Free Republic

Moscow requires major companies to move information to servers in Russia by start of next year A Russian law could place the personal data of millions of Internet users, including Americans, at risk if international digital companies comply by the start of next year, analysts say. The law, enacted last year, requires digital companies to store the personal information of Russians in servers on Russian soil. While officials in Moscow have cited concerns that Russians’ information could be vulnerable to foreign intelligence services such as the National Security Agency (NSA) if it is located outside the country’s borders, critics of...

The Department of Justice is concentrating on “far-right” groups in a new study of social media usage aimed at combatting violent extremism. The Justice Department’s National Institute of Justice (NIJ) awarded Michigan State University $585,719 for the study, which was praised by Eric Holder, the former attorney general, earlier this year. “There is currently limited knowledge of the role of technology and computer mediated communications (CMCs), such as Facebook and Twitter, in the dissemination of messages that promote extremist agendas and radicalize individuals to violence,” according to the NIJ grant. “The proposed study will address this gap through a series...

Social media has given a voice to many all over the globe -- and the government of Russia may silence them by threatening to ban social media sites such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter. Roskomnadzor, a government agency that supervises communications, information technology and mass media (including social media) in the country, late last week asked the three tech companies to comply with Russian laws that many outsiders believe amount to censorship. "In our letters we regularly remind companies of the consequences of violating the legislation," Vadim Ampelonsky, a spokesperson for Roskomnadzor, told Reuters.

MOSCOW—The space race may be over but Russia hopes the smartphone race has just begun. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was among the first to receive a YotaPhone—the country’s first foray into the hyper-competitive smartphone market—and was told industry pace-setter Apple Inc. better watch its back. “Is Apple concerned about our smartphone?” he asked Sergey Chemezov, the head of Russia’s state-run defense corporation, Rostec, who gave him the phone on Wednesday hours after it hit the market. “Definitely,” Mr. Chemezov replied, according to a transcript of the exchange posted on the government’s website.....

Facebook Inc. is providing new details of how an attack aimed at a Georgian blogger Thursday disrupted its site and crashed others, including Twitter Inc. and LiveJournal Inc. The company rooted out the cause of the massive denial-of-service attack, said Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt, after noticing that the compromised computers that began flooding its site Thursday morning were directing traffic to the profile page of a single pro-Georgian blogger, who uses the account name "Cyxymu," the name of a town in the Republic of Georgia. The Cyxymu blogger couldn't immediately be reached. In a blog post Friday, Twitter co-founder Biz...

The bubble in social networking has burst, decisively. LiveJournal, the San Francisco-based arm of Sup, a Russian Internet startup, has cut 12 of 28 U.S. employees — and offered them no severance, we're told. The quirky site, part blog and part social network, is best known for its users' weird obsessions — like the troublesome clique of Harry Potter erotica writers, whose outré tastes ran afoul of LiveJournal's efforts to comply with U.S. child-pornography laws. (Oddly, the site also gained a following in Russia, which led to its acquisition by Sup.) All that adds up to an environment even more...

Livejournal is making some much needed updates to their policies and they put them up for public comment. Check it out.. or better yet, take a look at the commentary. It seems to delve more into "how much can I get away with before it is child porn" than anything intelligent.

At least 269 convicted New Jersey sex offenders had profiles on MySpace, according to information provided by MySpace in response to civil subpoenas issued by State Attorney General Anne Milgram. What are the chances that these predators created profiles exclusively for MySpace and no other websites? Probably not good, but Milgram wants to know for sure. She has sent a letter to a dozen Internet social networking sites to determine whether convicted New Jersey sex offenders have created profiles on their websites. The letter was sent to Xanga.com, Facebook, Community Connect, TagWorld, Bebo, MyYearbook.com, Tagged, Friendster, LiveJournal, Imeem, Hi5, and...

I'm all too aware that we were sent here under false pretenses: I'm aware of it every time I put on my uniform. Too aware of it. I'm sure by now the Iraqis are, too. I see all the casualties and a good number of the attacks. You do not. The thing I have to live with every day is this: We were sent here under false pretenses. The country is a mess. The Iraqis are paying for it. There are accidental casualties caused by US soldiers, and then there are deliberate casualties caused by the terrorists. The numbers are...