WebProNews

Tag: Russia

  • Teen Tries to Blackmail Russian Billionaire

    A Russian SWAT team recently stormed the house where a 17-year-old student who was living with his mom, to grab his laptop, after linking the computer to repeated murder-for-hire related extortion attempts.

    The teen had allegedly attempted to blackmail Russian businessman Suleiman Kerimov, who is worth roughly $7.8 billion, by sending him emails claiming that he was a hitman ordered to kill the oligarch, but would stop with the killing for $10 million. Kerimov, #146 of Forbes world’s richest, wasn’t playing around, and apparently rallied a task force from Moscow to fly in to St. Petersburg to drop in on the teen at 6 AM last Tuesday. In Russia, one has to have a bit of pull to command this sort of operation, as the government doesn’t mobilize in regards to all crimes. The kid had recently tried to threaten St. Petersburg City Hall’s energy department chief Vladislav Petrov, who was able to track his IP, but was not in the position to rally law enforcement to do anything about it, besides set up a bit of surveillance. When Kerimov received the threats, the operation against the teen became fully orchestrated from the Moscow headquarters, which is said to be a rarity.

    While cybercrime in Russia is commonplace, it would seem that one runs into problems if Russian, while trying to extort other Russians. It is evident that after the teen began threatening Kerimov, the billionaire likely got into contact with “someone equal to him in status. It must have been either head of the Federal Security Service, Alexander Bortnikov, or the Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliev.”

    Either way, the teen, who apparently had no idea what he was doing, was deemed to never have been an actual threat. After confessing to the entire thing, he was charged with extortion, and claimed that he actually thought he was going to get the money. He is currently under house arrest – his offense carries up to four years in a Russian prison.

  • Russia Auditing ISP’s That Host Illegal Content

    Russia has established itself as a bit of a haven for cybercrime. One can quite easily buy illegal web traffic from vendors in that country, and some have recently speculated that the only reason the creators of the Carberp Trojan were arrested was because their malware was directed at Russian Nationals, instead of exclusively at outsiders, a practice the Russian government has historically seemed to let fly. Though, its evident that things are about to change. The Russian Interior Ministry now says it plans to go after Russian ISP’s who host customers that share illegal and copyrighted material.

    The Interior Ministry’s cybercrime department is currently auditing internet service providers on a country-wide level, and will likely have results no later than mid-May. The new effort will go after not only users, but the providers who host any illegal content they’re found with as well. Head Director of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Moscow region Seralinov Jannat has said that there will be penalties for the distribution of pirated movies and pornography distributed to minors, both punishable by prison terms of up to 6 years. Some have speculated that the stricter rules concerning hosting are indicative of some of the latest presidential amendments to the Civil Code, mapped out last week in the State Duma. President Dmitry Medvedev suggested that these changes take effect in September.

    No ISP’s in Russia have yet reported any monitoring of their networks regarding this extension of infringement liability, and while it must be proven that Russian ISP’s knowingly distributed illegal content, 6 years in that country’s penal system is no joke. Picture the lands north of The Wall in HBO’s Game of Thrones series to get an idea of a Siberian prison.

  • Yandex Beats Google To A Free Cloud Storage Service

    Yandex dominates the search market in Russia, garnering 60+% of all searches in the country. In Februrary, they launched new social features for search, nabbing Twitter access. And just last month, the company was added to the NASDAQ Internet Index. Although Yandex has been a big player locally for awhile, it’s clear that they are now becoming a bigger player in the global market.

    Today, they’re taking another step with the unveiling of Yandex.Disk, a cloud service that offers 10 GB of free storage. Like any cloud service (Dropbox, SkyDrive, iCloud), any files that are uploaded to your locker are accessible from anywhere that’s internet-connected – across multiple devices.

    “Yandex.Disk is a cloud service, a virtual folder that can be safely used for file storage. If your personal computer or laptop catches a virus or breaks down, your files will be safely stored on Yandex.Disk. Currently, Yandex.Disk is integrated with Yandex.Mail, and we have plans to link it with other services offered by Yandex,” says Anton Zabannykh, head of Personalized Services at Yandex.

    Right now, Yandex.Disk is invitation only and only available in Russian. There is already an English site up, however, where they let us know that an English version is “coming soon.”

    Search giants launching cloud storage services…where have I heard about that recently? Ah yes, those guys over at Google. They’re rumored to be prepping for the launch of their own such service pretty soon. Last week, Google Drive was spotted in the wild sporting 5 GB free storage. The latest reports set the release to occur this month, but the exact date is unknown.

    But one thing is clear: the cloud storage market is beginning to get crowded, and Yandex just beat Google to the punch.

  • Russian Police Arrest 8 in Carberp Trojan Case

    Russian authorities have arrested eight men suspected of using the Carberp Trojan and other malware, to make millions through electronic banking fraud.

    The men arrested are suspected of being members of a Moscow-based gang that was going after the bank accounts Russian Nationals, bringing in about $2 million since October 2011. The scheme involved using malware to steal login creditionals for victims’ accounts, to transfer funds to accounts controlled by the gang. About 90 accounts were compromised, and money was also withdrawn from various Moscow ATMs, according to the Russian Interior Ministry.

