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SixApart Sells LiveJournal to Russian Media Company

Posted by Zonk on from the new-boss-same-as-old-boss dept.

molrak writes "SixApart tonight announced the sale of journal/blogging service Livejournal to Russia-based SUP. Original LJ founder Brad Fitzpatrick has chimed in on the situation: 'This is pretty cool because - They're ridiculously excited about LiveJournal, and have been for awhile (they previous purchased advertising rights in Russia, but ended up doing a bunch of Russia-specific LJ development as well). They want to throw a lot of resources at LiveJournal in terms of product development and engineers. "LiveJournal.com, Inc." now stands alone again, focusing on nothing but LJ. Sounds like I'll have more LJ influence (via new role as advisory board member) than I've had recently.'"

172 comments

  1. Im wondering... by renegadesx · · Score: 5, Funny

    Will that mean LiveJournal will write us from now on?

    --
    Make SELinux enforcing again!
    1. Re:Im wondering... by caffeinemessiah · · Score: 2, Interesting

      SOAB! LiveJournal has been a great source for academic researchers in NLP, social networks and data mining, mainly because they don't mind you crawling their site and users have public "friend lists", etc. I doubt if that culture is going to be retained with a Russian owner. I was at a conference earlier this year, and met a guy from SixApart. He was talking about some sort of open API for crawling multiple social networking sites, but I guess that's probably going to be history now.

      --
      An old-timer with old-timey ideas.
    2. Re:Im wondering... by tomatensaft · · Score: 1

      It's one of well-known LiveJournal's great features, that it allows you to analyse your posts, your LJ friend's posts, your friends lists, insterests etc. by allowing to use the open data, exported in relatively easily parsed XML-based formats, from various applications. I doubt it will ever be restricted for use, because given the LiveJournal's relatively weak eye-candy, for ex.

    3. Re:Im wondering... by fellip_nectar · · Score: 2, Funny

      In Soviet Russia: Funny the first few times, but now its like your old man telling the same joke he told you 20 years ago

      --
      Worst. Signature. Ever.
    4. Re:Im wondering... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Snakes on a blog? Sorry, I wasn't familiar with the term, so I had to look it up: http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/SOAB

    5. Re:Im wondering... by angrykeyboarder · · Score: 1

      Apparently the mod(s) disagreed. He has a +5 as of this writing.

      --
      Scott

      ©20014 angrykeyboarder & Elmer Fudd. All Wights Wesewved
    6. Re:Im wondering... by Samgilljoy · · Score: 1

      As to the open API issue, all I can say is that Six Apart does have two specific Open API development positions right now. While I don't work directly for Six Apart anymore, I am involved in finding people for those positions, so I can't really say anything more than that, as far as I know.

    7. Re:Im wondering... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow, haven't read that for a while. That's some old school text you're posting here.

  2. Putinist Russia by Clay+Pigeon+-TPF-VS- · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Does this mean that any anti-Putin blogging will be noted and passed on to the "proper" authorities?

    --
    Viral software licensing is not freedom, it is in fact GNU/Socialism.
    1. Re:Putinist Russia by seasleepy · · Score: 5, Informative

      You may be joking, but there appears to have been a considerable amount of concern about this when SUP first got involved with LJ -- Alexander Mamut, one of SUP's main investors (or possibly its owner -- I've seen both descriptions in articles), apparently has some ties to Putin. Brad had tried to assuage fears about it at the time, but I unfortunately don't really know how the situation stands on the Russian side after those initial reactions.

      As a longtime LJ user, I'm encouraged that Brad's still optimistic about SUP today, and I don't think Six Apart ever really knew exactly what to make of LJ, but I'm still having a hard time getting over a vaguely uneasy feeling about the whole thing.

    2. Re:Putinist Russia by Kingrames · · Score: 1

      It'll still be more free than it would be here.

      --
      If you can read this, I forgot to post anonymously.
    3. Re:Putinist Russia by fm6 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Alexander Mamut, one of SUP's main investors (or possibly its owner -- I've seen both descriptions in articles), apparently has some ties to Putin
      Nowadays, there ane two kinds of Russian businessmen: those with ties to Putin, and those that are out of business. Basically, they're back to the state running the economy.
    4. Re:Putinist Russia by kot_ivanovich · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The current level of Access SUP (which is definitely a KGB-backed company, given the personalities involved) has to LJ already allows them to monitor and to report LJ activity. My guess is that this purchase is more of the order of psychological pressure: "Look, we can win the elections with any score we want, we can beat up and jail opposition activists and we also can buy the last independent media outlet in the country (because this is what LJ became in Russia). Got the hint?"

    5. Re:Putinist Russia by yoprst · · Score: 1

      You don't nead to own LJ to do it. You just need to read it. In fact, you could do it yourself

    6. Re:Putinist Russia by QuickFox · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It'll still be more free than it would be here. Not at all. Not by a long shot.

      The US may have sunk into becoming a harsh Big-Brother nation that is effectively ruled by two wings of a single party, but Russia is run by their local mafia.

      In the US you still have lots of TV channels and papers and forums loudly critical of the reigning system, in Russia such voices are systematically silenced. In the US your government may be shamelessly lying to you about important matters like reasons for war and reasons for what they call anti-terror measures, but dissenting voices do get heard, even if they drown in the general noise. In Russia dissent is silenced for real.

      In Russia it is too late. In the US it is not too late. Not yet. There's still time for you people to do something, should you wish to do something about it.
      --
      Terrorists can't threaten a country's freedom and democracy. Only lawmakers and voters can do that.
    7. Re:Putinist Russia by Storlek · · Score: 1

      That's only the case for public entries.

      In any event I think there would be much greater cause for concern if they expressed an interest in moving the servers to Russia. That would all but guarantee something shady going on in the background... but then again, perhaps it would give the US bloggers a bit more [perceived, at least] freedom.

      --
      Bears don't normally eat things that talk and move backwards.
    8. Re:Putinist Russia by yoprst · · Score: 1

      And why would they care about non-public entries?

    9. Re:Putinist Russia by CRCulver · · Score: 5, Informative

      It'll still be more free than it would be here.

      As a linguist studying minority languages of Russia, I do field work in places where the Putin-aligned local government has had no qualms sending goons to beat women and the elderly with pipes just for speaking or singing songs in the local indigenous language, and opposition figures still get sent to psychiatric hospitals whenever they dare to challenge the ruling party. When has that last happened in the US? Certainly there are some worrying developments in civil liberties, but people can breathe a lot more freely there than in Russia, which is truly one of the scariest places I've visited.

    10. Re:Putinist Russia by Ilgaz · · Score: 1

      Does this mean that any anti-Putin blogging will be noted and passed on to the "proper" authorities? Cold war is on again, now with Anti Putin junk.

      There are other "proper" guys who will care about what you write there, I don't think CCCP (!) really cares about what Americans write about Putin or not.

      If you are American you should be just careful about what you write about things happening in Iraq, Afghanistan since there are some guys who care about what you write about them living with your tax money.

      I can't stand to this neo cold war junk on Slashdot, sorry if offended.
    11. Re:Putinist Russia by Ilgaz · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Alexander Mamut, one of SUP's main investors (or possibly its owner -- I've seen both descriptions in articles), apparently has some ties to Putin
      Nowadays, there ane two kinds of Russian businessmen: those with ties to Putin, and those that are out of business. Basically, they're back to the state running the economy. Is there a single American business guy who is fundementally against George W. Bush and successful?

      Don't give Soros example since it is clear that he is playing some "bad cop" game serving interests of USA and CIA with his "open society" (!) thing.

      Is there a single high end business guy who will hang up the phone if president of USA calls? What would happen if he does?

      I am not defending Putin, I am just saying it is how the entire planet in this economic/political system works.
    12. Re:Putinist Russia by Calydor · · Score: 1

      Very recently, all non-locked LJ entries received a new navigation button: Flag. Basically, this button will flag any entry for 'review', apparently to keep the language nice, clean and proper.

      It's not a far stretch to assume that this WILL also be used to watch out for Russian political dissidents.

      --
      -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
    13. Re:Putinist Russia by xrayspx · · Score: 1

      Because "Freinds Only" posts fall into "non-public". So you could have a group who all friends each other and can read their subversive posts, while none of those posts are "public". LJ lets you get pretty granular with groups of friends as well. Or at least "more granular" than other sites I've seen. So you have posts that can be seen by one group of friends which can't be read by your other friends. So yeah, having ownership of the machines would let you see all that stuff, which, if there was going to be anything "subversive", that's where it would be. Wow, that's as poorly written as anything I've ever typed. Ah well it's 3, and I'm on the Internet, what's the worst that can happen?

