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The Kremlin Tightens Its Grip on the Internet
Posted by
CmdrTaco
on Sun Oct 28, 2007 08:07 AM
from the more-you-tighten-your-fingers dept.
from the more-you-tighten-your-fingers dept.
reporter writes "According to a report just published by "The Washington Post", the percentage of Russian adults having access to the Internet has risen from 8% in 2002 to 25% in 2007. This growth has attracted the attention of the Kremlin. Its allies are creating pro-Kremlin web sites and are purchasing web sites known for high-quality independent journalism. Pro-Kremlin bloggers have used their skills to bury news about anti-Kremlin demonstrations: at Russian news portals, web links to news about pro-Kremlin rallies consistently rank higher than web links to news about anti-Kremlin demonstrations.
The most disturbing development is that the Kremlin intends to develop a Russian Internet which is separate from the global Internet. Russian officials are studying the techniques that the Chinese use to censor the Internet."
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Russian Software Piracy Crackdown Restricts Free Speech 175 comments
reporter writes "According to a report recently filed by the Washington Post, the Kremlin has finally begun to crackdown on software piracy ... with a twist. The Russian state agency is targetting political enemies with claims of piracy, including independent news media, political parties, and private advocacy groups. In particular, 'the newspaper Novaya Gazeta, one of the last outposts of critical journalism in Russia, suspended publication of its regional edition in the southern city of Samara on Monday after prosecutors opened a criminal case against its editor, alleging that his publication used unlicensed software.'" This doesn't even take into account our recent discussion of the Kremlin's grip on internet access in that country.
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The Kremlin Tightens Its Grip on the Internet
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Spooky (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Spooky (Score:5, Funny)
You must be American. I got a "Please to move along, for nothing here sees YOU!"
Not surprising (Score:5, Insightful)
All the other media, such as newpapers and TV, are firmly pro-Kremlin. Independant journalists are imprisoned or assasinated by - of course - nameless 'enemies of the state'.
It's a shame that the promise of democracy there turned out to be yet another 'false dawn'.
Europe will do nothing, since the bear's paw is firmly on their throat, i.e. the oil and gas supply...
Next up, Google et al 'voluntary censorship'?
Russian Police Psychiatry: Scarier than Halloween (Score:5, Informative)
The "Washington Post" recently published a chilling story [washingtonpost.com] about "police psychiatry" in Russia. Powerful thugs in the government (including the police) and in commercial businesses bribe judges and doctors to declare that a mentally healthy person is mentally incompetent. Then, the "justice" (in a very loose sense of the word) system will imprison the victim in a mental institution. There, the doctors proceed to "treat" the victim with beatings and injections of psychotic substances.
The article by the "Washington Post" mentions that Larissa Arap, a human-rights activist, was one such victim. She had written a damning article about the horrible state of psychiatric wards in Russia. In response, psychiatrists and judges -- under orders from the Kremlin -- imprisoned her in a psychiatric ward. She was subjected to 6 weeks of beatings and injections with an unknown psychotic substance. After numerous letters pleading for her life from Gary Kasparov and other human-rights activits, the Kremlin finally released her.
What is most disturbing about police psychiatry is that it is practiced not only by the Kremlin. This "tool" is also used by ordinary Russians who want to rid themselves of people whom they dislike.
Slashdot should create a new topic category for Russia. It deserves its own topic category for story submissions; the horrors in today's Russia should be an active topic of discussion (condemnation?) for any Westerner who has an iota of compassion. This article by the "Washington Post" should scare any Westerner.
from bad days to better days (Score:4, Interesting)
As somebody who doesn't want to see the world return to its pre-ColdWar state of European hegemony, I'll say that I'm glad that Russians are fostering a robust sense of nationalism, because historically they've been ruled over by outsiders and foreign-imposed govts. Even if you look at the Bolshevik Revolution that brought Russia under communist rule, it was backed by Western European powers trying to undermine the Czar. That drunken Boris Yeltsin was likewise a Manchurian Candidate who used to give away all kinds of concessions on international treaties, while using his control over the media to suppress the opposition, but he wasn't criticized because the West was benefitting from his undemocratic rule. Those aren't good precedents, and I think the Russians need to develop some natural immunity against foreign manipulation.
