscow
Researchers from the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University visited Moscow and met with local journalist and bloggers at the Moscow State University. Lenta.ru writes about the meeting and the research of Russian blogosphere by Harvard University.