      --
      I like music
    14. Re:Putinist Russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      i have a really hard time trading a few features for what is supposedly a way of disseminating propaganda via the blogosphere.
      http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/27/AR2007102701384_pf.html

      i've had my lj for a good 7 years, but i'm considering finding somewhere else. i'd rather not use someone else's political vehicle as my blogging tool for frivolously posting about how i ate an apple today. i find this all really sad. it's hard to let go of a blog i've had for so long. but i guess the internet is transient.

    15. Re:Putinist Russia by rumith · · Score: 1

      in Russia such voices are systematically silenced

      Have you ever been to Russia? The most vocal politicians [usually right-wing] who get lots of attention in the media [local and otherwise] are the criminal kings who devastated the country during Yeltsin's reign. You've picked the wrong word: they're not being silenced, nobody just listens to them anymore.

    16. Re:Putinist Russia by ubernostrum · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It'll still be more free than it would be here.

      In the US, if you loudly criticize the government you won't be heard because a finely-tuned media machine will just shout louder. In Russia, if you loudly criticize the government you won't be heard because you'll disappear.

      In the US, the president belongs to an "old boys network" of guys who were in the same secret fraternity in their college days. In Russia, the president belongs to an "old boys network" of guys who were in the same secret police agency in the Soviet days.

      In the US, journalists who uncover serious government misconduct get yelled at by Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh. In Russia, journalists who uncover serious government misconduct get injected with lethal doses of radioactive material.

      Now. You were saying?

    17. Re:Putinist Russia by Inzite · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I can tell you've never been to Russia.

      I live there. It's cold.

      Yes, there are problems with the limited Russian media. However, your definition of Russia as a harsh Big-brother nation run by the local mafia is overly simple and in most cases just flat out wrong.

      The mafia don't run Russia any more. Russia is controlled and run by a few very rich corporations and individuals. The number of very rich corporations and individuals is growing on a daily basis.

      Dissenting voices do get heard. The problem is that most Russians don't care to listen. Most Russians don't give a shit about politics.

      Putin is doing wonders for the economy. Russia is one of the fastest developing countries on the planet, and will continue to grow that way for at least the next 5-10 years. The reason Russia is controlled by one party is because that one party is doing wonderful things for the average living standards of people across the country.

      In another 4-8 years, Putin's power in the Russian government will have declined, and Russia will start to move towards a true, multi-party system as all those wealthy companies and individuals step in to fill the ex-Putin void. However, in the mean time there's no reason for Russia to change, and the vast majority of Russians will be much better off if the status quo is maintained for a couple years longer.

      P.S. In Russia, Gary Kasparov is a joke. And 95% of what the New York Times writes about Russia is pure tripe.

    18. Re:Putinist Russia by Bananatree3 · · Score: 1
      I certainly agree that though the US is far from perfect, in fact it is ugly in some abuses, there is still a large public view of "the dissenting view".

      Putinist Russia is more than scary, it is downright putrid smelling with state control. The Kremlin have essentially forced EU poll monitors out of Russia. There were far to few to begin with, and now there's no sign of them.

      Though I am worried about the future state of Russia, I haven't given up hope on it just yet. There's still a large movement towards democracy and political/market freedom, and many things are still uncertain. What I do know though is its an up hill battle to win.

    19. Re:Putinist Russia by QuickFox · · Score: 1

      I'm glad to see that you're so optimistic and see reasons for such a positive outlook. I sincerely hope that you're right and I'm wrong. I'll be overjoyed if Russia step by step becomes truly free and open and democratic.

      I'm far less optimistic than you, and deeply worried, but if you're right, this would certainly be wonderful.

      --
      Terrorists can't threaten a country's freedom and democracy. Only lawmakers and voters can do that.
    20. Re:Putinist Russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      sending goons to beat women and the elderly with pipes just for speaking or singing songs in the local indigenous language... When has that last happened in the US?

      1970s, from memory, but I'm sure I could find some later instances if I looked.

    21. Re:Putinist Russia by makomk · · Score: 1

      Brad has always been enthusiastic about SUP. I don't think he's ever been able to see why the Russian users are worried.

    22. Re:Putinist Russia by temcat · · Score: 1

      The media you speak of is not the federal media which matter. The attention they receive is unbalanced.

    23. Re:Putinist Russia by temcat · · Score: 1

      Putin is doing wonders for the economy.

      Yeah, sure, buddy. Putin has this miraculous ability to drive oil prices up.

    24. Re:Putinist Russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

      What indigenous language?
      What place of Russia do you do field work in?
      Do you mean Arap or you know any other opposition figure sent to psychiatric hospital? What evidence do you have that Arap is in hospital because she is with opposition, not because she is ill?

    25. Re:Putinist Russia by smurfsurf · · Score: 1

      Nowadays, there ane two kinds of Russian businessmen: those with ties to Putin, and those that are out of business. Basically, they're back to the state running the economy.

      Is there a single American business guy who is fundementally against George W. Bush and successful? If you take a look at the election yesterday, it is enough to voice support for any opposition candidate to get out of business (and into prison). You seriously don't claim this to be the case in the west, do you?
    26. Re:Putinist Russia by mapkinase · · Score: 1

      It is not clear yet.

      SUP is controlled by Alexander Mamut - one of the powerbrokers during Eltsyn times. Right now he lives and owns businesses in Russia, which means that he is loyal to Putin.

      It is interesting that two of the top Russian bloggers[Russian] officially work for SUP (Anton Nossik,Roustam Agadamov).

      Politically aforementioned SUP bloggers distance themselves from support of Putin, and quite often Mr. Nossik expressed mild political opposition to Putin.

      The purchase of Livejournal is a pure formality in terms of Russian politics, since SUP has been controlling cyrillic sector of Livejournal for quite a while now.

      The completion of the transfer of the main blog-service in Russia into the hands of the company based in Russia is a logical conclusion and definitely does not add more independence to the future of content in Livejournal blogs.

      So far politically motivated censure of top cyrillic Livejournal blogs has been applied to extreme right blogs.

      It is somehow amazing and funny that the most danger to top Russian bloggers does not come from authorities but rather from some Russian hacker "Hell", who resides in Germany and periodically destroys and defaces top Livejournal blogs. He is loosely associated with a group of Russian internet activists calling themselves "padonki" (punks, scoundrels) and often meddles as a brute force on the side of his favorites in some heated disputes between top bloggers.

      SUP was able to do little to strengthen the security of Livejournal, since little could be done. For example, Igor Petrov's journal was broken using an off-line trick: apparently the "hacker" presented a fake Russian passport in the name of Petrov (who also lives in Germany) to prove that he is the person who "lost" his access to journal.

      --
      I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
    27. Re:Putinist Russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Please do, that's a serious accusation.

    28. Re:Putinist Russia by Constantine+XVI · · Score: 1

      Ah well it's 3, and I'm on the Internet, what's the worst that can happen? Slashdot could get bought up by some company in Soviet Russia?
      --
      "I think an etch-a-sketch with an ethernet port would beat IE7 in web standards compliance."
    29. Re:Putinist Russia by xrayspx · · Score: 1

      That happened years ago (sorry Bruce and Janet...)

      --
      I like music
    30. Re:Putinist Russia by Nimey · · Score: 1

      I'm going to drop in a prophylactic Godwin and note that Herr Schickelgruber was very good for the German economy.

      Until the massive bombing raids, anyway.

      --
      Hail Eris, full of mischief...

      E pluribus sanguinem
    31. Re:Putinist Russia by Wdomburg · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Ever heard of Google? 98% of employee contributions are to Democrats, and Google's founder has been a frequent contributor to the Democratic party. I think they qualify as successful.

    32. Re:Putinist Russia by kalirion · · Score: 1

      Putin is doing wonders for the economy.

      I would point out who else did great things for his country's economy, but it would invoke Godwin's Law.

    33. Re:Putinist Russia by Doctor+Faustus · · Score: 1

      Is there a single American business guy who is fundementally against George W. Bush and successful?
      I seem to recall Donald Trump speaking pretty forcefully against Bush.

    34. Re:Putinist Russia by negated · · Score: 0

      Russia is controlled and run by a few very rich corporations and individuals. The number of very rich corporations and individuals is growing on a daily basis. Dissenting voices do get heard. The problem is that most Russians don't care to listen. Most Russians don't give a shit about politics.
      Wow! Reminds me of another country...
      ...*cough* USA *cough*....

      -S
    35. Re:Putinist Russia by fm6 · · Score: 1

      Is there a single American business guy who is fundementally against George W. Bush and successful? There are plenty. Notice all the anti-Bush politicians running for President? All the serious ones are spending huge amounts of money on their campaigns. And where do you think they get all that money? Mostly from businesspeople who hope to have their ear when they're running the country.

      Don't give Soros example since it is clear that he is playing some "bad cop" game serving interests of USA and CIA with his "open society" (!) thing. Obvious to you, maybe. To me it's obvious that you can explain away any contrary evidence if you assume a big enough conspiracy. Hey, maybe the FSB is paying you to spread disinformation...

      Is there a single high end business guy who will hang up the phone if president of USA calls? What would happen if he does? Jeez, I'd accept a call from GWB, if only to tell him how much he pisses me off.

      As for consequences of going against GWB: yeah, our president has been known to abuse his authority. You may have noticed that this has got him into trouble. Putin seems able to get away with anything.

      I am not defending Putin, I am just saying it is how the entire planet in this economic/political system works. In other words, you've given up. Forgive the rest of us for not sharing your apathy.
    36. Re:Putinist Russia by TALlama · · Score: 1

      In another 4-8 years, Putin's power in the Russian government will have declined, and Russia will start to move towards a true, multi-party system as all those wealthy companies and individuals step in to fill the ex-Putin void.

      Yes, but by then none of us will notice, as we'll be too busy playing Duke Nukem Forever.

      --

      - The Amazina Llama

    37. Re:Putinist Russia by nacturation · · Score: 1

      P.S. In Russia, Gary Kasparov is a joke. Would it be correct to assume he's at least respected for his chess-playing skills but considered a joke for his opinions/behavior outside the chess board?
      --
      Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
    38. Re:Putinist Russia by yoprst · · Score: 1

      They don't really care about subversive stuff. They care about public stuff. Putin's regime is just a Russian version of Wag the Dog. As long as public is convinced, you're entitled to whatever opinion you fancy. Once there's a remote neglible infinitely small chance(or so they think) that you could make people realize that the king is naked, you're in trouble.

    39. Re:Putinist Russia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Would it be correct to assume he's at least respected for his chess-playing skills but considered a joke for his opinions/behavior outside the chess board? Yes, yes it would be. Wikipedia: On April 10, 2005, Kasparov was in Moscow at a promotional event when he was struck over the head with a chessboard he had just signed. The assailant was reported to have said "I admired you as a chess player, but you gave that up for politics" immediately before the attack.

      Kasparov loves to bash Putin, but refuses to see the big picture and recognize what Putin has done to Russia after the mediocrity of Yeltsin's era. And you can't have a true democracy in a country like Russia, at least not right now.
    40. Re:Putinist Russia by Inzite · · Score: 3, Interesting

      True, Russia's riches are largely attributable to hydrocarbons. Any administration in Russia would be getting rich off of oil right now. However, oil & gas are just a small part of the story, and they're what _made_ Russia rich, not what's keeping Russia rich (although they are making Russia _richer_).

      I'm a Putin fan because he's doing an incredible job of not wasting or misspending all those riches. The vast majority of Russia's petrodollars have gone into funding the federal budget and anything left over is invested into a massive Stabilization Fund. The government is actively promoting diversification of the economy and development of additional sectors, and most importantly, they're being VERY CONSERVATIVE with what they do with that money.

      The average Russian's salary is around USD 600 per month, and that's heavily skewed by the ungodly (by Russian standards) salaries seen in a few large cities like Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ekaterinburg, etc. A teacher, doctor, etc. in any provincial town is going to be making around USD 100 a month. Maybe a bit more, maybe less.

      And yet the government is sitting on top of a stabilization fund in excess of USD 150 bn. The kneejerk reaction would be to increase spending and raise the salaries of all those doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc. who get paid so little.

      And that's exactly the worst thing the government could do. An influx of cash like that would seriously hamper the country's economic development and drive inflation through the roof. Rather, the government is saving those assets for a rainy day (Russia has the third-largest international reserves in the world, behind China and Japan, and is a major creditor to its G8 peers, including the USA).

      The government is nurturing development of additional industries, including metals & mining (Russia's a huge steel producer, and China next door is a HUGE consumer), its utilities sector (China's also set to become a huge electricity consumer), agriculture, industrial, chemicals, technology, retail, etc. Corporate taxes are low. Personal taxes are almost nonexistent (13% flat tax across the board! Hell Yeah!!!)

      While at the moment the country is still threatened by Dutch Disease, as these other industries develop further, the chance that Russia's economy could be ruined by a downward spiral in oil prices will decrease. As it stands, the Russian budget will still be balanced even with oil at USD 40 per bbl (and it's currently just shy of USD 100 per bbl). In 2006, oil & gas represented just 6% of GDP, and the government hopes to have that number down to less than 4% by 2011.

      So where's all this growth coming from? It's largely domestic, and it's NOT A RESULT OF HIGH OIL PRICES. In 2006, the vast majority of Russia's GDP growth came from non-tradable services and goods for the domestic market. We're talking about telecommunications services (cell phones), transportation (airlines), banking, etc. etc. etc. And the most promising thing, is that the entirety of the non-raw-materials economy is only just now getting started. Moscow itself is really approaching the same level of living as any major metropolis (note I say approaching - there's a lot in Moscow that's in need of a major overhaul. The streets are dirty, water and electric utilities will take 30 years to overhaul, etc.). Yet one-third of Russia's GDP is produced in Moscow and Moscow region, which are home to ONLY ONE-TENTH of Russia's population.

      Personal incomes are rising quickly (18% per year), inflation is high but under control (9% in 2006, 11.5% in 2007), and the ruble is slowly but steadily appreciating (which is exactly what the government should try to do). In short, the economy is growing at a healthy rate, and business is developing on its own as fast as it can, but not because of some huge cash injection from the government that would be squandered.

      Russia's got its problems. There are far t

    41. Re:Putinist Russia by encoderer · · Score: 2, Interesting

      "Is there a single high end business guy who will hang up the phone if president of USA calls? What would happen if he does?"

      The answers are "Probably Not" and "Probably Nothing."

      But, more on point...

      I detest President Bush, but I would still take a call from the President of the United States if he were to call me. I mean, you wouldn't? And why not? Like it or not (and, in my case, it's NOT), Bush is the President. And I'm a patriot. And I'm not going to turn down any reasonable request made by our President.

      Furthermore, there are LOADS of successful Democratic businessmen. LOADS. Millions of them. You're being ignorant if you think that's not the case. An obvious example that I just read about this morning is Mark Warner, former governor of Virginia and a speculative Presidential Candidate. ...Before entering politics he made his billion$ running a little-known outfit called "Nextel"....

      Besides, as heavy-handed as the Bush Administration has been, this is nothing, NOTHING like what Putin has done in Russia. To say that it is, undermines the seriousness of what Putin has done to Russia.

    42. Re:Putinist Russia by xrayspx · · Score: 1

      Oh I'm sorry, you're right. I keep getting the US govt and Russian govt mixed up. I have to remember, it's MY government that wants to see behind all the locked doors.

      --
      I like music
    43. Re:Putinist Russia by Inzite · · Score: 1

      Most of the Russians I know have no idea who Gary Kasparov is, or know of him only as a chess player. It actually isn't appropriate for me to call him a joke in Russia. Most Russians simply don't know who he is.

      I am convinced that his actions in Russia are not targeted at Russians, but rather at the Western media. However, I don't have a solid "logical" basis to support this, and might be wrong. But when I hear the statements he makes and see the massive headlines he gets in the Western press (who seem anxious to bash Russian censorship at EVERY chance they get, when in fact I don't see the censorship they speak of), my gut feeling is that he's playing a choreographed part for a foreign audience.

    44. Re:Putinist Russia by ringm000 · · Score: 1

      Corporate taxes are low. Personal taxes are almost nonexistent (13% flat tax across the board! Hell Yeah!!!)
      As far as I remember, Russia has NDS (VAT) and income tax (both personal and profit tax for corporations) and ESN (unified social tax). In general, I would not call the taxes "low". And taxation is generally shifted towards the employer, which stimulates illegal untaxed employment.
    45. Re:Putinist Russia by fm6 · · Score: 1

      Trump is a business man? I thought he was a reality show personality. You know, like Paris Hilton.

