RWB Reports On Kremlin’s Battle With Netizens
Yesterday, Reporters Without Borders released their 2012 report on “Enemies of the Internet.” Their report on Russia notes how widened Internet access has promoted the mobilization of civil society and how the government has, correspondingly, amplified its means strategies for controlling it. Examples of cyber attacks, increase surveillance of “extremist material” and pressure on individual bloggers are all mentioned in the report, which can be read here. The organization’s findings also note how in the pre-election period, highly popular social networking site VKontakte became a powerful forum for rallying regional opposition protests, and incurred the wrath of the FSB as a result: