Stories about Russian from March, 2011
Russia: The Most Fierce DDOS Attack On LiveJournal Analyzed
Ilya Dronov, LiveJournal's head of development, told [ru] some details about yesterday's DDOS-attack on LiveJournal, popular blogging platform in Russia. That was the most fierce attack in the history of the platform. Anton Nosik, suggested [ru] that (despite that most of the attacking machines were outside of Russia) the main client...
Russia: Voting For The BOBs Blog Award Has Started
On march 22, 2011 voting for "The Best Of Blogs" Awards, event annually organized by German media corporation Deutsche Welle, started. The award is getting more popular every year. This happens mostly because the role of blogs and online communities grows, as does their influence on social life.
Russia: Mapping Bribery Online
Anton Nosik shares [ru] a link to RosKomVzyatka (‘Russian Committee for Bribes’), Ushahidi-based platform that allows users to map bribes (both given and taken) anonymously. It's another transparency project after rospil.info, gdecasino.ru, otmenta.ru, and others that crowdsource crime/injustice reporting.
Russia: Real Life Super Hero From Chelyabinsk
Metkere.com shares [ru] a video-address of a real life super hero calling himself “The Avenger.” (see his Vkontakte fan group [ru]) The avenger, a man in a black costume with a green letter “M” (apparently M for Mstitel’, the ‘avenger’ in Russian) on it and a black mask, says he...
Russia: Blogger Translates Articles on Alexey Navalny
LJ user vadda translates from English into Russian two recent texts about Alexey Navalny, a prominent Russian anti-corruption activist: one text, by Andrew E. Kramer, appeared in the New York Times on March 27 (the Russian translation is here; 266 comments); the other, by Julia Ioffe, was published in the...
Russia: 2010 Cyber-Crime Market Research
Group IB, Russian cyber-security research company, publishes [ru] Russian Cyber-Crime Market in 2010 report. According to the research, Russian hackers commit nearly 35 percent of all cyber-crimes. DDOS-attacks (from $90 to $300 per day of attack) are falling in price which makes this method of cyber-warfare more accessible to online...
Ukraine: Lukyanivka Pre-Trial Detention Facility
Journalist Kristina Berdinskikh writes (RUS) at her Korrespondent.net blog about Kyiv's pre-trial detention facility SIZO #13/Lukyanivka: the conditions (general capacity is 2,800 detainees, the actual number is around 4,000; cells for 40 people house 60-80, inmates take turns sleeping; “60 people sometimes smoke all at once, if a non-smoker ends...
Russia: Unexpected Results of Radiation Mapping
The crowdsourcing project of mapping radiation levels in Russia measured by private dosimeters not only became an interesting case of digital activism, but also showed some effects its creators didn’t even think of.
Russia: Friendship Relations Between LiveJournal Blogs Analyzed
Habrahabr-user RomanL published [ru] a detailed analysis of Russian LiveJournal blogs. According to the analysis, Russian-speaking LiveJournal blogosphere (active audience of around 170,000 users) can be divided into 4 distinctive clusters (apolitical, political, creative, and general). Only 55 bloggers have the audience of more than 10,000 friends, while the vast...
Russia: First Candidates for the ‘Net Parliament’
Novaya Gazeta website publishes [ru] the first results of the nominations for the ‘Net Parliament,’ the virtual project described by its creators as an ‘organ of the representative power of Russian Internet.’ Among the first hundred of the nominated candidates are mostly Moscow-based bloggers.
Russia: Photos of Saint Patrick's Day Parade in Moscow
Photoblogger Dervishv publishes [ru] extravagant photos of Saint Patrick's Day celebration: all kinds of green, Moscow hipsters, Irish flags… and police (the parade was officially banned). At least, some parts of the police forces were in green uniform.
Russia: Reaching Out to the President
Many projects have been recently created in Russia on the basis of crowdsourcing (or user-generated content (UGC)), when information on any particular topic is collected by internet users. Almost each one of these projects signalizes about a problem. Marina Litvinovich analyzed them and proposed a thesis that the success of these projects depends on their ability to establish their contact with the officials.
Russia: New Website Fights Corruption in Moscow University
New website MGIMOleaks.com is designed to fight corruption at prestigious Moscow State University of International Relations. People are urged to inform the site administration about any cases of bribery, scams, abuse of powers, etc. The information will then be published on the site and given anonymously to the police.
Russia: Tweets From State Duma “Internet Law” Hearing
Inna Smbatyan, analyst at “Social Networks” Agency, tweets [ru] from the Russian State Duma “Internet Law” hearing. The draft of the law that would regulate online activity in Russia can be found here [ru].
Russia: An Alternative Rating of Russian Bloggers
LJ-user Ognenna have compiled an alternative rating of Russian LiveJournal bloggers based on the citation of their names in wordstat.yandex.ru. According to the rating, the most cited bloggers are: Artemiy Lebedev (graphic designer), Boris Nemtsov (opposition politician), Anastasia Volochkova (rowdy ballet dancer).
Japan: Tokyo's Crowded Metro
@MIG22K (RUS) is tweeting from Tokyo's extremely crowded metro – here, here and here (a few pictures and short video).
Ukraine: Comparing Fukushima to Chernobyl?
The media are increasingly present the situation at Fukushima as the world’s worst nuclear accident since the Soviet-era Chernobyl disaster. This news has hit home in Ukraine, where Chernobyl is located and where memories of the terrible events of 25 years ago are still very much alive.
Belarus: Presidential candidate disappears
Bloggers in Belarus discuss the disappearance of former presidential candidate Ales Mikhalevich. LJ user illdoctor fears [RUS] that he is the latest victim of the Lukashenko regime, and LJ user senseisekai thinks [RUS] he is either on the run from the KGB or has fled abroad.
Russia: Police Requests IP Data of a Designer For Drawing Political Posters
Mr Edisonic writes [ru] about a graphic designer known as “Isabelle.” After Isabelle drew a series of political posters (most of the mock the ruling party “United Russia”) [ru] and posted them at NevinkaOnline.ru, police have requested [ru] her IP-address. The discussion of the case here [ru].
Russia: Fukushima Plant Disaster Triggers Nuclear Power Debate
The natural disaster unfolding in Japan after the 8.9 magnitude earthquake on Friday 11 March, 2011, is currently the one of the most widely discussed topics in the Russian blogosphere. One of the most worrying impacts of the quake and related tsunami has been at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Here, Russian bloggers discuss the question of nuclear energy.
Japan: Earthquake, “how to protect yourself” in 30 languages
TUFS students launched a website with advices on risk management translated in more than 30 languages. The website provides “a basic guide in several languages to what to do when you have to evacuate because of the earthquake.”