While some in the West cry for "more democracy in Russia," one can also note how there was a cry to "bring democracy to Iraq" -- and look what that caused. Similarly, while some will cry that Russia "must share oil" with the world, there was the similar "liberate vital oil supplies from Saddam's tyranny."
It's good to see the Russians regaining their natural strength after having it sapped by carpetbaggers from abroad. It's their country, and I like the fact that Russians can produce politicians who are willing to stand up for their nation, even if it comes to going nose-to-nose with Westerners who think the world is their oyster.
Re:from bad days to better days (Score:5, Insightful)
The rights of an individual and in turn the collective rights of all individuals can be shared across all humanity. Nationalism has been and always will be seen as destructive. It is nothing but self serving camouflage for the failings of a society which the power 'elite'(those crazy, fucked up, psychopaths) hide behind to gain and maintain control over the ignorant masses. That is the real threat and power of the Internet, turning the ignorant masses into the informed masses and the power elite into convicts.
Not that democracies are always working to the benefit of individuals. In fact at the moment, there is a clear cut example of the abuse of the collective rights of individuals by the current US administration working in conjunction with major corporations and mass media, all based upon typical nationalistic lies. So no society is immune from the threat imposed by autocratic sociopaths, screaming nationalistic propaganda whilst they line their own pockets with the profits and blood of their fellow country men. A free and open internet is the best way by which to put those lies to a final well deserved end and put some of the worst criminal behind bars.
All, no thanks to those money grubbing slimy executives hiding behind their corporate façades, like the googlites, the microsofties and the yahoos et al corporate profits over the future of humanity.
Re:from bad days to better days (Score:4, Insightful)
Tell you what. I'm Russian, born here in Russia and living here since birth. And I consider myself a European, and so do the majority of people who I know. The acceptance of Western ideals such as individual freedom and liberalism varies, naturally, but it's nowhere near unanimous acceptance or rejection. Our present-day "patriotic" nationalists are mostly braindead "Greater Russia" style, bent on restoring the border to the original USSR one, introducing Eastern Orthodoxy as a state religion, and advocating historical revisionism bordering on Holocaust denial (ever heard of Holodomor, Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, or the Katyn massacre? these people did, and they claim all those historical events for lies and "Western plots to undermine Russia"). Our politicians, including the President, breed nationalistic fervor where it suits them, but are otherwise busy splitting the country riches between themselves. Meanwhile, Russia is steadily falling in the various politic/economic freedom and corruption indices ever since Putin came to power, at the same time that number of government bureaucrats grows.
So, do tell, why do you feel you have any more right to teach us than the West? At least they have the examples of their own countries, which are faring rather well last I checked, to back their words. But I don't think there's anything Asian countries have worth learning in political sphere, judging from how the ones that have most freedom and strongest economies have heavily copied the West before (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan...). And no, thank you, I do not want my country to be like the PRC or Burma.
Great! (Score:3)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacktivism [wikipedia.org]
Not so fast (Score:4, Informative)
Hardly so simple (Score:5, Informative)
A couple of things.
Russia is not so simple. First, Putin is enormously popular in Russia. He has put food in the belly of the Russian people, their standards of living are higher, and so on. In the mind of the average Russian, over there, someone supporting the likes of a pure democracy movement are the crooks and cronies from the Yeltsin era. Those crooks and cronies, in turn, are the very former communist leaders that they rebelled against to begin with!
Secondly, yes, there is Fox News and they tend to feature columnists that are sympathetic to the right wing of American politics. Guess what, that's half the country dude. The only reason Republicans are in trouble now, well, there are a lot, is because of the skyrocketing cost of energy and the growing realization that the Republicans in Washington aren't so Republican after all. If you think the likes of Hannity give Bush a blank check, you'd be dead wrong. Hannity -routinely- condemns Bush on immigration and was one of the key players to stop the Bush immigration reform bill dead in its tracks. Similarly, just wait until Bush flip flops on the ridiculous law of the sea treaty or tries to enact some sort of a carbon tax. He'd be dead meat.
Finally, the key difference between the USA and other places around the world that the left is so fond of comparing us too, is that, the left wing is allowed to spout its own opinions. If MoveOn was in Russia or China, they most certainly not exist. But then, neither would the NRA.
