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Celebrated Russian Hacker Now In Exile
An anonymous reader writes: VKontakte is a Russian social network, more popular there than even Facebook. Its founder, Pavel Durov, was a celebrity for his entrepreneurial skills, much like Mark Zuckerberg elsewhere. But as Russia has cracked down on internet freedoms, 30-year-old Durov had to relinquish control of the social network. He eventually fled the country when the government pressured him to release data on Ukrainian protest leaders. He's now a sort of roving hacker, showing up where he's welcome and not staying too long. "Mr. Durov, known for his subversive wit and an all-black wardrobe that evokes Neo from the Matrix movies, is now a little-seen nomad, moving from country to country every few weeks with a small band of computer programmers. One day he is in Paris, another in Singapore." Durov said, "I'm very happy right now without any property anywhere. I consider myself a legal citizen of the world."
With Putin giving the US a black eye by harbouring Edward Snowden, maybe this guy will find sanctuary in the US? :)
Oh, wait...
One Ukrainian says to another:
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Run?
He's in Exile living well. I've thought of going there but plane fare is expensive to Exile and there's this long layover in Timbuktu.
It's even harder when you are on a Lamb. The TSA won't let you through security on the Lamb and let's not get into bording the plane.
When your net-worth is 7 figures at a minimum, that's a bit easier to do.
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
Yes, it is. That one police state is slightly less worse than another doesn't change that both are police states.
Hackers are criminals. Why am I supposed to feel sorry for a criminal?
Why am I supposed to feel sorry when you are wrongfully accused as one?
It's always funny to see that ignorant look on people's faces as the shoe slips on the other foot...
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/20...
The Russian Internet giant Mail.ru said on Tuesday that it had bought the remaining stake in Vkontakte, the country’s largest social network, that it did not already own for $1.47 billion.
Mail.ru is owned by Alisher B. Usmanov.
From http://qz.com/268023/this-puti... :
Usmanov is one of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s “oligarchs,” a group of businessmen with close ties to the Kremlin, and last year Putin awarded him Russia’s highest civilian award, the Order for Service to the Fatherland.
That ought to clear up who is running/owns VKontakte.
Hackers are not criminals. Hacking is not illegal (not in the US nor Russian Federation).
I'm starting to think GNU is the problem with "GNU/Linux" these days.
And what has Durov done that was traitorous or cowardly?
And for that matter, Snowden was a patriot, and far from a coward. A coward would have kept his mouth shut.
I'm starting to think GNU is the problem with "GNU/Linux" these days.
lam 2 |lam| informal noun (in phrase on the lam) in flight, esp. from the police: he went on the lam and is living under a false name.
http://www.acetonestudio.com
He may consider himself a citizen of the world, but the people with guns do not. I don't see this ending well.
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
how is moving around the world on a Russian passport?
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
I'm not getting it, then. If the Kremlin now has its guy owning VKontakte, why would they give a shit about Durov? They wanted data on Ukrainian protest leaders, which they can now get from Mail.ru, so why would they care about him one way or another? The big reason to go after him would be that ostensibly, he has all that data, but if he doesn't and his (now ex) company has it, and would give it, then what's his value to Moscow?
Also, Ukrainian protest leaders means what? Pro-Russian separatists in the Donbass, right? If that's the case, it should be easy for Moscow to get their details, since they're supporting them. Why would they need a third party - Durov/VKontakte - to spill their guts for them?
If it means anti-Russian protesters in Ukraine, those guys are morons to put their data w/ a Russian organization, of all things. Doesn't FaceBook support Ukrainian, amongst other languages?
citation needed
Ask any Russian today, why his country invaded Crimea — and they'll tell you, it was done to "protect the Russian-speaking population from the Nazis in Kiev". The joke has plenty of truth to it, though, I suppose, Germans in Czechoslovakia were making similar jokes in 1938...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Sort of. Snowden joined the NSA with the explicit goal of "exposing" them. I don't disagree with his actions, but it's not like he was an unwitting dupe that stumbled onto wrong-doing. He had an agenda; mission successful.
Are you sure that hacking your roomba wouldnt be illegal? I'm sure there's some kind of esoteric clause in the TOS/EULA/70 page licensing agreement. and god help your soul if you try teaching other people to modify iRobot's intellectual property on their 'own' device.
replace 'hacking roomba' with 'jailbreaking* your phone' or "modifying your console's firmware"
*is the exemption to this still in place?
Not quite true, he was initially involved in the industry and became concerned, then deliberately took a job to give himself higher access so he could act on that concern.
I remember sigs. Oh, a simpler time!
All those 'businessmen' tend to dump all results of their incompetence and infighting on government. Always government at fault in Russia, even for things it's not remotely involved in. Local cultural flavor. Pretty much everyone has proven and detailed theory that the government is after him personally! It's easier to pretend to be Sakharov than getting actual work done.
Also Dunning - Kruger effect applies to selection of government officials too, especially elected ones. Anyone remotely skilled would stay out of government and procrastinate. Putin is a lot better than he could be(at least he's not near senile like Yeltsin), but mostly parroting western ideas of governance.
I 'rooted' my phone a few weeks ago, and discovered that the Kindle books on it could be pulled out of the hidden directory onto my PC and converted to unlocked EPUB files using calibre.
That borders on hacking, though it's really just script-kidding at the level I did it (easy to follow guides online.)
eggcorn |egg korn| noun In linguistics, an eggcorn is an idiosyncratic substitution of a word or phrase for a word or words that sound similar or identical in the speaker's dialect (sometimes called oronyms). The new phrase introduces a meaning that is different from the original, but plausible in the same context, such as "old-timers' disease" for "Alzheimer's disease".
humor
(h)yoomr
noun
noun: humour
1. the quality of being amusing or comic, especially as expressed in literature or speech. "his tales are full of humor"
Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.
Yet another red herring from âoeanonymousâ/PsyOps. There are no such things as Internet âoefreedomsâ anywhere that Russia could have âoecracked downâ on.
Cats shit inside though. Dogs generally shit outside, where it can be left to naturally degrade in peace.
So the guy's rich enough to fly himself to a different country every day, and the only downside is he can't go back to Russia?
Where do I sign up?
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
That we heard rumours facebook in the bed with the government, and the russian equivalent fled because of life principles and getting a spine. Very telling.
Correction: Fatherland is Germany and putin's empire is called Mother Russia.
Correction to your Correction:
The Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" (Russian: ) is a state decoration of the Russian Federation. It was instituted on March 2, 1994 by Presidential Decree 442.[1] Until the re-establishment of the Order of St. Andrew in 1998, it was the highest Order of the Russian Federation, though it is still the highest Civilian decoration of the state.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O...
So Mother Russia is a fatherland? No wonder Putin cracks down on gays
Not just that, if oil was the overriding factor, then in 1991, when Saddam conquered Kuwait, the US could have simply recognized his annexation, and that would have opened up the oil of both Kuwait & Iraq to the US. Had Saddam gone on to overrun Saudi Arabia, Qatar & Emirates, then the US would have had to grease the palms (in a manner of speaking) of just one man - Saddam - to get all the oil it wanted at the price it wanted. And have a Damocles sword hanging over him threatening to remove him if he dared hike prices.
Its not the US vs Russia vs China vs Iran anymore
Its the collective people vs the state.