Russian photo colorist Olga Shirnina has stunning new work ready to post for her more than 45,000 followers on social media but is unwilling to share three new images on Facebook and Instagram because, as she told RFE/RL, “I would be [suspended] again for sure.” Shirnina (above), who works under the name Klimbim, is a professional German-Russian …
Facebook suspends Russian colorist for “dangerous” WW2 images Read More
A draft law to create a “uniform federal database” in Russia – with the entire country’s personal data stored in one place – was adopted on May 21 by the lower house of parliament, the State Duma. Backers of the bill say it aims at ensuring reliability and consistency of data countrywide, but Anastasia Zlobina, …
Russia is testing facial-payment technology at supermarkets and could roll it out on a large scale by the middle of the year. VTB, Russia’s second-largest lender, is testing the technology in the Lenta supermarket chain, the head of the bank’s digital division told Izvestia. Promsvyazbank, another Russian lender, is holding talks to launch the technology in …
Russian retailers test facial-payment technology, possible rollout in 2020 Read More
Social-media giants Facebook and Twitter say they have removed a number of Russia-linked fake accounts that targeted U.S. users from their operations in Ghana and Nigeria. Facebook on March 12 said the accounts it removed were in the “early stages” of building an audience on behalf of individuals in Russia, posting on topics such as …
Facebook, Twitter remove Russia-linked fake accounts targeting Americans Read More
In 2018, US Special Counsel Robert Mueller revealed precise evidence in alleging how Russia’s military intelligence agency used bitcoin transactions to mask meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. Earlier this month, new glimpses into the shadowy world of cryptocurrencies emerged in a BBC Russian Service report that provided more indications of how exactly Russian spy agencies …
New hints in leaked recordings: Russian spy agencies intertwined with bitcoin exchanges Read More
A Russian hacker has admitted to his participation in one of the largest thefts of consumer data from U.S. financial institutions, brokerage firms, and other companies, the US Justice Department says. Manhattan US Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said Andrei Tyurin pleaded guilty to computer intrusion, wire fraud, bank fraud, and illegal online gambling offenses, the …
Russian hacker pleads guilty in massive consumer data theft in the USA Read More
Russia’s Communications Ministry has specified a list of threats that may necessitate isolation of the country’s Internet under a new law signed by President Vladimir Putin on May 1. In a proposal published on the parliament’s online portal, where registered users can critique a proposal on how the new legislation would be implemented in practice, …
Russia specifies which threats could necessitate Internet isolation Read More
Yesterday, as the lower house of Parliament adopted in third reading a controversial law to “ensure the safe and sustainable functioning” of the Internet in Russia, the head of Internet regulator and censor Roskomnadzor compared the bill to nuclear weapons. “This is a pretty formidable weapon, but I hope that, like the nuclear weapons several …
New Internet isolation bill is “a pretty formidable weapon,” says Russian Internet censor Read More
A self-described “transparency collective” has released a massive trove of hacked e-mails and leaked documents from what it describes as “Russian politicians, journalists, oligarchs, [and] religious, and social figures.” The materials were published online on January 25 by a group calling itself Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDOS), which says it is “aimed at enabling the …
Activist group publishes hacked e-mails and leaked documents from Russia Read More
In 2013 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) – one of the world’s most prestigious, and wealthiest, universities – entered a $300 million collaboration to found the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, or Skoltech, outside the Russian capital. MIT elected Vekselberg to its board of trustees in 2013, a move that appeared to cement a …
MIT quietly untangles itself from blacklisted Russian billionaire Read More
Twitter has suspended an account that it said had been impersonating Russian President Vladimir Putin. The account tweeted in the English language and had attracted 1 million followers before it was shut down. Twitter said the page, using the handle @putinRF_eng, was a fraud that represented itself as an official government site. The social-networking service said …
Twitter suspends account that ‘impersonated’ Putin, issuing tweets in English Read More
US prosecutors have indicted eight people, most of them Russian, for an alleged online fraud involving fake advertising that caused companies to lose tens of millions of dollars, the Justice Department announced late on November 27. In one alleged scheme that began in 2015, two of the accused operated a fake advertising network that used …
US charges six Russians, two Kazakhs in online ad fraud scheme Read More
