USM, an investment holding controlled by Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, invested “several dozen million dollars” in Uber in the summer of last year. The investment was revealed yesterday by Russian business dailies RBC and Vedomosti, which cited unnamed sources in the holding. USM and Uber, however, declined to comment on these reports. Thus Usmanov has been …
Russian oligarchs Magomedov and Usmanov have stakes in Uber Read More
The Russian-language Google Books service is using a slogan that rival research engine Yandex copyrighted more than a decade ago. “Find everything!” (literally, “Everything will be found,” or “Найдется все!”) appears below Google’s book search, after the phrase, “The largest library in the world.” The news site Roem.ru first reported the slogan’s appearance on Google’s website on January 18. As …
Google swipes Yandex’s 15-year-old slogan, accidentally it says Read More
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s newly appointed Internet adviser has links to an illegal torrent website, the business daily Vedomosti reported Monday. German Klimenko is the former owner of Torrnado.ru — a torrent website offering illegal downloads of movies and series, Vedomosti said, citing two of the well-known Internet entrepreneur’s “acquaintances.” The business was handed over …
Putin’s new Internet adviser reportedly former owner of illegal torrent website Read More
Internet, January 20, 2016 — Yandex (NASDAQ: YNDX), one of the largest European internet companies and the leading search provider in Russia, has begun testing smart banner ads on its pay-per-click advertising platform, Yandex.Direct. Smart banners are display advertisements with dynamic content that is personalized for individual users based on their interests – coffee machine …
Yandex.Direct introduces smart banner ads for personalized targeting Read More
Takeit, a taxi service launched in July last year, is to secure “around $2 million” from several individual investors, including former top executives of Rostaxi and Takeit CEO Alexander Onikienko. The deal was reported last week by Rusbase, an online publication covering the Russian venture market. The young company will measure itself against such market …
Russian taxi service Takeit to receive $2 million investment Read More
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
Yakutia is the coldest populated region in the world. Located in the northeastern part of Siberia, this semi-autonomous republic of the Russian Federation is home to the village of Oymyakon, a place known as the Pole of Cold that registers temperatures of -70 degrees Celsius. Permafrost covers a large part of Yakutia’s territory, and this is precisely …
Finland’s Justice Ministry has decided to extradite to the United States Maxim Senakh, a Russian citizen accused of illegal hacking. According to Senakh’s lawyer, Igor Khitrukhin, Finnish authorities decided on January 5 to send Senakh to the US, though he wasn’t informed until January 8. Khitrukhin says the move is politically motivated and promises to appeal …
Finland decides to extradite Russian hacker to the US Read More
US video streaming service Netflix will start operations in Russia imminently, along with other countries, Russian newspaper Izvestia reported yesterday, citing industry and media sources. At first, Netflix will work with traditional television providers and Smart TV — which was confirmed by a Russian representative of LG. According to TNS Global, the Russian Smart TV audience reaches 6.9 million users …
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
Put under pressure by the Russian authorities to put an end to the “total anonymity” of user exchanges, Telegram intends to keep its users’ personal data and communication fully confidential. The international instant messenger will not allow security agencies to access such content, stated Telegram’s founder Pavel Durov on his Vkontakte account. “We have not issued and will …
Presidential advisor threatens to block Telegram for “de facto helping” terrorists Read More
Vladimir Putin has signed into law new legislation that fines Internet search engines 1 million rubles (almost $14,000) for refusing to delete hyperlinks to an individual’s personal information, if legally requested under Russia’s “right to be forgotten.” According to the new law, Internet search engines will be required to remove links to unverified information and …
