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Celebrated Russian Hacker Now In Exile

Posted by Soulskill on from the hoping-the-next-leap-will-be-the-leap-home dept.

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."

5 of 130 comments (clear)

  1. Snowden revenge? by dskoll · · Score: 5, Funny

    With Putin giving the US a black eye by harbouring Edward Snowden, maybe this guy will find sanctuary in the US? :)

    1. Re:Snowden revenge? by dskoll · · Score: 5, Insightful

      When all is said and done, the US is still a helluva lot freer than Russia. But I was being facetious; the last place he should go is the USA or we'd see a Snowden - Durov swap in the blink of an eye.

    2. Re:Snowden revenge? by flyingsquid · · Score: 5, Funny

      Or maybe both of them can go into exile together in a third country. And Julian Assange can go there too. And they'll share an apartment together. It'd make a great sitcom. "Three hacker dissidents exiled from their native countries... now they're all living in one house! See what kind of wacky adventures they get into!"

  2. Re:Snowden vs Durov by armanox · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.
  3. Re:A Ukrainian joke by SLot · · Score: 5, Funny

    Haha, touche! Half of me wants very much to see my friends in kyiv, dnepropetrovsk & lviv, but the other half says wait a little while longer....

    also: What do Putin, oil and the ruble have in common? They all hit 63 next year. ;)