
Russia enacts 'draconian' law for bloggers and online media - richardwigley
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-28583669
======
spindritf
_It means bloggers with more than 3,000 daily readers must register with the
mass media regulator, Roskomnadzor, and conform to the regulations that govern
the country 's larger media outlets._

We have a simillar law in Poland, good old communist legacy. Formally, you
need to register every media outlet with the court. Whether this applies to
blogs is unclear, and it's generally not enforced.

But it could be. Which is a situation bureaucrats love.

I'm guessing that this is how it will work in Russia. No one will get in
trouble for praising Putin on their unregistered website.

~~~
viraptor
Yes, the old system loved registration of everything. In theory you're still
supposed to also notify of the new place you live at if you spend there over 3
days. In practice nobody cares.

~~~
VMG
In practice, all of these unenforced rules are suddenly enforced if you can't
get the undesirable person on anything else.

> “One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for
> men to live without breaking laws.” -- Ayn You-Know-Who

~~~
zavulon
It's pretty much how business law already works over there. The tax system is
set up in such way that it's impossible for a business to pay all taxes and
still turn in a profit.

So all businesses cheat on their taxes. Majority of business deals are made
with a huge cash component - if a contract is for 100K, it's written for 30K
and 70K is paid in cash under the table. Until they run afoul of the
government, it's considered to be ok and nobody gets in trouble.

However, the minute government wants to acquire or close that business, they
accuse the business of tax fraud, hit them with huge fines, close them down,
throw the founders in jail, etc.

~~~
viraptor
> So all businesses cheat on their taxes.

Wow. This is a perfect place for "[citation needed]". Same for the rest of the
message really.

------
neoeldex
Russia has always tried to control media, Putin (and comrades) launch
conspiracies, and twist stories to fit their bill. Some examples are the
'failure' of the olympic games opening (they aired the rehearsal). And the
airplane MH17 appearantly was shot down by the Ukrainian government, in a
grand masterplan to make holland and asia turn agains Russia.

I don't think this will ever change until the citizens rize and overthrow the
government.

~~~
grepz
There where too many bloody revolutions in russian history. And looking at
Egypt, Syria, Ukraine, Lybia and many other countries after the revolution
epidemia theres not much russians who thinks that overthrowing the government
is a good idea. Even amongst those russians who think that mr Putin is a bad
choice.

~~~
adamnemecek
Apparently, Russian shills discovered HN.

~~~
ivan_gammel
Looks like people beyond the borders are misinformed about Russian internal
politics. Putin is, no doubt, the evil, but the statement about revolutions is
true. There's no point in converting ex-nuclear superpower to failed state
just because current government sucks. Successful democratic revolution may
happen when there are trusted new leaders who can take the power, transform
the state and step back on next elections. State of the opposition in Russia
is so pathetic, that, despite among these people there are some really smart
guys, it won't be able to run the government. We have to wait until we'll see
grassroot support for the young generation of politicians with crystal-clean
record (Maria Gaidar, Luba Sobol etc) and good organization capable of
fighting even on rigged elections. If revolution will overthrow Putin
tomorrow, we'll see new NSDAP as a replacement. There's no point in
replicating the Arab spring mess now.

~~~
BugBrother
So if a junta is brutal enough and keep the quality of the opposition down
(Siberia, assassinations, etc) then you think it is wrong to try to overthrow
the dictator?!

From 1984 "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a
human face — forever."

How can things change, then? An invasion is not better than a revolution.
Economic pressures work for most countries today (not e.g. North Korea) but
not for oil countries -- note that most problem states do live on resource
exports (see resource curse).

~~~
ivan_gammel
I don't think so. I think that people of any country have to look at all
existing opportunities. For North Korea, some African or Asian countries
there's no point in waiting for good and revolution is the only way for
changes. As for Russia (and, possibly, for China), we have the options. The
political game is quite dangerous here and political institutions are
imperfect but they still may evolve in time to something better. Putin,
compared to the dictators in the rest of the world, is very soft and weak: his
power is based on popular support and he is well-aware that he has to
distribute wealth to the people, boosting economy and imitating western-style
democracy. Either he will keep the wealth growing (and thus the country open -
it's essential for Russian economy, so millenials will travel and get educated
about the benefits of western life style), or the popular discontent will blow
him out of Kremlin. We still hope that the first option will be the case. We
need more educated people to build reliable and inclusive political system.

~~~
BugBrother
Thanks for a reasoned and informed opinion on this subject.

How do you think about this:

You should not help dictators based on natural resources economically.
Countries built on industry will have to democratize when they reach a certain
economic level. Countries who get their money from natural resources will just
generate more money in Swiss banks if the prices increase.