    46. Re:Putinist Russia by Kingrames · · Score: 1

      In Russia, if your husband speaks out against the government, he disappears.

      In USA, if your husband speaks out against the government/fails to worship bush, the White House deliberately outs you as a CIA agent with the intention of getting you killed in action.

      So it's not quite as severe. yet.
      Russia is slightly less evil than it used to be.
      The United states in 8 years went from being the most free country in the world to the most hypocritical, rounding up suspected terrorists and sending them to rape and torture camps in other countries.

      You seriously expect me to be optimistic about that just because it's not as bad now as it will be in the future?
      You really have a nice way of suger-coating the shit they're shoveling out.

      --
      If you can read this, I forgot to post anonymously.
    47. Re:Putinist Russia by M3wThr33 · · Score: 1

      I didn't know you could call murder of news reporters a 'wonder for the economy.'

    48. Re:Putinist Russia by KiahZero · · Score: 1

      Warner's running for (and is going to win) John Warner's Senate seat, not President.

      --
      I'm a lawyer, but not yours. I wouldn't represent someone who thinks taking legal advice from Slashdot is a good idea.
    49. Re:Putinist Russia by Rockin'Robert · · Score: 0

      If you believe the 'press released' and hyped-up garbage that a trained KGB agent assassin was stupid enough to poison someone in London with polonium (Dimona, anyone?), to then leave a radioactive trail all the way back to Moscow - can I interest you in buying a couple of bridges on the Rivers Thames and Hudson?
      RR

    50. Re:Putinist Russia by JAlexoi · · Score: 1

      Ad to actually add to this.

      Mr. Putin IS THE FIRST president/leader/czar/whatever to honor the constitution and though they are usurping the power, you'd be quite fascinated HOW they are doing that. Reminding you that even though there are many calls for Putin to stay for 3rd term as president(th person that actually holds power in Russia) he still maintains that the Constitution has to be maintained untouched, witch in itself is the first time precedent in Russia EVER! So even there are "freedoms"* in Russia now, the pace is set for evolution not revolution.

      * - Don't be fooled by the statements that there was more liberty in Yeltsin's Russia, since there was not. You are less likely to be killed for your thoughts in Russia today than in the "free" Yeltsin's times, so I'd say there is progress.

    51. Re:Putinist Russia by Inzite · · Score: 1

      Good call.

      You're definitely right about some of those points. So-called "black" payrolls are still very common in Russia. Companies will often sign an official contract with an employee for, say, USD 200 per month, pay taxes on that USD 200, and then pay the employee a monthly cash "bonus" off the books of, say, USD 800.

      However, this practice is getting much rarer (it was "the standard" three years ago, but is more the exception to the rule today) and is only an issue in small and some medium-sized enterprises. Most of these companies cheat on their taxes for two reasons:

      1) They think they can get away with it (and most can, for a while)
      2) They're cheap (and managed by people I wouldn't ever call professional businessmen)

      In any substantial medium-sized or large enterprise, "white" salaries are the rule.

      I'm not a professional on taxes, so I may be wrong about some of the following:

      Unlike in the USA, Russians don't personally pay any of their taxes out of their own pocket. The 13% personal income tax is paid by the employer, and the employee never sees it. It's automatically deducted before salaries are distributed. Most Russians never even know that it's been paid.

      Employers also pay an additional 14%-27% per employee depending on the employee's salary. The more the employee makes, the lower this percentage. As a result, in total an employer actually pays between 27% and 40% per employee. If I remember correctly, for an employee making, say, USD 800 per month, that figure works out to around 31%-32%. Corporate gains and corporate profit tax are set at 24%, though there are some credits and lower tax rates available for companies working in specific industries or locations (for example government-sponsored tech parks, etc.).

      VAT is levied at 18% for most sales, and 10% or 0% for some specific types of products (medicines, newspapers, magazines, children's goods, etc.). While a sales tax of 18% may seem insane to Americans, it's the standard rate in Europe.

      In general, Russian taxes are actually quite simple. However, there's a very short history of tax precedent, so companies that adopt "aggressive" tax policies are regularly hit up with back tax claims (especially the telecoms industry, due to major reforms as of late).

      In short, the basic tax rules are quite simple and tax rates aren't very high. However, when companies aggressively account, there are a lot of gray areas where a court still hasn't determined exactly when tax minimization transitions into tax avoidance and ultimately tax evasion.

      P.S. Ernst & Young produce great English-language materials on doing business in Russia if you're interested. I'd start with this

    52. Re:Putinist Russia by CRCulver · · Score: 1

      Putin may have done some good things for the economy in some places, but the political centralization he has forced is doing bad things for Russia's rural regions and indigenous minorities. During the 1990s Mari people were enjoying a great deal of autonomy and development of their culture and language, but once Putin came in the situation has deteriotated thanks to the regional governer Moscow itself selected. Thousands of Mari workers have been sacked, and it don't matter how good people say the economy if you're out of a job. Furthermore, a number of cultural activists (including women and old men) have been beaten by people with ties to the local government.

      And then just look at the state the Nenets are finding themselves in, the law against the Tatars changing their alphabet as they wish, the whole Chechen mess, and the fact that the tradition of sending opposition figures to psychiatric hospitals has started again. Putin is an evil man for what he has done to the most vulnerable of Russian society, regardless of some economic progress.

    53. Re:Putinist Russia by encoderer · · Score: 1

      I said hew as a "speculative candidate for president"

      And he was.

      He formed an exploratory committee last year but eventually declined to enter the race after Obama, Bayh and Edwards appeared to be vying for the anti-hillary role.

      Furthermore, he's alluded in the past to Presidential ambitions and I think you'll find that a Senate seat is a temporary lay over for Warner. If a Republican wins in 08 (god forbid), I'd wager you'd see a Warner candidacy in 2012. .....But yeah, thanks for the "correction" .......

  3. Hmmm by Zouden · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I predict that 50% of the comments here will be thinly-veiled racial attacks on Russia.
    The other 50% will be "in soviet russia" jokes, of course...

    --
    "A week in the lab saves an hour in the library"
    1. Re:Hmmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I predict that 50% of the comments here will be thinly-veiled racial attacks on Russia.

      Criticizing Russia's government and corruption isn't a racial attack, unless you're criticizing the fact that they're White.
    2. Re:Hmmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nappy headed slavs

      (ouch, didn't really mean that)

    3. Re:Hmmm by Kadin2048 · · Score: 1

      I predict that 50% of the comments here will be thinly-veiled racial attacks on Russia. Yeah, because if there's one problem we have here on Slashdot and the Internet in general, it's the pervasive anti-white sentiment.

      --
      "Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
    4. Re:Hmmm by Jeff+DeMaagd · · Score: 1

      I predict that 50% of the comments here will be thinly-veiled racial attacks on Russia.

      Is there a "Russian race"?

      If there is, that would be news to me. And I've been there a couple times. The races of those that live there aren't unique to Russia.

    5. Re:Hmmm by willyhill · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Please, define a "thinly veiled racial attack" for us, so we'll know when a joke about a country becomes a racist insult, in your opinion. For example, if I make a funny about how the Swiss eat lots of cheese, would that be construed as a racial attack on all Swiss?

      I'm trying to figure out how you'd devolve a discussion into "racial attacks" on a country like Russia on a web site where the vast majority of people are likely caucasian or European descent.

      Or maybe you meant something else, like nationalist flamebait and so on? Because that I can believe.

      BTW, I hear Putin won 99.99421% of the vote yesterday, give or take a few uncorruptible precincts. You guys must be very democratic... <grin> [*]

      .

      [*] I hope that wasn't racial...

      --
      The twitter monologues. Click on my homepage and be amazed.
    6. Re:Hmmm by master5o1 · · Score: 0

      if I make a funny about how the Swiss eat lots of cheese, would that be construed as a racial attack on all Swiss? No, I'm swiss and it's true. So it's not a racial attack.
      --
      signature is pants
    7. Re:Hmmm by marnek · · Score: 3, Informative

      Yeah it's called "caucasian". Note that the Caucasus mountains, the origin of the word, are IN Russia.

    8. Re:Hmmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You bet your lilly-white bottom it is!

    9. Re:Hmmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is the most true thing I've read all week.

    10. Re:Hmmm by EraserMouseMan · · Score: 1

      Is "Russian" a race?

    11. Re:Hmmm by master5o1 · · Score: 0

      People get offended to easily. If they're stupid enough to take offence at everything, then they're obviously not smart enough to not listen.


