Russian's most-used social network, VKontakte, was blacklisted from the internet on Friday. According the the BBC , the blacklisting was the result of 'human error'.
But it looks like there might be something a little fishy going on. Reportedly, the blacklisting was the result of a controversial law that was passed last year. The law is aimed at protecting children by removing sites that have been deemed ‘harmful’ without any sort of trial or warning given to the site in question. The ban was lifted from VK within hours.
It’s Russia, though, so that can’t be all that’s going on. If you look into the history of the site, you’ll see what the site itself as well the site’s founder, Pavel Durov, have been looked down upon by the Kremlin, who doesn’t appreciate the open forum being presented to his activist opponents.
Also, in a deal that closed in April, people who supported the founder were bought out of their 42 percent share of the company by a company that has connections with President Vladimir Putin.
So now we’re looking at the company being pulled closer into the President’s realm and oh yeah, the founder is on the lam. He was involved in a traffic accident but according to The Globe And Mail , “...some VK insiders believe it is really an attempt to intimidate Mr. Durov, 28, who has been a strong advocate for allowing unrestricted access to the seven-year-old site.”
So it’s looking less and less that this was an ‘error’ and seems more and more likely that government is flexing its muscles and reaching to interfere with one of the last venues open to free speech.
via Examiner National Edition Gadgets & Tech Channel Articles http://www.examiner.com/article/russia-s-social-media-site-ends-up-blacklisted-by-human-error?cid=roadrunner