Re:Hardly so simple (Score:5, Insightful)
But those figures are for what we might call "hard" authoritarianism. There's "soft" authoritarianism that's another large block in the US: the sort that enforces "conventional wisdom" across our corporate media. It's not the stuff that FOX is the outlier on that's the key that locks the American mind, but the stuff that FOX/ABC/NBC/CBS/Time/Newsweek and often even the NY Times share as common stances and assumptions. That's what took us into the Iraq disaster in such stupid form, not that "Bush lied us into it." It's a kinder, gentler authoritarianism - that lets us believe we're a "free" people while jailing a larger proportion of our population than any other industrialized country, and ignoring the clear majority will in favor of universal health care, large-scale restructuring of energy use, and the end of corporate domination of our politics.
I'm sure Putin would agree that Russia should only have it so good.
Re:Hardly so simple (Score:4, Insightful)
Post-soviet but pre-Putin Russia has been for a while a completely deregulated country. Yet it was not a free country because the power was held by people with big capital or mafiosi (not exclusive or) and the ordinary citizen stood not a chance against them.
Since the late eighties in Italy we have a wave of privatization of formerly state owned infrastructure. Electricity, gas, telephony, university, railways, highways. Nothing was done to ensure competition. Ask my fellow countrymen: bills are up, service sucks more (luckily with some exceptions). Theoretically we are in a less authoritarian state, in practice authority has just shifted hands - away from the control of the citizen.
Good thing that can't happen here! (Score:5, Insightful)
August 7th, 2007
Freedom Next Time: Filmmaker & Journalist John Pilger on Propaganda, the Press, Censorship and Resisting the American Empire
John Pilger: One of my favorite stories about the Cold War concerns a group of Russian journalists who were touring the United States. On the final day of their visit, they were asked by the host for their impressions. "I have to tell you," said the spokesman, "that we were astonished to find after reading all the newspapers and watching TV day after day that all the opinions on all the vital issues are the same. To get that result in our country we send journalists to the gulag. We even tear out their fingernails. Here you don't have to do any of that. What is the secret?"
well (Score:5, Insightful)
I cannot help it... (Score:1, Insightful)
I couldn't help it... sorry.
But we must be tolerant (Score:4, Interesting)
Adopting new tactics (Score:2, Insightful)
Pro-Kremlin bloggers have used their skills to bury news about anti-Kremlin demonstrations: at Russian news portals, web links to news about pro-Kremlin rallies consistently rank higher than web links to news about anti-Kremlin demonstrations.
So, the Russians are adopting the tactics of the Bush administration. It's a sad day for Russia.
In other news... (Score:5, Insightful)
Wow (Score:3, Funny)
Surprised? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Surprised? (Score:4, Insightful)
That being said, I doubt Kremlin would control Interner media, at least if they have a little bit of brain that is. The reason being, it is quite importnat to give those liberals like myslef some breathing space and keep them off the streets and demonstrations.
The BBC is a state owned broadcaster (Score:2, Insightful)
Says it all really.
Obligatory (Score:3, Funny)
No, wait...
Russia already has a second world... (Score:5, Insightful)
So even if the kremlin managed to create their own country internet there would still be the russian mafias world wide internet.
Re:Russia already has a second world... (Score:5, Funny)
Good thing (Score:1, Insightful)
Mr. Putin, by all means, do so, as it would benefit most people here in the EU, and I'm sure most people in the US too. Please do separate your "internet" from the internet. The day you do, there will be 99% less phishing sites on the net.
Obligatory... (Score:1, Troll)
As Long As... (Score:1)
Pals (Score:2)
This will increase the brain drain (Score:4, Interesting)
In other news... (Score:2)
It doesn't hurt that Chinese telecom ZTE [wikipedia.org] is moving product into Russia as fast as possible, either.
sadly enough, defense hawks are stroking boners (Score:3, Insightful)
So much of the Cold War was snake-oil salesmen from the defense industry peddling their wares and enriching themselves and the generals while also increasing the likelihood that these weapons would be used in a shooting war.
What's the easiest way to cut down a mighty oak tree? When you can pinch the life out of it between two fingers. In other words, just after it's sprouted. But we seem to like the idea of planting the tree in the first place, letting it get plenty of sun and rain, wait until it's grown into an imposing presence, then we get to whip out the chainsaws and dynamite. If Shel Silverstein ever wrote about this, he'd have to call it "the Stupid Tree."
