Privacy – Johnson's Russia List

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russian internet giant Yandex takes rare stand against state snooping” – Christian Science Monitor/ Fred Weir

June 20, 2019 JRL Russia List Cybersecurity, JRL NewsBlog, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Spies, Spy Allegations

File Image of Laptop Computer, Tables and Mobile Device, adapted from image at energy.gov

“The primacy of Russia’s security state is beginning to crimp the global growth of the country’s information technology sector. That could foretell hard choices for the government over what it will prioritize.” “Russia has always been some version of a national security state, in which individuals, companies, and other group interests are expected to unquestioningly submit to the needs and […]

U.S., EU Warn Ukraine Ruling Endangers Press Freedom, Corruption Fight

September 7, 2018 JRL Russia List Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Europe, EU, Human Rights, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

(Article ©2018 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – September 5, 2018 – also appeared at rferl.org/a/u-s-eu-warn-ukraine-sedletska-ruling-endangers-press-freedom-corruption-fight/29473976.html) The United States, the European Union, and international media watchdogs have expressed concern over a Ukrainian court ruling that gives the authorities access to the cellphone data of an RFE/RL investigative reporter spanning a period of 17 months. The court decision could […]

NEWSLINK: “The Russian government blocks Navalny’s website, as Instagram caves to the censor’s demands and YouTube wavers” – Meduza

February 15, 2018 JRL Russia List Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

Montage of Instagram, Twitter and Facebook Logos, adapted from image at nps.gov

“When the dust finally settled, the morning after Valentine’s Day, it was Instagram – not YouTube – that had complied with orders from Russia’s federal censor to delete content flagged as a privacy violation by a court in Ust-Labinsky. On February 9, Instagram was given three weekdays to delete 14 posts uploaded by a self-described escort who calls herself ‘Nastya […]

NEWSWATCH: “Russia hackers had targets worldwide, beyond U.S. election” – Washington Post/AP

November 2, 2017 JRL Russia List Cybersecurity, JRL NewsBlog, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Science, Technology, Engineering, Spies, Spy Allegations, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations

File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

“… [H]ackers who disrupted the U.S. presidential election …[also] target[ed] the emails of Ukrainian officers, Russian opposition figures, U.S. defense contractors and thousands of others of interest to the Kremlin, according to a previously unpublished digital hit list …. the most detailed forensic evidence yet of the close alignment between the hackers and the Russian government … an operation that stretched back years […]

NEWSLINK: “Russia’s surveillance state is giving us a false sense of security The Russian state’s mass expansion of surveillance online and offline is not making citizens any safer.” – OpenDemocracyNet – Damir Gainutdinov

August 28, 2017 JRL Russia List Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Newslinks, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Spies, Spy Allegations

File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

“… Human rights defenders moving around the country regularly encounter increased attention from law enforcement agencies — they are detained, searched and questioned about why they’re travelling ….”

NEWSWATCH: “You’ve Lost Control Again; Black Lists and Total Monitoring: Agora’s New Report on the Surveillance of Russians; A person’s life is utterly transparent to the secret services” – The Russian Reader/ Republic.ru/ Damir Gainutdinov

August 28, 2017 JRL Russia List Human Rights, JRL NewsBlog, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Spies, Spy Allegations

Stylized Artist's Depiction of Shadowy Figures in Dark Coats and Dark Hats, One Carrying a Briefcase

“The Agora International Human Rights Group has released a report entitled ‘Russia under Surveillance 2017: How the Authorities Are Setting Up a Total System for Monitoring Citizens.’ …. The Russian state has been harvesting an unprecedented amount of information about its citizens …. It maintains a system of black lists … and has been engaged in a relentless assault on internet […]

Big Data Convert Channels Big Brother to Take Russia’s Pulse

August 22, 2017 JRL Russia List Cybersecurity, Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Human Rights, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Spies, Spy Allegations

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Anna Andrianova – August 22, 2017) Raw numbers no longer cut it for Russia’s central bank in its effort to keep up with the economy. Instead, the man running its research and forecasting wants to know how Russians really feel by mining “big data,” gathered from social media and online stores. The Bank of Russia has […]

Putin Is Taking Lessons From Trump on How to Win at the Polls

May 15, 2017 JRL Russia List Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Stepan Kravchenko, Evgenia Pismennaya, Ilya Arkhipov – May 10, 2017) [Text with charts bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-05-10/now-it-s-trump-s-turn-to-show-putin-how-to-win-bigly-at-polls] The Kremlin thinks it knows the secret to Donald Trump’s election victory — and it’s not the kind of hacking you might think. The man Putin hired to deliver the crushing re-election win he’s seeking next March, Sergei Kiriyenko, wants to emulate […]