      On the other hand, people don't listen to a lot of things they should listen to.

      --
      signature is pants
    12. Re:Hmmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, you would predict that, probably because you're a stupid Russian drunk.

    13. Re:Hmmm by Ilgaz · · Score: 1

      I predict that 50% of the comments here will be thinly-veiled racial attacks on Russia.
      The other 50% will be "in soviet russia" jokes, of course... Welcome back... Cold war.

      I was at HK/China just a week ago, I bought IHT Newspaper. It took 2 pages to figure the cold war trickery stories of 1980s are back and threw it to paper recycling bin. The "South China Post" was lot more informative and insightful than the IHT junk.

      (IHT:International Herald Tribune, NY Times pub.)
    14. Re:Hmmm by beav007 · · Score: 1

      Sorry, could you repeat that? I wasn't listening...

    15. Re:Hmmm by master5o1 · · Score: 0

      I wasn't talking... You didn't have to listen, only read.

      So re-read it to find out ;)

      --
      signature is pants
    16. Re:Hmmm by arrenlex · · Score: 1

      As always, the third 50% is desperate speculation about what the other comments will be like, hoping to be modded insightful if you're right or funny if you're wrong. :)

    17. Re:Hmmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      "Is there a "Russian race"?"

      Yes, definitely. They are an inferior race, that must not ever be confused with us Europeans, the true Master Race.

    18. Re:Hmmm by temcat · · Score: 1

      Note that in Russia itself, ethnic hatred to various Caucasian ethnicities (Azeri, Georgian, Armenian, Dagestani etc.) is very common...

    19. Re:Hmmm by thanosk · · Score: 1

      BTW, I hear Putin won 99.99421% of the vote yesterday, give or take a few uncorruptible precincts. You guys must be very democratic...
      Actually United Russia (Putin's Party) has won by 64.1 percent of votes. which is still pretty ridiculous margin.
      But Putin at the moment is all too powerful and as a result it is really hard to have completely fair elections.
      But then again Fox News has so much influence in the US that it can massively
      affect the election outcome there as well.
    20. Re:Hmmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      +4 Insightful?

      Durhhh, did we forget what racism means? Must have been modded by products of the public educational system.

      "A group of people united or classified together on the basis of common history, nationality, or geographic distribution: the German race."

      http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/races

    21. Re:Hmmm by ringm000 · · Score: 1

      In Russia, "caucasians" usually refers not to "caucasian race" but to (mostly darker-skinned) peoples of the Caucasus.

  4. Editorial Controls? by Bieeanda · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So, um. What kind of a corporate culture are these guys bringing in? Given the readiness with which the Putin government has been putting the boots to dissension (particularly in terms of media), I have to worry (because I don't have all the information) that increasingly Draconian laws over there might spill over into how the LJ TOS is adjudicated in general.

    1. Re:Editorial Controls? by mattwarden · · Score: 3, Funny

      In 3 months, I predict that each livejournal member's cat will be pro-Putin.

    2. Re:Editorial Controls? by nomadic · · Score: 1

      So, um. What kind of a corporate culture are these guys bringing in? Given the readiness with which the Putin government has been putting the boots to dissension (particularly in terms of media), I have to worry (because I don't have all the information) that increasingly Draconian laws over there might spill over into how the LJ TOS is adjudicated in general.

      Interestingly, SUP is run by an American...

    3. Re:Editorial Controls? by Bieeanda · · Score: 1

      Oh god. Not our cats. Someone, please, think of the kittens!

  5. Paid Accounts by crashnbur · · Score: 1

    So paid account users are sending their money to... Russia?

    1. Re:Paid Accounts by vicont · · Score: 1

      Yeah, right. Directly to Mr. Putin!

  6. Its all Russian anyways by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    It seems like +85% of LJ pages are Russian anyways, so this makes sense.

  7. First it was China... by bogaboga · · Score: 1

    ...now, it's Russia. Guys, the Russians are coming! These two countries are gobbling up our [American] companies fast!

    1. Re:First it was China... by yoprst · · Score: 1

      A fat share of Russian IT market is controlled by foreigners (Europeans, mostly). And now one American IT company(which were serving Russian market anyway - Wikipedia says 45% of LJ entries are in Russian) is owned by Russians. It sure looks like Russia is gobbling up American companies...

    2. Re:First it was China... by rednip · · Score: 4, Insightful

      First it was China...now, it's Russia. Guys, the Russians are coming! These two countries are gobbling up our [American] companies fast!

      Welcome to the weak dollar. Newly rich former adversaries are buying into our economy, both Germany and Japan did the same thing in the 80's. Might be a good thing for our (American) economy, might be (another) problem, however fresh capital is rarely a bad thing.

      --
      The force that blew the Big Bang continues to accelerate.
    3. Re:First it was China... by hachete · · Score: 1

      Look on the bright side, at least *someone* likes America. Funny or sad, who knows

      --
      Patriotism is a virtue of the vicious
    4. Re:First it was China... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wonder when you'll start seeing Russians complaining about their jobs being outsourced to all that cheap American labor because they cost pennies on the ruble. (Obligatory part) In Soviet Russia, jobs are outsourced to Americans!

  8. Filtering and Censorship by Macgrrl · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What will be interesting to see is whether the filtering and censorship of LJ will be more or less stringent than it was previously.

    Earlier this year we had uproar due to fanfic heavy accounts being blocked and assorted accusations regarding slashfic being porn and potentially kiddie porn in the case of Harry Potter fic.

    I wonder if moving out of the US juristriction for the 'publisher' will affect the degree in which copyright violations are pursued.

    --
    Sara
    Designer, Gamer, Macgrrl in an XP World
    1. Re:Filtering and Censorship by AiToyonsNostril · · Score: 1

      Livejournal will still be under California's jurisdiction, which is where SUP's subsidiary Livejournal Inc. will be located.

      --
      "I'm not good. I'm not nice. I'm just right."
    2. Re:Filtering and Censorship by Khyber · · Score: 1

      They're already filtering. Not the day before they announced the sale of LJ they implemented a new flagging system, and reset everyone's accounts to start warning people that they may be viewing a journal which contains 'adult concepts'. The backlash of the new system caused a nice outrage, similar to the Strikethrough of 2007.

      What I find interesting is their TOS, which states:

      "All Content posted to LiveJournal in any way, is the responsibility and property of the author. LiveJournal is committed to maintaining the Service in a manner reasonably acceptable to all audiences but is not responsible for the monitoring or filtering of any journal Content." Those that are paying for LJ's services are no longer getting what was advertised to them.

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  9. In other words... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    LiveJournal is sinking Six Apart, and everyone there has moved on to Facebook or MySpace?

    1. Re:In other words... by zantolak · · Score: 1

      Comparing LJ to Myspace or Facebook is like comparing Wordpress to MS Outlook.

    2. Re:In other words... by CRCulver · · Score: 1

      MySpace has journal-keeping features, communities, and friends lists. It can be justly compared to LiveJournal.

    3. Re:In other words... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hotmail does too. Does that also validate your comparison?

    4. Re:In other words... by lyosha · · Score: 1

      No, it's more like comparing The Bat! to MS Outlook.

  10. Watch Out! by mpapet · · Score: 1

    Totally my personal experience when I proclaim there are extremely talented software engineers in Russia that are under-utilized in the global market. I will definitely be watching closely. Maybe some others can share their experiences?

    --
    http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
  11. Forcibly Expanding International Interaction. Yay? by Anonymous+Drunkard · · Score: 1, Interesting

    To those of us in the United States, this opens up a whole new experience...while most of the world uses widespread blogging sites and social interaction sites based here in America, for once OUR denizens will be reading their friends lists and syndicated feeds, and writing their thoughts, impressions, and pictures of their drunken selves regurgitating in public (sorry, that's facebook) on servers hosted in another country. All of a sudden we will be forced to *gasp* interact with the world around us.

    This also may sharpen questions as to whether a person writing in one country is subject to the laws of the country in which the content is stored. When it affects us, then we wake up.

    Meanwhile....cue the 144-page GAWDDAMMIT, KEEP THEM COMMIE RED BASTARDS' HANDS OFFN MAH LAHVJURNL followups to the official LJ announcement in 3...2...1...

  12. doesn't SUP = KGB? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hasn't this company been linked to the KGB? And been involved in human rights abuses?

