Regarding the recent DDoSings
As anybody who visited any part of Livejournal for the past few days noticed, our fair blogging platform has been subjected to two Denial of Service attacks. The Russian-speaking Internet is abuzz with conspiracy theories. Left-leaning groups are convinced that this was a conspiracy orchestrated by United Russia party leadership against either opposition in general or some opposition party/comm/individual LJer. Many are convinced that of Nashi ("Ours") movement, the youth wing of the United Russia, was somehow involved. They argue that, with elections coming up, United Russia wants to stop its opponents from getting their messages out. The more right-leaving bloggers are blaming their usual scapegoat - those dastardly Westerners - arguing that the evil Western secret service agencies are out to undermine United Russia/Russian Patriots/Russia in general.
The more I read about those conspiracies, the less I am convinced that any of them are actually true.
First of all, Livejournal is still the blogging platform of choice for most Russians (and residents of most other former Soviet republics). Shutting it down would cripple everyone - United Russia, Communists, the liberal factions, the right-wing factions, etc. While I am sure United Russia would prefer to have greater control of Livejournal, I am not convinced that it would be willing to shut down Livejournal altogether. It would be like American governemnt trying to DDoS Blogspot or Facebook to combat Wikileaks supporters.
Second of all, according to igrick, SUP's Director of , commented that the latest attack seemed to be directed against Livejournal in general rather than any user (or group of users) and particular. This makes me think that what we actually have here is hackers showing off. Disabling Russia's biggest blogging platform is no mean feat, and its bound to earn bragging right somewhere.
Third of all, lots of people assume that United Russia has an iron grip on everything and everyone, which is giving them way too much credit. I refer to the current Russian government as the autocracy for a reason. While United Russia wields considerable power, it has powerful forces to contend with - oligarchs, mafiya and other criminal organization, powerful local leaders, etc. The country is still riddled with corruption. And United Russia itself isn't as monolithic as people assume. Again, people assume that United Russia does anything Putin says. But, as the past few years have shown, President Medvedyev is not exactly powerless, and there are other leaders who aren't afraid of trying to flex their muscles every once in a while.
In short - blaming United Russia assumes that they have more power and greater ability to marshal their rank-and-file than they actually do.
Until there is evidence to prove otherwise, I am going to assume that United Russia wasn't involved. And while I would not be surprised if some members of Nashi are behind this, I doubt they were acting under official orders.
Now, I just have to wait until Livejournal goes back online
The more I read about those conspiracies, the less I am convinced that any of them are actually true.
First of all, Livejournal is still the blogging platform of choice for most Russians (and residents of most other former Soviet republics). Shutting it down would cripple everyone - United Russia, Communists, the liberal factions, the right-wing factions, etc. While I am sure United Russia would prefer to have greater control of Livejournal, I am not convinced that it would be willing to shut down Livejournal altogether. It would be like American governemnt trying to DDoS Blogspot or Facebook to combat Wikileaks supporters.
Second of all, according to igrick, SUP's Director of , commented that the latest attack seemed to be directed against Livejournal in general rather than any user (or group of users) and particular. This makes me think that what we actually have here is hackers showing off. Disabling Russia's biggest blogging platform is no mean feat, and its bound to earn bragging right somewhere.
Third of all, lots of people assume that United Russia has an iron grip on everything and everyone, which is giving them way too much credit. I refer to the current Russian government as the autocracy for a reason. While United Russia wields considerable power, it has powerful forces to contend with - oligarchs, mafiya and other criminal organization, powerful local leaders, etc. The country is still riddled with corruption. And United Russia itself isn't as monolithic as people assume. Again, people assume that United Russia does anything Putin says. But, as the past few years have shown, President Medvedyev is not exactly powerless, and there are other leaders who aren't afraid of trying to flex their muscles every once in a while.
In short - blaming United Russia assumes that they have more power and greater ability to marshal their rank-and-file than they actually do.
Until there is evidence to prove otherwise, I am going to assume that United Russia wasn't involved. And while I would not be surprised if some members of Nashi are behind this, I doubt they were acting under official orders.
Now, I just have to wait until Livejournal goes back online