Re:sadly enough, defense hawks are stroking boners (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm just saying that a strong national defense is not just about guns and bombs, it's about diplomacy. Like the doctors say, the best medicine is prevention. Eat right and exercise, you've already won the battle. If the doc is cracking your chest open for a quadruple bypass, you could call that a shooting war and it's a sign you already lost. (complicated metaphor, I know.) But like Big Pharma and Medicine, the defense industry isn't about prevention or curing the disease, they're about making money off of treating the symptoms. The hospital is just as happy you had a heart attack, more moolah for them.
An intelligent move (Score:3, Insightful)
Spam (Score:2)
Can't happen here (Score:2)
What CNN tells about anti-Bush demonstrations... (Score:5, Interesting)
* Entire school system shuts for superbug scrub
* Train kills 5-year-old boy
* Genarlow Wilson freed | 'We want him home' Video
* Indian tribes expel members
* Mobile home dwellers ride out fire, wait for help
* Fatal fetus theft leads to death sentence
* Mob considered whacking Guiliani Video
* Feds: Look out for shoe-bombers
* Commander loses job amid nuclear sub probe
> Pro-Kremlin bloggers have used their skills to bury news about anti-Kremlin demonstrations:
ahhh, if some CNN wievers want to learn about recent anti-bush demonstrations, tune into BBC [bbc.co.uk].
The free world is at risk (Score:4, Insightful)
Russian Internet (Score:2)
The most disturbing development is that the Kremlin intends to develop a Russian Internet which is separate from the global Internet
It's worth noting that a good bit of the spam and plain criminal activity on the internet comes out of Russia--the Storm botnet is largely thought to be owned and operated by the Russian mafia. The RIAA would be happy to have mp3.com inaccessible from Western markets.
A segregation of the internet into World portions and Russian portions might have a short-term benefit as this stuff is firewalled away. Of course, the long term cost of the those ciitzens not having access to outside sources of information makes the cure worse than the disease.
Any surprise here ? (Score:3, Informative)
all countries act as per their cultures towards internet.
As opposed to US "freedom"... (Score:2)
Eight or nine years ago, a columnist in the Chicago Trib counted just columnists, and in papers with overt agendas (such as Mother Jones, or the Wall Street Journal), and foudn something like 57 right-wingers, half a dozen or so "moderates', and less than that of liberals (and Molly Ivins is now gone).
So why *shouldn't* the Kremlin do what the neofascist, pardon "neocon" media here have done?
mark "and show me ONE leftist with the same coverage as extreme
right-wing Kato Inst."
hmm (Score:4, Informative)
On the contrary, there are many political blogs among top bloggers at the cyrillic sector of Livejournal. It interesting that the most dominant and most vocal part of political blogs are not those that advocate Western style democracy and human rights, but on the contrary are criticizing Putin from extremely right-wing position.
I am looking at blogs.yandex.ru, 5 most cited blog entries, and among number 2 [livejournal.com] (rus) is defending arrested leader of "Red blitzkrieg" by the blogger well known for his sympathies for all things Soviet.
number 3 [livejournal.com] (rus) is also on the same subject by the relatively well known lady journalist of the similar political views.
The highest ranking blog among the official politicians [livejournal.com] (#22 in the all-list) belongs to a politician who was in political leadership of Latvia at the time of breakup from the former Soviet Union and spent a lot of time undermining efforts of Latvians to gain independence. Right wing.
Blogger number 19 [livejournal.com] is a Nazi sympathizer with Russian pseudo-pagan twist.
The lefties are presented much less among top bloggers.
I am saying this because among quite diverse opposition to Putin right-wingers opposing Western style democracy and human-rights issues are dominating. If they would come to power, the situation would be even worse than at Putin's time from the Western point of view.
In the West Putin's seems like an autocrat, anti-democrat, but to THAT opposition he is a Western poodle. The most viable alternative to Putin at the hypothetical condition of free election (free from government manipulation as well as foreign financial and all other kinds of support to the "liberal" opposition) would be not much famed recently chessmaster, but people like Rogozin (Russian equivalent of Le Pen or Heider).
This might be irrelevant to the topic of censorship, but it is quite relevant to Russians.