    1. Re:doesn't SUP = KGB? by Zibblsnrt · · Score: 3, Insightful

      In 2006, when SUP was put in charge of handling LJ's Russian userbase (which was defined, if I remember correctly, as "everyone in the former Soviet Union or anyone who blogged in Cyrillic at all"), there were howls of rage from the Russian community for that specific reason. "SUP = FSB" was a pretty common refrain in comments of the announcement.

      Considering a lot of Russian LJ users were on the site precisely because it was, if not completely out of Moscow's reach, at least more difficult to readily get at, I can understand why they'd be furious about that - and moreso about this.

      --
      "All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke
    2. Re:doesn't SUP = KGB? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The solution is very simple - go somewhere else.

  13. Long time... by sircastor · · Score: 1

    I went to high School with Brad, and I developed the first Mac version of the LJ client. It's crazy to see where it's gone.

  14. Re:Forcibly Expanding International Interaction. Y by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I can't wait until they ban all those bitches for posting child porn.

  15. lawlz by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In Soviet Russia ... oh wait.

    1. Re:lawlz by goga_russian · · Score: 1

      how does it go? oh yeah... in Russia We own LiveJournal :) whats next on the shopping spree list before dollar is on a paper roll :)

      --
      Dont Judge The situation by the Misfortunate. Goga.
  16. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  17. Remind me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why do we care about LiveJournal anymore?

  18. credit details by timmarhy · · Score: 1

    ....expect odd charges apearing in 3,2,1...

    --
    If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
  19. Big News! The Rest Of the World Has Money Now by TheNarrator · · Score: 4, Informative

    So I'm sure a lot of American Slashdotters are thinking: "What? A Russian Company buying an American Company? Where did they get the dough?"

    From : http://www.econstats.com/weo/V012.htm
    Share of World Economy %

    country 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
    United States 21.68 21.34 21.13 20.97 20.85 20.71 20.57
    Russia 2.36 2.42 2.46 2.55 2.60 2.66 2.69
    Italy 3.22 3.20 3.12 3.01 2.91 2.84 2.79
    France 3.34 3.33 3.27 3.17 3.10 3.04 2.98
    Spain 1.81 1.82 1.81 1.78 1.75 1.72 1.70
    China 10.92 11.47 12.07 12.68 13.18 13.59 13.99
    India 5.45 5.54 5.65 5.83 5.91 6.05 6.17

    I wish this chart went back further to really accentuate how much has changed over the past 15 years. The point being... Slowly but surely the world economy is getting more evenly distributed around the globe.

  20. Prediction: no more censorship by tetromino · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you look at the backstory for the rise of SUP, the whole thing started when the abuse team tried to apply American standards to Russian bloggers. You see, the Russian internets culture is different. You post whatever you want to post. For example, if you feel that you want to personally execute every member of [insert group of people here], burn the corpses in a fire, and piss in the ashes, then you should definitely blog about it. Self-censorship is for wimps and politicians. A few years ago, American lj abuse members attempted to ban some Russian bloggers (for posting something about murdering NATO soldiers, iirc). The Russian blogosphere exploded in indignation, and the lj management decided that the only way to sort out what was going on with its Russian-speaking users was to offload them to a Russian company. Hence, SUP, which acquired the rights to the Russian-speaking part of lj last year - and now, has bought the whole service.

    If the behavior that SUP has found acceptable in its segment of lj is anything to go by, lj filtering and censorship may be set to disappear entirely.

    1. Re:Prediction: no more censorship by porcupine8 · · Score: 1

      But LJ, Inc. will still be an American company - which means it will still be bound by American child pornography laws, right? Which is exactly what the latest uproar was about - could LJ itself get in legal trouble for hosting drawings of Snape and Harry doing it? The answer to that question doesn't change (or become any less muddy) if LJ, Inc.'s owners live in another country but the company itself is still here. (Btw, I think they've decided that drawings of fictional minors *don't* count legally as child porn, so feel free to post your Snarry.)

      --
      Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
    2. Re:Prediction: no more censorship by NightFears · · Score: 1

      lj filtering and censorship may be set to disappear entirely
      And that must be a bad thing, right?

    3. Re:Prediction: no more censorship by Vitriol+Angst · · Score: 1

      Wow. I could only dream about all the _INSERT FASCIST HERE_ I would like to urge others to destroy and remove them like the cancer they are.
      Of course, after about a month of everyone, probably saying the same thing about the same people _INSERT YOU KNOW WHO HERE_ we'd all kind of sit around wondering why the world was exactly the same as before the ranting, and also bemoan the lack of creativity we have about insinuating that someone kill that _INSERT EXPLETIVE HERE_ flea bag _INSERT GENDER HERE_ of a mother _INSERT EXPLETIVE HERE_ _INSERT EXPLETIVE HERE_ _INSERT EXPLETIVE HERE_ and such.

      Because we all know how creative people were about insinuating sex in the old days of film. One foot on the floor please. Wake up with a sweat.

      Personally, I believe Bush deserves a fair trial. And all the shrubs and weeds in my garden, are going to meet the judge -- that's what I call my Ho. No, not Jeff Gannon, that's the name of my Shovel. A trial is basically the process of digging things out of the ground. So complete coverage of all the weeds is fairness. Um, and of course, the Weed Killer is a WMD.

      --
      >>"ad space available -- low rates!!!"
  21. Death of an open source project by afree87 · · Score: 1

    Here's some of the dirt on SUP:

    http://community.livejournal.com/no_lj_ads/tag/sup

    This is basically going to mean that LJ, which was in a good position as an unincorporated open source project and a somewhat uncared for and misunderstood position under Six Apart, is being sold to a shoddy and inconsistent company an ocean away from half of its userbase. There is no guarantee that LiveJournal's new owners will take as good care of the seven years of information (ranging from useless to invaluable) its users have saved up.

    Let this stand as a warning to new community start-ups: pick who you deal with wisely, because once you sell there's no going back.

    1. Re:Death of an open source project by makomk · · Score: 1

      My personal favourites are:

      (a) the careless handling of users' LiveJournal login credentials (Livejournal itself stores them in plain text, so make sure you're not using the same password for anything else)

      (b) the amount of time it took them to fix the XSS hole on Livejournal.ru that, amongst other things, leaked every Livejournal user's identity - and therefore their journal URL - to any website that cared to obtain it. (Livejournal.ru automatically obtained it from Livejournal via OpenID - it was globally whitelisted with no way to block it.) IIRC, it was certainly weeks - probably months, actually - after it was made public before it got fixed.

  22. How do you solve a problem like MPD by lordandrei · · Score: 1

    I don't think Six Apart ever really knew exactly what to make of LJ

    I'm not entirely sure LJ ever really knew exactly what to make of LJ.

    New Shimmer may be a floor wax and a dessert topping, but LJ will always be trying to shoehorn blogging and social networking into the same box.

    1. Re:How do you solve a problem like MPD by makomk · · Score: 1

      I'm pretty sure LiveJournal predates the whole social networking movement, which is why it's not like other social networking sites...

    2. Re:How do you solve a problem like MPD by digitig · · Score: 1

      Depends what you call the "social networking movement". Computer based social networking existed for a long while before LiveJournal, going back to dial-up subscription services such as The Well http://www.well.com/ and CiX http://conferencing.cixonline.com/. It wasn't called social networking then, but that's what it was.

      --
      Quidnam Latine loqui modo coepi?
    3. Re:How do you solve a problem like MPD by foobsr · · Score: 1

      As a result of curiosity (did not know that before):
      "Community Memory was the first public computerized bulletin board system. Established in 1973 in Berkeley, California, it used an SDS 940 timesharing system in San Francisco connected via a 110 baud link to a teletype at a record store in Berkeley to let users enter and retrieve messages."

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Memory

      Even sounds like 'social networking environment'.

      CC.

      --
      TaijiQuan (Huang, 5 loosenings)
    4. Re:How do you solve a problem like MPD by mdwh2 · · Score: 1

      but LJ will always be trying to shoehorn blogging and social networking into the same box.

      And it works - I don't want a "social networking site" on its own, because it seems all there is to do is set up a profile and "add friends". I don't want a standalone blog, because it's a right pain for anyone to read it (RSS helps, but few people are using RSS readers), let alone things like setting it so that only certain people can see certain posts or leave comments (no one wants to have to have a login for every single blog they visit).

      In what way is it "shoehorned"?

    5. Re:How do you solve a problem like MPD by makomk · · Score: 1

      I was, of course, referring to the current ("next dotcom bubble") wave of social networking sites. Of course, computer based social networking has a long history, but it's not really the same thing...