What Russia’s New Draconian Data Laws Mean for Users

July 14, 2016 JRL Russia List Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Spies, Spy Allegations

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Matthew Bodner – July 14, 2016) After three years of relative silence, NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden spoke up: “[President Vladimir] Putin has signed a repressive new law that violates not only human rights, but common sense. Dark day for Russia.” For the man who fled to Russia after blowing the lid off the NSA’s unprecedented […]

Russians do not want authorities to have access to non-public personal data

February 1, 2016 JRL Russia List Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Human Rights, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Spies, Spy Allegations

(Interfax – January 31, 2016) Most respondents surveyed by the Public Opinion Foundation (58%) believe the state should not have access to non-public personal data and people’s correspondence on social networking sites and via email, while 24% believe it violates human rights and 22% believe it constitutes privacy invasion and is not ethical. The poll, which surveys 1,000 respondents who […]

Russia’s New Personal Data Law Will Be Hard to Implement, Experts Say

September 3, 2015 JRL Russia List Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Daria Litvinova – September 3, 2015) In a streak of measures designed to impose stricter control over the Internet in Russia, the law that requires all Internet services store the personal data of Russian users on Russian territory – in effect from Tuesday – will be the most difficult to implement due to its vagueness […]

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Leave a comment Cybersecurity, Government, Internet, Law, Police, Privacy, Russia, Russian News, Slider

RBTH: Controversial new law on ‘right to be forgotten’ stirs debate in Russia

July 21, 2015 JRL Russia List Media, Internet, Social Media, Television

Russia has adopted a law on the so-called “right to be forgotten,” which will require internet search engines to remove links to personal information at the request of citizens. Although State Duma deputies claim the legislation mirrors that of the European Union, industry players strongly oppose the law, predicting a series of lawsuits, while lawyers say that such a right […]

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Leave a comment Government, Internet, Law, Privacy, Russia, Russian News, Slider

Facebook, Google and Twitter hit by new Russian internet law

October 1, 2014 JRL Russia List Media, Internet, Social Media, Television

File Photo of Little Girl at Computer Next to Globe

(Business New Europe – bne.ru – September 30, 2014) Russia’s official communications regulator Roskomnadzor says it will enforce a recently passed law that could force foreign-owned internet companies to store the data of Russian users on Russia data centres, as part of a Kremlin drive towards what it calls ‘information sovereignty’. Major US-based internet companies such as Facebook, Google, and […]

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Leave a comment Censorship, Engineering, Government, Internet, Media, Politics, Privacy, Russia, Russian News, Science, Social Media, Technology

No Passports Required to Use Public Wi-Fi, Moscow City Hall Says

August 12, 2014 JRL Russia List Media, Internet, Social Media, Television

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – August 9, 2014) Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree Friday instructing public Wi-Fi network operators to require user identification – but only in certain spots. The decree was almost immediately greeted with outrage from many residents of Moscow, where Wi-Fi is widely available in parks, cafes, schools and on some forms of public transportation. […]

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Leave a comment Cybersecurity, Government, Internet, Medvedev, Privacy, Russia, Russian News

FSB wants to record Internet communications

October 24, 2013 JRL Russia List Human Rights, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Science, Technology, Engineering, Spies, Spy Allegations

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Yaroslava Kiryukhina, RBTH – October 23, 2013) Just several months after granting temporary asylum to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, Russia prepares to implement electronic surveillance that looks similar to the infamous PRISM. But is it actually the same? Russia’s Communications Ministry has drafted an order that would require Internet providers to install monitoring […]

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Leave a comment FSB, Government, Human Rights, Internet, Police, Privacy, Russia, Russian News, Security Services, Spies, Telecommunications

Russian Telecoms Giant Slams New Surveillance Powers – Paper

October 22, 2013 JRL Russia List Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Human Rights, Media, Internet, Social Media, Television, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Science, Technology, Engineering, Spies, Spy Allegations

(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, October 21, 2013) A Russian telecommunications giant has slammed government plans to give security services complete access to all Internet traffic by the middle of 2014, calling them unconstitutional, Kommersant newspaper reported Monday. The daily cited a letter submitted by mobile operator Vimpelcom to the Press and Communications Ministry as saying the proposed legislation violated fundamental […]