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LJ's latest DDoS attack
Looking at "Latest Things" here on DW clued me in...and yeah. LJ will probably be down for the better part of the week:
Russian Internet gives election voice to opposition
By Anna Malpas (AFP) – 8 hours ago
MOSCOW — As Russia becomes Europe's largest Internet user, online media and blogs burst with vociferous criticism of the authorities, exposing political scandals and abuses ignored by state media.
Whether it's a Twitter poster parodying President Dmitry Medvedev or a YouTube video of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin being whistled, the Internet is seething with subversive commentary ahead of Sunday's legislative polls.
Russia came late to mass Internet penetration, but in September it overtook Germany as the European country with the most Internet users: 50.8 million aged over 15, according to Comscore ratings agency.
Putin famously dismissed the Internet last year as "50 percent pornography", but the Russian-language sector is more and more dictating the news agenda despite the state domination of print and television media.
What's less clear is whether the mood of protest against Putin's ruling party United Russia on the Internet will translate into concrete support for any opposition party.
State television, with its Kremlin-dominated news, is still Russians' main source of information. But almost a quarter of Russians say they get most their news from the Internet, with its access to uncensored news and opinion.
"Twenty-four percent, this is a very serious figure," federal mass media agency chief Mikhail Seslavinsky told journalists this month, adding that 53 percent use the Internet to read news.
The increasing use of the Internet has posed problems for United Russia, which has found itself mercilessly mocked by critical bloggers.
When Alexei Navalny, an influential blogger who won fame exposing corruption at state companies, coined a slogan for United Russia: the "party of swindlers and thieves", it spread uncontrollably, even appearing on car window stickers.
"Just using the Internet, without having access to other media, neither television nor print, Navalny carried out an intervention with a slogan," said Alexander Morozov, a political analyst and director of the Moscow Centre of Media Studies.
"It defines the perception of United Russia for millions of people now."
United Russia officials have themselves jumped on the Internet bandwagon, but with mixed results.
While Medvedev's blog largely repeats his official statements, he was the most cited blogger in Russian media in the second week of November, according to Medialogiya analysis agency.
Yet he is shadowed on Twitter by "KermlinRussia", a satirical account that parodies his posts. Last year the site, which nicknames the president "a wimp", won a national prize for the best micro blog.
Putin has not flirted with social media, but is also widely mocked online.
In a much discussed incident this month, the audience at a bloody no-holds barred fight event at Olimpiisky stadium in Moscow whistled and booed as Putin gave a speech on live television.
The boos were edited out of state television news, but a YouTube video has been watched more than 2.7 million times.
"What I wrote about a year ago is coming true: either the regime will destroy the Internet, or the Internet will destroy the regime," responded outspoken commentator Yulia Latynina in Novaya Gazeta newspaper.
Other commentators were more cautious however, on how far the Internet could influence the national vote.
"The Internet and social media are just instruments," said Morozov. "The most important factor is the position of the new urban middle class, plus the intentions of the parliamentary opposition."
Opposition activist, blogger and journalist Roman Dobrokhotov said he was deeply sceptical about the polls, but called the Internet an indicator of a general disillusionment with politics.
"I think that now, after Putin was whistled in Olimpiisky, and with the fact that discontentment with Putin is growing among ordinary people, this is a general turning point. The Internet is just one of the instruments."
Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved.
Alexei Navalny's blog is hosted on LJ, and has been the target of these attacks in the past.
Russian Internet gives election voice to opposition
By Anna Malpas (AFP) – 8 hours ago
MOSCOW — As Russia becomes Europe's largest Internet user, online media and blogs burst with vociferous criticism of the authorities, exposing political scandals and abuses ignored by state media.
Whether it's a Twitter poster parodying President Dmitry Medvedev or a YouTube video of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin being whistled, the Internet is seething with subversive commentary ahead of Sunday's legislative polls.
Russia came late to mass Internet penetration, but in September it overtook Germany as the European country with the most Internet users: 50.8 million aged over 15, according to Comscore ratings agency.
Putin famously dismissed the Internet last year as "50 percent pornography", but the Russian-language sector is more and more dictating the news agenda despite the state domination of print and television media.
What's less clear is whether the mood of protest against Putin's ruling party United Russia on the Internet will translate into concrete support for any opposition party.
State television, with its Kremlin-dominated news, is still Russians' main source of information. But almost a quarter of Russians say they get most their news from the Internet, with its access to uncensored news and opinion.
"Twenty-four percent, this is a very serious figure," federal mass media agency chief Mikhail Seslavinsky told journalists this month, adding that 53 percent use the Internet to read news.
The increasing use of the Internet has posed problems for United Russia, which has found itself mercilessly mocked by critical bloggers.
When Alexei Navalny, an influential blogger who won fame exposing corruption at state companies, coined a slogan for United Russia: the "party of swindlers and thieves", it spread uncontrollably, even appearing on car window stickers.
"Just using the Internet, without having access to other media, neither television nor print, Navalny carried out an intervention with a slogan," said Alexander Morozov, a political analyst and director of the Moscow Centre of Media Studies.
"It defines the perception of United Russia for millions of people now."
United Russia officials have themselves jumped on the Internet bandwagon, but with mixed results.
While Medvedev's blog largely repeats his official statements, he was the most cited blogger in Russian media in the second week of November, according to Medialogiya analysis agency.
Yet he is shadowed on Twitter by "KermlinRussia", a satirical account that parodies his posts. Last year the site, which nicknames the president "a wimp", won a national prize for the best micro blog.
Putin has not flirted with social media, but is also widely mocked online.
In a much discussed incident this month, the audience at a bloody no-holds barred fight event at Olimpiisky stadium in Moscow whistled and booed as Putin gave a speech on live television.
The boos were edited out of state television news, but a YouTube video has been watched more than 2.7 million times.
"What I wrote about a year ago is coming true: either the regime will destroy the Internet, or the Internet will destroy the regime," responded outspoken commentator Yulia Latynina in Novaya Gazeta newspaper.
Other commentators were more cautious however, on how far the Internet could influence the national vote.
"The Internet and social media are just instruments," said Morozov. "The most important factor is the position of the new urban middle class, plus the intentions of the parliamentary opposition."
Opposition activist, blogger and journalist Roman Dobrokhotov said he was deeply sceptical about the polls, but called the Internet an indicator of a general disillusionment with politics.
"I think that now, after Putin was whistled in Olimpiisky, and with the fact that discontentment with Putin is growing among ordinary people, this is a general turning point. The Internet is just one of the instruments."
Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved.
Alexei Navalny's blog is hosted on LJ, and has been the target of these attacks in the past.