The head of the Chechen government, Ramzan Kadyrov, accuses Instagram of censoring his free speech. He says the social network deleted a post he directed at Russia’s political opposition. “Here is America’s vaunted freedom of speech! You can write what you want, but don’t touch America’s henchmen or friends of the State Department and Congress. …
Chechen leader complains about censorship by Instagram Read More
East-West Digital News reviews the most important developments on the Russian high-tech scene in 2015. Today’s article analyzes the growing restrictions on online freedom in a country where the Internet was once considered to be relatively free. 2015 was marked by expanding restrictions and controversies around several Internet-related issues. In January, the authorities banned several bitcoin websites. However, following an appeal filed …
2015 in review: The Russian Internet was less free than ever Read More
Columbus Nova Technology Partners, a California-based venture fund controlled by Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, is to acquire a minority stake in Gawker Media. The amount and the terms of the transaction have not been disclosed. As its founder Nick Denton admitted in an internal memo, Gawker Media needed to strengthen its financial reserves as it is preparing for a …
A space beyond governmental control, the Internet has long been a thorn in the Kremlin’s side. The search for a solution began in 2012. Various tricks have been tried, from the introduction of internet filters and the updating of a national system of online surveillance known as SORM to the direct intimidation of Internet giants both domestic and international. By 2014 the Kremlin had came up with something akin to a strategy. Accustomed …
RuNet 2016: Pressure shifts from companies to citizens Read More
A Russian court on Wednesday sentenced a blogger to five years in jail for what it said was his extremist activity on the Internet after he urged people to attend a protest against high transport fares and criticised Russian intervention in Ukraine. Vadim Tyumenstev, 35, from the Siberian region of Tomsk, was also banned from using the Internet for three years in a case which Russian human rights activists said violated his …
Russian blogger sentenced to five years in prison for “extremist” posts Read More
TRData, a London-headquartered startup with a development team based in Ukraine and the majority of customers in Russia, makes for an interesting European tech story. The company, which has recently gone through 500 Startups’ London ‘Distro Dojo’ growth hacking program, is building something akin to a “Bloomberg for emerging markets”. It offers traders access to real-time …
TRData wants to be ‘Bloomberg for emerging markets’ Read More
An appeals court has approved a settlement agreement between photoblogger Ilya Varlamov and the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, which was convicted of publishing 18 of Varlamov’s photographs without his permission. In accordance with the settlement, the newspaper must advertise Varlamov’s work on its website and the websites of its affiliates. Komsomolskaya Pravda has agreed to send 2 million visitors …
Yandex announced yesterday the launch of ‘Meteum,’ a new machine learning-based technology for “hyper-local and super-accurate weather forecasting.” “This new technology collects a massive volume of data about past forecasts made by external providers like WRF or Foreca, and compares them with the historical weather conditions to figure out the difference between what was forecasted and what happened …
Yandex launches “hyper-local weather forecasting” and “automated information agency” Read More
In July 2015, a local court in Chyorny Yar issued a countrywide ban on a Wikipedia article about charas hashish, leading to a small crisis in August, where the world’s largest encyclopedia nearly became inaccessible to more than 140 million Russians. In a special report for Novaya Gazeta, photographer Evgeny Feldman went to Chyorny Yar to capture life in …
Chyorny Yar, the village that nearly banned Wikipedia for 140 million Russians Read More
Freedom House, a US-based NGO monitoring the progress or restriction of human freedoms as it perceives them around the globe, has published its most recent Freedom on the Net 2015 report, the sixth in its series. This edition assesses Internet and digital media in 65 countries in 2014. In its findings, the NGO assigns Russia the “not free” …
Internet no longer free in Russia, says US watchdog Read More
Direct Group, a Moscow-based investment company owned by French businessman Pascal Clément, has sold its two women’s sites, Passion.ru and Woman Journal (WMJ.ru), to Russian tech media group Rambler & Co. Announced earlier this month at an industry conference in Bruges, the news was confirmed by a Rambler representative in an exchange with business daily Kommersant. The details …
Direct Group sells women’s sites Passion and WMJ to Rambler & Co Read More
Edward Snowden, the U.S. intelligence leaker granted asylum in Russia in August 2013, has criticized his country of residence for its crackdown on Internet freedom and gay rights in a speech after receiving a Norwegian prize, British daily The Guardian reported Saturday. Snowden, 32, was awarded the Norwegian Academy of Literature and Freedom of Expression’s Bjornson prize for his work on the right to privacy, the report said. The former NSA contractor, who is …
Snowden criticizes Russia for crackdown on Internet freedom Read More