    6. Re:How do you solve a problem like MPD by digitig · · Score: 1

      but it's not really the same thing... ...in that it now includes women?
      --
      Quidnam Latine loqui modo coepi?
  23. So... by Ilgaz · · Score: 1

    JWZ will have to write blog in Russian now?

    http://jwz.livejournal.com/

  24. Re:Forcibly Expanding International Interaction. Y by jaygridley · · Score: 1

    Im not so sure about the servers moving, sounds more like mainly money (and maybe people..?). From TFA: "SUP has launched an American company, LiveJournal, Inc., to manage and operate LiveJournal globally." Note the word American in that sentence.

  25. Re:Big News! The Rest Of the World Has Money Now by stoborrobots · · Score: 1

    Umm, from that site's data, Russia's share has _fallen_ over the last 26 years; from a high of almost 5% to today's 2.69%.... And USA has been flat at around 21% the entire time; China grew from 3% to 14%, India from 3% to 6%... And France, Spain and Italy have taken minor falls from 4-ish percent to 3-ish percent over that time... How does that equate to "getting more evenly distributed"?

    --
    "Go to CNN [for a] spell-checked, fact-checked summary" -- CmdrTaco
  26. Re:Forcibly Expanding International Interaction. Y by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't know about that... so far my experience has been completely opposite of what I see portrayed here.
    I don't find non-US/Euro sites to be more censored, it's been the other way around.

    Well, I've never been to an Iranian blogging site, so I wouldn't know about -that- of course, but stuff like japanese and russian sites etc.

    They seem a whole lot more outspoken than any western communities. Plus you always have to adhere to some sort of unwritten self-censoring on "our free" sites. There's a whole ton of shit that you don't say on certain/most major sites, unless you're starting the next onion site or what not.

    I've yet to even see that mentality outside "our" sites.
    There's also a TON of crap about (in this case) specifically US and Euro laws being super-imposed on other nations, due to sites being hosted there... so that won't be a new thing. (for instance, I'm norwegian. Why is there an association of fear in my mind about p2p and the fbi/riaa/etc? That shouldn't be there.)

  27. wow... LJ... by glassmusic · · Score: 0, Redundant

    i havent been on LJ for years. just the name conjures up some memories of sitting at my moms house, using our first PC (Pentium II ill have you know!). man, i dont miss being fifteen. ps... has anyone written an 'in soviet russia, journal writes you!' joke yet? probably the first comment beyond my threshold... sorry, i couldnt help it.

  28. Re:Big News! The Rest Of the World Has Money Now by hc5duke · · Score: 1

    I wish this chart went back further to really accentuate how much has changed over the past 15 years. The point being... Slowly but surely the world economy is getting more evenly distributed around the globe.

    Um, you're flat out wrong.

    First of all, the stats do go back 26 years, and if anything, it shows the Russian economy has shrunk almost by 1/2 in the last 26 years (4.68% in 1980, 2.69% in 2006, decrease of 42.5%), while the U.S. economy has stayed about the same (21.40% in 1980, 20.57% in 2006, decrease of less than 4%) in terms of percentage of world economy.

    Other notables:

    • China has gone from 3.22% to 13.99% (334% growth)
    • India has gone from 3.37% to 6.17% (83% growth)
    • Korea has gone from 0.819% to 1.86% (127% growth)
  29. Improved Customer Relations by Sarusa · · Score: 1

    (Troll hat on)

    Well it's not like the Russian mafia could be any worse at customer relations than Six Apart anyhow.

    1. Re:Improved Customer Relations by zombie_striptease · · Score: 1

      Sadly, that was pretty much my first thought. Even as someone who doesn't keep an LJ, I've been stunned by how badly they've handled each censorship snafu I've heard of. Accusing people in rape victim support groups of criminal intent was only one of their more hilarious fuck-ups.

  30. Very nice by apankrat · · Score: 1


    Very nice, very nice.
    How much ?

    --
    3.243F6A8885A308D313
    1. Re:Very nice by ringm000 · · Score: 1

      Not much at all, $30M only.

  31. Pure Coincidence or Kremlin Shenanigan? by reporter · · Score: 4, Interesting
    The Russian election for the Duma concluded on December 2. During this process, Golos was instrumental in identifying voting irregularities that skewed the vote in favor of United Russia, the pro-Kremlin party. Golos is an independent organization that monitors elections and receives funding from the United States and the European Union.

    Golos and its supporters have been maintaining a blog page at LiveJournal. You can read either the actual blog page in Russian or the English translation of the blog page. It contained plenty of damning evidence showing that the Kremlin had manipulated the election.

    Then, after the election concluded, a Moscow-based company acquired LiveJournal. Is the timing merely coincidence or is the Kremlin somehow connected to this business deal?

    1. Re:Pure Coincidence or Kremlin Shenanigan? by DJCacophony · · Score: 1

      The announcement was made before the election concluded, it was just posted on Slashdot afterwards. Maybe your correlation is backwards - the evil neo-soviet empire rigged the elections so they could control facebook! Damn putin and his majority approval ratings! If it weren't for that damned "majority" we would have somebody else in power now.

      --
      Slow Down, Cowboy! It's been 60 minutes since you last successfully posted a comment.
  32. Honk! Honk! by tripwirecc · · Score: 1

    I've a Last LJ 50 Pictures site bookmarked, to see at random what atrocities they're posting. Interestingly, when clicking one of the images, most of the LJ posts linked to were written in Russian. So I'm not really surprised that it's a Russian company who bought it.

  33. Malware, RBN, and you by Dachannien · · Score: 1

    Just remember, there's been a lot of malware coming out of Russia lately, particularly from the Russian Business Network. Will LiveJournal's new owners start giving us free popups and keyloggers as surprise gifts? Too early to know for certain, but this deal moves them a bit closer to RBN's arena, and zombifying LJ's userbase would be a big feather in their cap.

    Block your Flash and Javascript, just in case. 'Course, that's good advice no matter where you surf.

  34. ZheZhe, Russian media rules by migstradamus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Came to this late, so not sure if anyone who actually knows anything about LiveJournal in Russia or the Russian media has posted above. LiveJournal IS blogging in Russia, almost literally. Its acronym ZheZhe, for ZhivoiZhurnal, is what blogs are called generically. It has also proven relatively influential in a country where the television and major print media are under strict Kremlin control. Not as in the old Pravda days of one message one source, but with set themes to promote (temnyki), blacklists, and a long list of unmentionable topics.

    Less than 20% of the Russian population is online, but outbreaks of support for otherwise ignored cases on LiveJournal have actually made it to mainstream prominence. Liberal groups (and others) have used it for organizing. All this was more than enough to set off the alarm bells of the Kremlin media masters. There have already been many cases of direct repression of bloggers and other web presences online (not just on ) using the broad extremism act. The Kremlin is wary of broader action because they don't want to make enemies of the active Russian internet community.

    That's not the Putin model anyway, while what just happened to LiveJournal is exactly that. The annoying and/or potentially useful media entity is acquired by someone with tight Kremlin connections. Disloyal staff are replaced. Slowly or quickly, negative content about Putin and his administration disappears. Discussion is allowed as long as it doesn't cross the invisible line. The Putin regime has raised this to an art form, studying how the authoritarian governments of Serbia, Georgia, and Ukraine were toppled (all with a similar blueprint) and taking preventative action. The internet wasn't really much of a factor in those cases but with the increased penetration these days the Kremlin isn't taking any chances. They won't care about blogs not in Russian. Intimidation and a chilling effect is the point. The best repression is the kind you don't have to back up.

    Despite its overwhelming control, the Putin power structure is brittle and they have to figure out how to transition this power monopoly come the March 2, 2008 presidential elections. It's no coincidence that this move "against" LiveJournal comes now. It was a potential loose end that can now be bullied, or snipped off if necessary. Notices go out to all publishers/editors/reporters/users telling them they must comply with all laws, including the extremely vague act against extremism the regime uses to confiscate materials and harass critics across the country.

    The internet in Russia is in a precarious state. If it were more widespread and more heavily used as alternative media it would attract the Kremlin attention it has largely escaped so far. Other than the DDOS attacks opposition sites are hit by on a regular basis. (A la the Estonian sites during their diplomatic row with Russia. Our Russian sites kasparov.ru and namarsh.ru get hammered regularly.)

    The optimists and Putin apologists inside and outside of Russia have been proven wrong again and again. Of course he won't... and he does. He doesn't care how something looks to the West as long as it doesn't affect his bottom line and the grasp on power. They have a huge amount of money at stake, the only thing he and his gang really care about. LiveJournal is just another piece in the game.