    Police suspect the that ringleaders of the gang are two brothers, aged 29 and 32. They had rented an office under the guise of a legitimate computer business, using it as a front to skim off of the bank accounts. In a raid, police recovered computer equipment, bank cards, roughly $250,000 in cash and various forged documents. The men were charged with theft, computer hacking and malware distribution, and await trial while on house arrest. They all face up to ten years in prison.

    Russia and the Ukraine are said to be safe havens for cybercrime. Perhaps the gang wouldn’t have been apprehended if they’d went for the accounts of outsiders, and didn’t target Russian Nationals.

    In related legal news in the region, it has been reported that a Russian court has upheld a ban on Scientology literature.

  • Russian Court Upholds Ban on Scientology Books

    A Moscow regional court has upheld a lower court decision to ban books regarding Scientology, after it was declared to be extremist literature. The ruling confirms that the publication and distribution of books written from Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard is illegal.

    Court spokeswoman Anna Tyurina stated that it was proven to the court’s satisfaction that Scientology promoted the forming isolated groups, prepared to engage in extremist activities in a battle with the rest of the world. In June, Moscow’s Shchelkovsky Court deemed several of Hubbard’s books as being extremist. Scientologists appealed the decision.

    Back in 2008, Google took down a video of Tom Cruise evangelizing his beliefs, doing little to actually remove the clip from the Internet:

    Google had reportedly buckled under pressure, after receiving a DMCA notice from the church. Hacker group Anonymous loathes the church of Scientology, and had basically established a sort of holy war against the organization, Google bombing said church in 2008.

    The ruling by the regional court confirms that Hubbard’s material concerning Scientology is officially on the list of banned extremist media in Russia.

  • Russia Is Sending A Man To The Moon

    Russia Is Sending A Man To The Moon

    Russia is sending a man to the moon after it has been fairly non-existent in the space program. They have taken a back seat ever since the United States sent a man to the moon in July of 1969. When Neil Armstrong touched down, it effectively ended the US-Soviet space race.

    But now we have news coming out that A spacecraft will “conduct a demonstrative manned circumlunar test flight with the subsequent landing of cosmonauts on [the Moon’s] surface and their return to Earth” by 2030, according to a leaked strategy document from Russia’s space agency, Roskosmos.

    The push from world leaders has increased in the past few years. National pride is a growing problem and the space race seems to be a way to have their citizens believe in their country again. George W Bush wanted to have astronauts back on the moon by 2020, Barack Obama wants astronauts on Mars by 2030, Both India and China have planned manned moon missions by 2020 and 2025 respectively.

    “Russia should not limit itself to the role of an international space ferryman.” Mr Putin said, piloted space missions should be revived by 2018, when the first flights are expected from Vostochny, a $13.5 billion (£8.6 billion) spaceport being built in Russia’s far east.

    Maybe they won’t even have to use rocket fuel, Putin can just take off his shirt and hurl the rockets into space.

  • Helvetica Use On Twitter Nearly Leads To Row Between U.S., Russia

    Helvetica Use On Twitter Nearly Leads To Row Between U.S., Russia

    The comedic art of Twitter parody accounts is reliably known to have only a few rules: be funny, be crass, and – this according to Twitter – be obvious about being a parody. Regarding that last rule, the most one should shoot for is to run amok for a few days while making people laugh at the expense of some Twittering dignitary. One shouldn’t, however, try in incite an international incident between two of the 20th Century’s greatest nuclear rivals.

    That was nearly the scenario on Sunday following Russia’s presidential election after once and future president Vladimir Putin convincingly claimed victory. The dispute began when a Twitter account impersonating the U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation, Michael McFaul, tweeted that voter fraud would undercut the validity of the election.

    Despite McFaul having a verified account ,the Twitter impersonator achieved credibility by way of the Helvetica Neue font that Twitter uses to display the username and name on an account page. While the Helvetica variant is highly pleasing to the eyes, it also has the slight misfortune of using a nearly identical character for upper case i’s and lower case L’s. Given that Michael McFaul uses the Twitter handle @McFaul, the impersonator substituted the lower case L in the ambassador’s username for an upper case I in order to deceive Twitter and, ultimately, the world.

    See if you can tell the difference below:

    As you can see, it’s not exactly difficult to fake out a pair of eyes. (By the way, in case you weren’t able to discern which was which, the bottom example didn’t use any lower case L’s; those are all upper case i’s). If you fell for the ruse, don’t feel too bad about yourself because it also fooled a lot of other people, including Russian presidential aide Arkady Dvorkovich.

    Upon learning that he’d been impersonated, the real McFaul (aside: ‘The Real McFaul’ has untold buddy cop-sitcom potential) tweeted assurance to his followers as well to his Russian counterparts that he wasn’t disputing the validity of Russia’s presidential election.