Edit: pcj50, I doubt even the Saudi A king describes his country as
democratic. The West is enough dependent on them that they get a free card.
Realpolitik in a democracy means being nice when it isn't too expensive (or
the voters back home cares). Dictators are even worse. In sum, there are only
varying levels of grey, no black/white. But, well, you knew all this.

~~~
ivan_gammel
Russian economy is not based on natural resources, actually. Russia was
industrialized in 3 waves (development of mountain manufacturing civilization
in Urals in XVII-XVIII, in 1870-1913 and finally by Stalin) long time ago and
now has visible post-industrial sector (8.5% of GNP is generated by Internet
and IT companies). The patterns that apply to dictatorships of banana
republics here don't work: it will not be able to replace import of iPhones,
but it is capable of replacing the western technologies that are blocked by
sanctions. It can sustain any sanctions by manufacturing luxury goods for
elites and providing food and fun for ordinary people. Upper middle class in
Moscow will suffer, of course, from the lack of iPhones, but they are hated by
the rest of the country, anyway, so who cares.

The only way to push democracy to such a big and advanced country is to
increase cultural exchange, encouraging tourism and supporting Russian
education system.

------
higherpurpose
Didn't Dianne Feinstein try something similar against bloggers, only that
instead of forcing them to register so they aren't anonymous, she wanted to
completely exclude them from any sort of 1st amendment protection against the
government?

[https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130807/13153224102/sen-f...](https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130807/13153224102/sen-
feinstein-during-shield-law-debate-real-journalists-draw-salaries.shtml)

~~~
tomjen3
As cynical as I am about SCOTUS even they would have struck down that law.

------
ianstallings
There is a worldwide crisis of _truth_ and journalism as a whole has been
usurped by those that wish to control the message. You see it in every format
and in every country. You see countries acting desperately in the face of a
changing world. People are getting more information from around the globe
thanks to the Internet. And it scares the living crap out of them. Because the
truth scares them.

Be prepared for more astro-turfing, more main stream media bias, more placed
articles, more leaked information, and more chaos in the message.

------
Grue3
Cue Putin apologists appearing out of the blue with their false equivalencies.
Every time, like clockwork.

~~~
go13
It is interesting, that as an argument of moral right to restrict basic civil
rights or to start war in Ukraine or other shit, Putin's dolls use a thesis
that the US or other countries did something similar like SOPA, war in Iraq,
Guantanamo or shutting down of different protests.

Usually these guys (Putin's apologist not major players) don't know much
details about the subject (as well as most other people/all of us) but they
use these arguments to justify crimes of Putin's regime.

It is like to justify killing of innocent people in the USSR because Nazi
Germany did this too.

Disclaimer: i don't compare the US or other countries with Nazi Germany but
used this example as a hyperbole to show the issue.

~~~
jacquesm
At the same time the outrage from the west about Ukrainian separatists
shooting down a civilian plane versus a totally different attitude when the US
shot down an Iranian civilian plane does not sit right with me either.

These things should all be dealt with equally, no matter who the perpetrators
are and who the victims.

~~~
go13
These things should NOT all be dealt with equally! Because if you state this
then you mean that the politics and the relationship between Russia and the
west are not led by LAW but by "bad things" an opposite side did.

These things should be dealt by LAW and JUSTICE and you should not link one to
another because if you do then you end up justifying the USSR crimes because
Nazi Germany did this!

UPD: A crime should be a crime in all countries. The problem is that some
countries use other's crimes as an argument. I said "things should NOT all be
dealt with equally" because the judgement should base not on what others think
about this but what the moral and the law says.

~~~
Ntrails
The point is, that if something is illegal for one party, it's illegal for
all. The point isn't that the USSR crimes are ok because Nazi Germany did it,
it's that if it is a crime for the USSR then it must be a crime for Nazi
Germany, or the UK, or the US.

This, of course, isn't how the world works. But if you believe it should be,
it's hard to accept the Russians are the only ones who have crimes to answer
for - they just seem to be the only ones being brought to account.

~~~
go13
I am confused with your reply: > But if you believe it should be - what you
mean?

>The point is, that if something is illegal for one party, it's illegal for
all. \- in some countries the law doesn't work and this country's elite don't
act basing on the law and justice but use manipulation (like my example with
USSR and Nazi Germany) to justify it's actions which results in more bad
things.

Example USSR-Germany is a parallel to what some Russians are stating: like the
current law on blogging is okay because the US initiated similar law too.
Bloggers, free media and readers are in fact victims of this manipulation
because the US has nothing to do with Russia's internal policy. And still some
Russians use this argument as a justification of this law.

Please read my previous comment thoroughly.

------
scottlocklin
Crap, Yandex ain't FSB? Looks like I'll have to rethink my idea of switching
to them for NSA-proof email.

And yes, I am more worried about the NSA than the FSB: I don't live in Russia.

------
happyscrappy
I don't know why anyone would find this surprising, there is no balance of
power in Russia, it is a dictatorship.

------
trurl123
I am a blogger in Russia and I don't see any problems with it. This is soft
law that cannot be named 'draconian'.

~~~
photorized
[http://rupolitics.blogspot.com/2014/01/blog-
post_17.html](http://rupolitics.blogspot.com/2014/01/blog-post_17.html)

This is your blog, correct? Then I understand why you wouldn't see any problem
with this new law.

------
lotsofmangos
I'll just leave this here -
[http://www.institutionalinvestor.com/Article/1020662/How-
Har...](http://www.institutionalinvestor.com/Article/1020662/How-Harvard-lost-
Russia.html)

------
ASneakyFox
"Draconian"? The us almost went this way a couple years ago with sopa.

~~~
ivan_gammel
SOPA is not even close to this law in terms of the damage to the liberties.

~~~
ASneakyFox
The purpose of sopa was to censor websites from Americans. Same law same
damage.

~~~
dinkumthinkum
That wasn't really the purpose of it, though the purpose may be just as bad,
if not worse.

