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Russian court fines Alphabet's Google 7.2 bln roubles
- i67vw3 5y agoAround 100 Million USD
- azinman2 5y agoSeems like a small price to pay to not comply with censorship.
- RealityVoid 5y agoAlthough people love to gang up complaining about Google, I would not necessarily celebrate this. I am sure these decissions are oftentimes more politically based and not sure if a country should really decide what should or should not be availabe on the internet.
- DaiPlusPlus 5y agoI note this is happening right before Russia is (imo) about to invade Ukraine again. Governments can get-away with outrageous things when there's a war going on to distract everyone, and what better way to drum-up support for a war anyway by making it easier to control what people can see online (or least: by making it ever increasingly more difficult to see independent news sources - you don't need to block content outright e.g. by banning Google like China did, just change the defaults: e.g. pass a law requiring all computers and phones sold in the country to have their home-pages set to Pravda.ru or something.
- dragonwriter 5y ago> I note this is happening right before Russia is (imo) about to invade Ukraine again. “Again” implies that Russia had at some point stopped invading Ukraine, which is very much not the case.
- DiabloD3 5y agoRussia has been trying to invade Ukraine since 1991.
- theplumber 5y agoWhat about Crimea? Or you think it was invaded by "patriots"?
- shostack 5y agoAlso, Russia may need the money. Wars are expensive.
- Zigurd 5y agoRussia is looking at increasing disconnection from the West. Might as well collect some fines on their way into isolation.
- ocdtrekkie 5y agoI think people are being naive if they don't see this as the future across the board: The Internet simply can't exist outside or above the law of the land. It's a very powerful communication tool, but it still physically exists within countries with varying laws and customs. I doubt the Internet will truly fracture into individual networks completely, but you should expect things to be selective on what is shared between borders, just like with everything else. China and Russia have strong political reasons to be ahead of the curve on this, but I would expect many other countries to begin to follow suit for reasons of national security: Cyberattacks absolutely can cause loss of life, and it's a matter of time until it happens on a large scale.
- mycall 5y agoI wonder how Russia and China prevents satellite internet. Threats of destroying the satellites?
- cute_boi 5y agocan't we ban it easily just by not allowing the radio devices? (I don't know how trivial is to make satellites internet connector like dishes etc.)
- ansgri 5y agoPowerful transmitters are most certainly heavily regulated.
- datameta 5y agoThat's MAD, but for global satellite usage due to Kessler Syndrome.
- FpUser 5y ago>"Russia has ordered companies to delete posts promoting drug abuse and dangerous pastimes, information about homemade weapons and explosives, as well as ones by groups it designates as extremist or terrorist." Personally I am against of this kind of regulation but frankly I do not see anything outrageous. Assuming they're not marking legitimate discussions as extremists.
- yaris 5y agoBasically this is exactly ehat they do. FBK (Anti-Corruption Fund) is declared ”extremist organization” in Russia for it discloses corruption among Russian gov-t and top administration. And Google is guilty of not removing information from/about FBK.
- FpUser 5y agoWell that sucks of course.
- joedoejr 5y agoThe groups that designates as extremist or terrorist include FBK and Projekt.media who exposing corruption and war crimes of Russia rulers and their oligarch walkets.
- throwaway21_ 5y agoSo something like Assange.
- lostmsu 5y agoYes, except US government does not try to order Google to delist Wikileaks. And has not tried to poison the man. AFAIK.
- throwawaylinux 5y agoHillary Clinton inquired about murdering him with a drone. I'm sure many others were thinking it or saying it. And America has had other people (including its own citizens) executed outside the judicial system.
- john_moscow 5y agoI think, it's a purely economical thing. Most large businesses in Russia are owned by people affiliated in one or other way with the current leadership (Vladimir Putin and friends). This has been gradually achieved by "raiding" independent Russian companies - making their business model unviable by selectively applying laws or threatening to jail original owners, and then buying them for a fraction of the cost. Now that they have deployed and tested the infrastructure to block arbitrary Internet traffic (that started a few years ago under a guise of combating pedophilia), they will use it to transfer the market share from companies not owned by the "group of friends" to their Russian equivalents. In other words, they want Google to exit the Russian market, because its market share will then go to Yandex and Mail.ru, owned by the "right" people. And if Google doesn't do it voluntarily, they will just block it like they blocked LinkedIn [0]. [0] https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-38014501 https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-38014501
- riclad 5y agoIt's clear that Russia is moving in the same direction of China, ban and erase all data or video, audio uploads that criticise the government or even make space for a wide range of diverse voices from protestors or just small minority groups whose opinions and right to free speech might not be in line with official government policy Since big tech company's have millions of users they are a prime target for government censors and they have the money to pay large fines
- tut-urut-utut 5y agoWhy would they allow their media to be dominated by companies controlled by country that’s primary goal since at least 75 years is to see Russia destroyed? Looks like a move in the right direction from their pov.
- robbedpeter 5y agoMost Americans have a pretty favorable view of Russian citizens and culture. It's the dictators for life and abuses of civil liberty we take issue with. We want to see a better life for all human beings that doesn't involve jackboots on necks, it's got nothing to do with wanting to "see Russia destroyed." Personally, though, I do get irritated with straw men, fake outrage, and false dichotomy when it's trotted out to justify the actions of tyrants in pursuit of tyranny.
- JohnHaugeland 5y agoIt's hard to imagine that anyone believes that America's primary goal for 75 years has been to see Russia destroyed. Maybe you should try reading some non-native history books
- tut-urut-utut 5y agoSorry, the primary goal is not to destroy Russia. It's just a world domination, and destroying Russia is just a top task on the list of achieving and maintaining world domination, not a primary goal. And given the later rise of China, destroying Russia may even drop to place 2 of the US task list.
- ngcc_hk 5y agoI wonder why china and Russia just fine and get war money from whoever they want.
- mensetmanusman 5y ago$100M could buy you dozens of well connected lawyers to drag this out for decades.