putin

Russia demands broad UN role in Net governance, leak reveals

commentary The Russian Federation is calling on the United Nations to take over key aspects of Internet governance, including addressing and naming, according to documents leaked on Friday from an upcoming treaty conference.

The Russians made their proposal on November 13 in the lead-up to December's World Conference on International Communications in Dubai. The conference will consider revisions to the International Telecommunications Regulations (ITRs), a treaty overseen by the UN's International Telecommunications Union (ITU). The treaty has not been revised since 1988, before the emergence of the commercial Internet.

Russia's proposals would, if adopted, dramatically affect Internet … Read more

Wikipedia blackout in Russia to protest censorship

Wikipedia shut down for 24 hours, just six months ago, joining a massive Web protest in the U.S. over the proposed anti-piracy laws SOPA and PIPA. Now, it's stepping up again in a major Internet revolt against online censorship in Russia.

According to The Next Web, the Russian government is looking to amend a law called the "Act for Information." The proposed changes to the law could lead to sweeping censorship of the Internet, including the complete closure of Wikipedia in Russia.

Wikipedia posted a statement in Russian on its Web site, which The Next Web … Read more

Russian campaign: Strip for Putin, win an iPad 2?

Leave it to Russia to combine nudity, politics, and gadgets. With a presidential election approaching in 2012, an active movement is under way to get popular former president and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin back into the presidential seat.

What better way to drum up support for the candidate than having women who support Putin appear to suggest stripping down for a chance at winning an iPad 2? According to an article in The Telegraph, a video proposing just that showed up on parliamentarian Kirill Shchitov's blog. You can check it out below. Don't worry. It's safe for work.

The busty woman in the video scribbles, "I will tear my clothes off for Putin" on a tank top with blazing red lipstick. The iPad 2 makes a sultry cameo appearance for incentive. (Clarification, 1:52 p.m. PT: There is some debate as to whether the girls in the vid are literally talking about stripping or are simply using a Russian pun for "I will tear" to say they love Putin so much they will tear anyone apart who is against him and show it by ripping their clothes apart.)

In any case, the video is definitely suggestive, as the girl featured in it says, "Please upload a video where you tear something or someone apart for your president" and she proceeds to tear her shirt apart. The campaign comes courtesy of a group that calls itself Putin's Army. Women are encouraged to submit videos of themselves tearing their clothes for Putin, and one lucky winner will take home an Apple tablet.… Read more

Buzz Out Loud 900: Jurassic bark

Today's show is full of zombies, Hollywood agents, hungry, overeating robots, and cloned dogs. What's not to love? We also find out a hidden truth about Natali that none of us suspected. It involves her ideal pet. In and among all that good stuff we'll even find time to talk about Net neutrality and ISP filtering. Word. (Thanks to Sam from Melbourne for today's podcast artwork!)

Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 900

Putin-Dell slap down at Davos http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/28/news/companies/dell.davos.fortune/index.htm

Google fans Net … Read more

Dude, Putin is so not getting a Dell

Many have by now learned that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is a bit, uh, prickly. But Michael Dell found out first hand at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday.

During the opening of the show, Putin gave a wide-ranging, 40-minute speech. When it came time for questions, Dell asked "How can we help" you with your country's IT infrastructure, according to a report in Fortune.

Putin immediately rebuffed the PC company's founder. "We don't need your help. We are not invalids. We don't have limited mental capacity," Putin … Read more