Global Voices Online

Ukrainiana writes about Ukraine's parliamentary speaker's rough encounter with the “Ukrainian driving culture” - impersonated by “the deputy chief of Kobra, a special highway patrol force authorized to inspect officials’ cars.”

Recent Links also in Eastern & Central Europe

Court enforcement officers in Russia actively use social networks to gather information on debtors and their properties, Russian news agency Prime-TASS reports [RUS].

The Russian Railroads company announced [RUS] today that free wi-fi hotspots would be installed at every passenger terminal in Moscow by December 7, 2009. The company expects around 1,500 wi-fi users per day but many Russian bloggers think the figure will be much larger.

Alexander Batalov, a former administrator of the official Web site for the town of Irbit, faces libel charges for anonymous comments left by someone else on the site. Batalov is accused of allowing unapropriate comments online and, if found guilty, will be required to pay $8,000 penalty. The full story is here [RUS] and Batalov's interpretation of the case is here [RUS].