I just feel like I have to comment on this one. As you probably know, Pavel Durov, the founder of VKontakte, has been fired. And I think this might have very serious implications.
First of all, let me give you my opinion on VKontakte. If you have ever visited this website you should have noticed an uncanny similarity to Facebook. Let me rephrase it, VK has been the most outrageously obvious copycat of Facebook in history as far as I'm concerned. It's a total rip off and I have been wondering for years why Mark Zuckerburg didn't sue them. So that alone makes me feel averse to this website. But there's much more to it, VKontakte is the cradle of piracy in Russia as I call it. Somehow they have been able to get away with providing tons of copyrighted music and movies. And I guess it's a good illustration of how the concept of freedom is perceived in Russia – you can do all you want. But one should not forget that their freedom ends where someone else's begins.
And yes, for your information, I was a registered user of VKontakte at some point about 6 years ago. But soon after I signed up my profile was hacked and I decided not to try and get it back and it was for the good because it wasn’t that easy to delete your profile otherwise. Not being on VKontakte and being a student in Russia may sound for some like something from the realm of either impossible or loony. It might be that, but I feel very good about not using it, it's a boycott and I guess it makes sense.
In fact this post wasn't supposed to be a rant about my personal attitude to VKontakte. I have to say that all the aforementioned problems aside, this social network has been a key stronghold of Russia's Internet freedom. With all its defects, it helped keep the Internet in Russia pretty much independent of the government’s control. And this website has been shaping the Russian society in some major ways. So in terms of that, I give kudos to VKontakte.
But Durov's dismissal is just an outward sign of deep changes happening on the inside. He's been facing increasing pressure from the FSB to provide the users' personal information to the government. And upon refusing to do so, he sold his shares in the company and had to leave the country with no intention to return. And it happens so that now the website is controlled by individuals who are close to the Russian government. Do you hear the heavy boots trampling on Russia's Internet freedom?
I don't want to get all political now, mainly because I don't like to give unsubstantiated opinions so I need to do more research first. But I just want to urge Russian people to beware of the changes happening in Russia and think about the big picture.
