Kevin Bollaert, who was charged after allegedly posting pornographic photos of women and girls submitted by ex-boyfriends as revenge, then asking complaining women and girls for money in order to remove the photos, will go to trial on 31 felony counts. After Bollaert’s five-day preliminary hearing, the judge ruled that there was sufficient evidence to proceed with the trial. Bollaert is reported to have posted over 10,000 revenge porn images on his websites, including YouGotPosted.com. Bollaert also created a second site called changemyreputation.com for revenge-porn victims. Bollaert is charged with conspiracy, identity theft and extortion. There had also been allegations of child pornography,
Internet
Revenge Porn Case Will Go to Trial, Bollaert Faces Max. 22 Years
Facebook Beats Conservative Lawyer in Lawsuit Over Facebook Page Encouraging Muslims to Kill Jews
The DC Appeals Court sided with Facebook and founder Mark Zuckerberg Friday in a case over several pages on Facebook, such as “Third Palestinian Intifada,” which called for Muslims to rise up and kill Jews. The ruling was based on the protections given to all Americans using the internet under a section of a 1996 law. Three years ago, Klayman saw the Facebook page “Third Palestinian Intifada,” of which there were 360,000 members, as well as three similar, smaller pages, and complained to Facebook because the pages called for Muslims to rise up and kill Jews. After receiving a letter
New Russian Internet Law Against All Bloggers and Providers Passed, Thanks to Edward Snowden and the CIA?
Further strictening of Russian internet law passed the legislature Monday, and is expected to further cool Russian internet expression, while Russian President Vladimir Putin explained the law in terms of “the way its done everywhere” to deal with the CIA-initiated internet, and thanked Edward Snowden for playing his part. Under the law, commonly refereed to as the “bloggers law” because the owner of any website–referred to as a “blog” in the language of the bill–with a daily following of 3,000 or more, including social media followers such as those on Twitter and Facebook, will be forced to register a
Russia Paying Trolls to Comment on News Websites, Another Newspaper Says
Another major newspaper believes that the Russian government is paying internet users to spam the comments section under their articles with aggressive, provocative pro-Russian propaganda. UK’s The Guardian newspaper moderators believe this is an orchestrated campaign. The Guardian moderators, who deal with 40,000 comments per day, and The Guardian users believe the Russian government is paying webizens to troll their papers, using denigrating and abusive terms against other commenters who criticize Russia or Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. The Guardian’s former Moscow correspondent, Luke Harding, is in no doubt about Russia’s internet campaign, calling it “a well-attested phenomenon in Russia.”
Russian Law Allows Blocking Facebook, Google, YouTube, and Any Other Foreign Site (Feb. 1 Amendment)
Feb. 1, 2014, an amendment to Russia’s “On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection” law took effect. The amendment allows the government to restrict access to websites with content that calls for riots, extremist activities, and participation in mass public events. The bill is part of a trend in Russian law which began with President Vladimir Putin’s election to a second term in 2012. The amendment in question allows the government to silence not only national criticism–it does this through other laws, such as its 139-FZ (2012) censorship law–but also criticism anywhere else in the world. The measure shields Russia from political
Russian Internet Censorship Law (Passed 2012)
The Russian internet censorship bill, officially titled “On Amendments to Federal Law On Protecting Children from Information Harmful to Their Health and the Development and Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation” (139-FZ of 2012-07-28) passed the Russian Duma in 2012. It passed unanimously with support from all four parties. 441 out of 450 deputies voted to support the bill. The bill had raced through the Duma, less than a week after the initial June 6 reading of the amendments and its June 11 third reading and passage. The bill created a registry–or “blacklist.” The registry was a “uniform registry of