That's cute (Score:1, Insightful)
For Real-Life 1984 Go to Russia (Score:1)
If you are a fan of 1984, do watch this video by the NYTimes: The Putin Generation [nytimes.com]
This is SO much like the book. Distorting reality (Stalin being a great leader), rewriting history (Kasparov being US Citizen), hate week (creating Hate against US). Completely surreal. Would not want to live in a place like that. Makes me very sad, because Russia is such a beautiful place and most everyday people are so warm.
It is not media freedom that's important... (Score:1, Interesting)
I wouldn't loose any sleep over the actions of Putin in Russia. Although some of his methods may not be the most democratic, he is actually benefiting the prosperity of the Russian people, unlike the current US dictatorship. I am tired of hearing the complaints of Americans about other countries, when the should show some introspection and look inwards at the rotten core of their own corrosive right wing alliance between military contractors, oil companies, corporations, and religious fundementalists.
The United States is one of the few countries that I know of where the state can now legally 'vanish' people to military tribunials and execution without any judicial accountability. Is Russia this bad? I think not.
The grip is already tightened *outside* (Score:1)
Now Google will "Do No Evil" over there, too? (Score:2)
I guess "no evil" has a pretty flexible definition.
studying the chinese (Score:1)
They have techniques? I thought they just put firewalls up.
They can ask the US how they did it (Score:1)
Do you google? Do you think you know what's going on? They bought youtube so they can help you see even better. Get ready for 2008. The new programming gets deployed and will really change what you see/think.
Hmm.. Better go watch "They Live" a couple more times.
Believe it.
I don't get it (Off-topic) (Score:1)
Oil (Score:1)
Any economy will see a dramatic, but fleeting, boost to their economy after nationalizing companies (esp when commodity prices have more than tripled). But these gains will slowly decline as the state has no ability to reinvest in its industry -- it's too busy placating the people. Eventually, this is a recipe for disaster (for a case study, look at Mexico's oil story -- Venezuela is now marching down the same path). This is basic economics.
No one knows when, but problems are inevitable.
Kremlin nightmare! (Score:1)
Censorship - how it looks in practice (Score:1, Informative)
you know what? they don't have censorship. no, really.
at least they don't call it censorship, they call it "stop list". it's a message in a shared imap folder that all news editors read. it describes, in plain and simple language, what people, companies or other entities should not be covered. for some it lists subjects that should not be covered, or the other way around - literally, "X: only positive, don't mention Y" etc. people, companies, ministries... some are just competitors, but there were plenty of what essentially is political censorship - all oposition parties were in this stop list.
this was 2 years ago. i've since emigrated, partly because i don't expect situation to improve anytime soon. it's really sad.
Get a grip people (Score:1, Insightful)
Get a grip people. The article is from the Washington Post - they have a terrible reputation for the quality of their overseas coverage, connected to the long-term reduction in journalistic resources in overseas bureaus - like Moscow.
If you want to read news from Moscow, track Bloomberg or Reuters instead, both of which actually have substantial teams on the ground there. Or even better - read the excellent English language editions of independent Moscow newspapers like Kommersant http://www.kommersant.com/ [kommersant.com]. You don't need the Washington Post hawkish journos mangling the facts for you on Russia.
The Internet is almost completely unfettered in Russia and quite simply there is little indication that that is going to change in the future. The WashPost article is a beat-up and a joke.
It starts again (Score:2)
Re:Ignore Putin at your peril (Score:1)
Hitler actively pursued his goals as soon as he got the power. Wile Putin did not not do anything of interest in seven (!) years (1999 - 2007) of his rule. The stunts he is pulling now are aimed exclusively at people of Russia to impress them before December 2007 parliamentary and next year's presidential elections.
Re:They'll need a catchy name for it (Score:5, Funny)
Re:They'll need a catchy name for it (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Hurrah! (Score:1)
Re:They'll need a catchy name for it (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Are you sure? (Score:2)
Don't you see the contradiction in the above two sentences?
But usually it's all about trying to make our society unstable.
Yeah, that's what the state media would have you believe. It's their favorite mantra: "Those pesky just want to destabilize our country!"
Anyways, the article is indeed shitty.
Re:Are you sure? (Score:2)
Must have been "Those pesky bloggers, independent journalists, opposition etc. just..."
Forgot that Slashdot eats angle brackets.