Legal matters

Jailed for a repost: The definition of extremism in Russia gets ever looser

June 11, 2016

Russia has seen a dramatic rise in criminal prosecutions on charges of “Internet extremism” over the last few months. Yet most of these cases concern not the creation of extremist content but retweeting, liking or reposting it. Russia Beyond The Headlines, a publication owned by government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta and a syndication partner of East-West …

Jailed for a repost: The definition of extremism in Russia gets ever looser Read More

Be ready to scream on Facebook, before signing up for Moscow’s car-sharing services

March 2, 2017

Like cities throughout the West with Zipcar service, Moscow is a city with great potential for the car-sharing business: its traffic is some of the worst in the world, and parking in the city’s center — within the “Garden Ring” — is prohibitively expensive. Under these circumstances, many people did not think much before signing contracts with Moscow’s major …

Be ready to scream on Facebook, before signing up for Moscow’s car-sharing services Read More

Criminal case launched into Russian pro-suicide social media group

May 22, 2016

A group on Vkontakte, Russia’s leading social network, is being accused of encouraging teen suicide. A criminal case against the owners of the group has been launched in St. Petersburg, a statement published by the Russian Investigative Committee said Friday. If found guilty of promoting suicide, those involved may face up to five years imprisonment. …

Criminal case launched into Russian pro-suicide social media group Read More

Russian man sentenced to prison for reposting photographs on social network

May 18, 2016

Earlier this month a court in the western Russian city of Tver has sentenced a man to over two years in prison for reposting photographs on social network VKontakte, The Moscow Times has reported. Mechanical engineer Andrei Bubeev reposted material originally published by Russian journalist Boris Stomakhin. The editor of the monthly newspaper Radikalnaya Politika (Radical Politics), …

Russian man sentenced to prison for reposting photographs on social network Read More

“Cybercrime as a service:” Russian malware creator sentenced by US court

May 4, 2016

Earlier this week Nikita Kuzmin, a 28-year old Russian citizen who created the Gozi malware, was released from US prison after being sentenced in a federal court to time served (37 months). Kuzmin was also ordered to pay forfeiture and restitution in the amount of nearly $7 million. Kuzmin pled guilty to the computer intrusion and …

“Cybercrime as a service:” Russian malware creator sentenced by US court Read More

VKontakte and Warner Music Group settle legal battle out of court

April 15, 2016

Last week VKontakte (VK.COM), the leading social network in Russia and a property of LSE-listed Mail.ru Group, announced the settlement of its legal battle with Warner Music Group (WMG) through a confidential out-of-court agreement. Under the agreement, VK users will be provided with legal access to WMG content though UMA, a Russian supplier of music content, and other authorized platforms. …

VKontakte and Warner Music Group settle legal battle out of court Read More

Moscow man sues Yandex for publishing so much bad news his hair fell out

March 28, 2016

Bad news makes some people want to rip out their hair. But one Russian man claims reading it caused his to simply fall out. A Moscow resident, who says he’s suffering permanent stress and is losing his locks after reading too many negative news stories is suing Russia’s Yandex News for 1 million rubles (around $15,000). Roman Maslennikov argues …

Moscow man sues Yandex for publishing so much bad news his hair fell out Read More

Google loses anti-monopoly appeal in Russia over ‘obligatory’ pre-installation of Android apps

March 15, 2016

Google has been dealt a blow in its ongoing battle with European regulators — the Internet giant has lost its anti-monopoly appeal in Russia. The Moscow Arbitration court has upheld a previous ruling from the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) that found Google had abused its dominant market position and broken anti-competition legislation. The crux of the complaint …

Google loses anti-monopoly appeal in Russia over ‘obligatory’ pre-installation of Android apps Read More

Like, share, convict: Russian authorities target social media users

March 13, 2016

It was a throwaway comment, forgotten almost the minute it was written. Then again, Viktor Krasnov could hardly have predicted the trouble those three words —”God doesn’t exist” — would cause. He couldn’t have imagined that two VKontakte users would file a formal complaint to the authorities, claiming the comment “insulted” them; that police would show up at his apartment in the southern Russia …

Like, share, convict: Russian authorities target social media users Read More

Russian blogger appeals to Strasbourg court over social media case

March 13, 2016

A Russian blogger has filed a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, challenging the sentence he was handed for the republication of extremist texts online, the Kommersant newspaper reported Wednesday. Konstantin Zharinov, a blogger and activist from the Urals region of Chelyabinsk, was convicted in 2015 for sharing a post on …

Russian blogger appeals to Strasbourg court over social media case Read More

Russian social network Vkontakte wins legal battle against Universal Music and Warner Music

April 15, 2016

VKontakte (VK), the leading social network in Russia and a property of LSE-listed Mail.ru Group, has won a legal battle against Universal Music and Warner Music. In two verdicts handed down on March 2 and 3, the Saint Petersburg & Leningradsky Region Appeal Court overturned an earlier ruling that VK must implement effective technology to stop infringements …

Russian social network Vkontakte wins legal battle against Universal Music and Warner Music Read More

Russian torrents website strips copyright holders of their rights

February 7, 2016

Rutracker.org, the world’s largest Russian-language torrents website, has deprived copyright holders of the ability to delete illegal downloads, the IT-website Roem.Ru reported Tuesday. “It has been announced officially (…) that all CNA-accounts [which granted copyright holders the authority to delete links to illegal downloads] have been switched to regular user mode,” Oleg Yashin from the intellectual …

Russian torrents website strips copyright holders of their rights Read More

Scroll to Top

This site is under maintenance. Sorry for the inconvenience.

This site is under maintenance. Sorry for the inconvenience.