    Saludos, Mig Greengard

    Editor, http://theotherrussia.org/

    1. Re:ZheZhe, Russian media rules by tetromino · · Score: 3, Interesting

      If (when?) SUP starts actively censoring livejournal (thus far, its moves have been restricted to wordfiltering dpni), all the interesting people will simply migrate to any one of dozens of lj clones, and the less-interesting people will gradually follow. The internet interprets censorship as damage etc. It's not like television, where the opposition eventually ran out of channels. The only real way for Putin to restrict the freedom of blogging is with a China-style filtering setup - and AFAIK, no Russian official has mentioned any plans to do anything of the sort. So far.

    2. Re:ZheZhe, Russian media rules by eulernet · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Don't forget that they have access to all the IP logs.
      Since they are able to locate people from their IP, they will be able to find the people behind the blogs (I'll let you guess what they do to their opponents).

      It's a known manipulation technique used by Scientologists: never defend, always attack.
      When you cannot shut your opponents, keep attacking them. If you have more resources, the opponent will eventually break or stop.

      It's a sad day for Russia's democracy, and democracy in general.

    3. Re:ZheZhe, Russian media rules by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      While not disagreeing with the concerns that Russian ownerships of LJ may bring censorship and repressions, especially against Russian-based bloggers, I do want to voice some perspective.

      The Other Russia is a social group broadly aligned against Putin. This places them on board with people like Novodvorskaya, who is so rabidly anti-Russian (and thereby anti-Putin) as to practically be a maniac, and Politkovskaya, who was essentially an apologist for Chechen terrorists.
      It also frequently engages in spin and disinformation.

      Two examples from the above rhetoric:

      1) "authoritarian governments of Serbia, Georgia, and Ukraine". Yes, those evil authoritarian governments were toppled, and were replaced by responsive, representative democratic governments we have today....like say, those of Saakashvilli - who is a little demented creep with Napoleonic ambitions who has driven the Georgian economy into the sewer and engages in repression of dissenting voices with an ardor of a pitbull on PCP. And this is not even the 'gentle repression' we have with Putin. This is the hardcore, 'jackboots in broad daylight' kind of deal. Or, for that matter, the government of Ukraine, headed by Yushenko and Yulia Timoshenko. Timoshenko herself appears to be channeling Rockefeller, with her unbounded "captains-of-industry" greed which she's been able to promote thanks to her political ties. Let's not get started on Yushenko who is essentially a bumbling pawn for his American string pullers.
      Which brings us to the important point: those "authoritarian governments" were "toppled" by the same model - that our friend is correct about - what he disingenuously fails to state is that they were carefully engineering by American influences, with American money and American advisers. Effectively, what you are saying is that Putin is at fault for learning from the past and desiring to prevent an American-based revolution. How evil of him.

      2) "...he doesn't care how something looks to the West" Oh I'm sorry, he doesn't? Oh say it ain't so! This wouldn't resemble a certain Western democracy that unilaterally invaded a sovereign nation under false pretenses, all the while ignoring the UN, the world, and its own people saying 'There are no WMDs in Iraq'. Surely not. No, Russia is the only evil nation to "ignore" the rest of the World's opinions. Give me break.

      I do not fundamentally understand why you, as a Russian citizen have so much sympathy for the US. If you like it so much, move there. But stop applying double standards to Putin. Yes he has done bad things, yes his people have been repressive, and for all I know he may in fact be evil - though I hope what we've seen is overzealous assistants. But you're acting like a brainless cheerleader for the West, and that's why you have the image of a hack writer and shill. You want to criticize the regime - good for you. Just do it honestly.

    4. Re:ZheZhe, Russian media rules by migstradamus · · Score: 1

      Nice argument. "If you don't like it, leave." Always a classic. Perhaps some people love their country and want to live there but don't like the way it's being run. Imagine that. That's why an Other Russia slogan is "For Russia, Against Putin."

      I thought we were discussing Russia. What does Iraq or the US have to do with anything? This is a fairly sophisticated audience for such amateur trolling, I would hope. Same for the distraction about Georgia and Ukraine. I was pointing out that similar groups of largely US govt and Soros-funded activists following a similar blueprint led to the overthrows of the named countries and that Russia took preventative measures. This was relevant to the LiveJournal discussion, unlike anything in your response.

      You don't seem to be aware of what The Other Russia even is. Social group? It's a broad, non-ideological coalition of political and human rights groups, from liberals to nationalists. The only thing our members have in common is the desire to have free and fair elections.

      Ah yes, all criticism of Putin is from "brainless cheerleading of the West." You'd make a good Nashi member with that logic. Sorry, you can be anti-Putin and not care about the US whatsoever, or think its politics are a corporate wasteland. I didn't even mention the West, let alone loving it. Putin is bad for Russia and for Russians, at least the 85% who aren't benefiting from the energy windfall. The West has been perfectly happy to deal with Putin, actually. As far as can be seen, they would love to have Putin stay for another 20 years just like they embrace dictatorship in Azerbaijan because it's convenient for pipelines and such.

    5. Re:ZheZhe, Russian media rules by Inzite · · Score: 1

      Thanks for your insight and well thought out reply.

      However, why do you think the acquisition of livejournal by a Russian company has a political motive? On the surface it seems like "good business". You said it yourself, livejournal _IS_ blogging for Russians.

      I don't know the company SUP very well. Do you have any reason to believe it's in any way connected with individuals or companies who tow the Kremlin line? This information is easy enough to come by.

      Also, I wouldn't say the internet in Russia is in a precarious state. To me it seems quite alive and free, and growing.

    6. Re:ZheZhe, Russian media rules by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm not an American, and I think the re-emergence of fascist craziness in Russia is shit too. Does that make me a "brainless cheerleader for the West"? Fuck off.

    7. Re:ZheZhe, Russian media rules by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm reading your post and remember all the propaganda I heard on 1-st Russian channel (http://1tv.ru) What alternative sources of information are you using to make up your mind?

  35. And we can already see the reaction by temcat · · Score: 1

    Prominent Russian bloggers are already leaving LJ - or at least opening their blogs elsewhere (greatestjournal, blogspot etc.)

  36. Re:Big News! The Rest Of the World Has Money Now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    26 years ago there was no Russia. There was Soviet Union.

    Soviet Union = Russia + Ukraine + Belarus + Lithuania + Latvia + Estonia + Kazakhstan + Uzbekistan + Tajikistan + Turkmenistan + Kyrgyzstan + Azerbaijan + Armenia + Georgia + Moldova

  37. New slogan? by DoofusOfDeath · · Score: 1

    All your content are belong to us?

  38. Livejournal, Inc will be American by porcupine8 · · Score: 1

    The company running LJ - LJ, Inc - will continue to be an American company and most likely hosted here. It will just be *owned* by a Russian company.

    --
    Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
  39. not to you by Tonik,+the · · Score: 1

    to us

  40. Tired of hearing the "race" card. by Khyber · · Score: 1

    Especially since it's the HUMAN RACE. If you're going to make bad remarks about an ethnic group, you're an ethnicist, not a racist.

    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  41. OMG yes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You got that right. Happened twice to me, thank you Six Apart. Phantom, mystery charges...

  42. Re:Big News! The Rest Of the World Has Money Now by juan2074 · · Score: 1

    And I'm sure a lot of Slashdotters around the world are thinking:

    What does a single country's share of the world economy tell us about any single company in that country? Why can't a Russian company buy LiveJournal? Why couldn't an Estonian or Honduran company buy LiveJournal? Why couldn't Kim Jong-Il buy it?

    Those statistics tell you very little about the economies of each country -- including purchasing power, per-capita GDP and income, imports, exports, government vs. private sector revenues and spending, corporate & individual tax rates, employment, foreign investment, etc.

  43. Trains Run On Time by meehawl · · Score: 1

    Putin is doing wonders for the economy. Russia is one of the fastest developing countries on the planet, and will continue to grow that way for at least the next 5-10 years. The reason Russia is controlled by one party is because that one party is doing wonderful things for the average living standards of people across the country.

    Yes, I've heard he really got the trains running on time.

    --

    Da Blog
  44. Munitions Exporter? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So if we publish, say, some RSA algorithms in our blogs for discussion, we'll be munitions exporters?

  45. Russian Media Company by tehcyder · · Score: 1

    Did anyone else misread this as Russian Mafia Company?

    --
    To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it