    @McFaul
    Michael McFaul    @McFauI This is a false account. You all obviously know I dont write that well in Russian! RT Наблюдатели сообщают о большом количестве … 1 day ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    @McFaul
    Michael McFaul    @McFauI @adagamov Someone has put out a false account under my name. Please help your followers understand. My actual account is “verified.” 1 day ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    @AKoSH_Uz
    Aki    @McFaul So the announcement of illegal votes were declared by fake account? Am I right? 1 day ago via Twitter for iPhone ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    @McFaul
    Michael McFaul    Yes. RT.@AKoSH_Uz McFaul So the announcement of illegal votes were declared by fake account? Am I right? 1 day ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    While this classic case of mistaken identities could’ve been easily averted had attention been paid to the fact that The Fakey McFaul wasn’t verified, the blue checkmark on The Real McFaul’s account doesn’t appear next to his account name (or anybody’s, for that matter) when an update appears in a follower’s stream of tweets. Subsequently, many gullible Twitterers were easily led astray.

    A journalist for The Moscow Times was one of the first people to point out to The Real McFaul how his account was so easily parodied.

    @niktwick
    Nikolaus von Twickel    The lower case L (l) – capital i (I) trap today made a fake @McFauI famous and gave the real @McFaul a hard time. 1 day ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    After the Twitter snafu was resolved, Dvorkovich shared his relief that The Real McFaul didn’t actually have any beef with the results of Russia’s election results.

    @advorkovich
    Arkady Dvorkovich    Вот все и разрешилось) RT @McFaul @M_Simonyan @advorkovich Yes, of course its fake. Hope this nonsense will someday end. 1 day ago via Twitterrific ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    So is the lesson painfully clear here, everybody? Don’t judge a book by its cover, lest we all return to the days of mutually assured destruction!

  • Jay-Z Faces Competition From Rapping Russian Billionaire

    According to recent estimates, Mikhail Prokhorov is the third richest man from Russia and the 32nd richest man in the entire world. But all the money in the world can’t buy you rap skills.

    The Russian billionaire has gone viral with a performance he made as a guest appearance on a Russian comedy show called “Projector Paris Hilton.” The appearance actually took place a couple of weeks ago, but it was only recently that the video began to see wide circulation via social media outlets – and the YouTube views have climbed.

    Prokhorov begins with an awkward “yo, yo” and leads into a rap that’s probably not going to get him in the studio with Jay-Z (although Jay-Z is given plenty of mentions). But he does declare himself the real Russian Eminem, which gets no argument from this writer.

    Check it out below:

    Prokhorov, who owns the majority stake in the New Jersey Nets (Jay-Z owns a smaller share), is also in the news recently due to his political aspirations. In December, he declared his entrance into the Russian Presidential race as an independent.

    Some have accused Prokhorov of been a part of a government-backed charade. According to the AP, to some, his candidacy is “viewed as a Kremlin-approved effort to add legitimacy to the election and channel public discontent highlighted by massive protest rallies.” But he denies that he’s in it for any reason other than to fight for the Presidency.

    According to recent polls, Vladimir Putin is set to win the March 4th election by a substantial margin. I’m pretty sure that this charming little rap performance has endeared Prokhorov to more than a few people, however.

  • Russian Web Ad Spending Overtakes Print

    Online advertising expenditures were up 56% in Russia in 2011, overtaking print ads for the first time. The internet presently accounts for 16% of ad spending in Russia, still a far cry from TV ad dominance.

    Web ads in the UK overtook print in 2010, and eMarketer projects the same in the U.S. in 2012. eMarketer estimates online advertising spending in the U.S. will grow 23.3% in 2012, to reach $32 billion, while print ads are expected to bring in only $22.8 billion. Still, like in Russia, TV ads are still dominant, and will remain that way for the time being. U.S. TV ads brought in $60.7 billion in 2011, and is expected to grow to $72.0 billion by 2016.

    In Russia, the biggest web advertising gain came from contextual ads, which attracted 63% percent more expenditures. Print saw the slowest gains, only seven percent, though the entire Russian ad market was up 21% in 2011. Though, web ads are still being used three times less than TV ads, according to the Russian Association of Communication Agencies. Also, Yandex, Russia’s most popular search engine, was up 60% in sales growth in 2011, but is expected to be down 15-20% in 2012. Google retained roughly 25% of the Russian search engine market in 2011.

    Broadband adoption has been growing amongst the ad-targeted Russian middle class, and roughly 43% of the country’s population is online. These numbers have been rising steadily, according to Google public data.

  • Google Street View Comes To Russia, Captures Period Actors At Peterhof

    Google Street View Comes To Russia, Captures Period Actors At Peterhof

    Здравствуйте, Google Street View! Yesterday Google announced the addition of two Russian cities, St. Petersburg and Moscow, to the Street View experience via their Lat Long Blog. As vast as Russia is, it’s my hope that Street View will continue to add other cities from Russia in order to expand the opportunity to feast your eyes on one of the most culturally rich countries in the world.

    But never mind that. Let’s look at Russia.

    Moscow didn’t exactly get the best weather but you can still experience the majesty of Russia’s architecture no matter what the forecast is like. In the sample below, I focused on St. Basil’s Cathedral, perhaps one of those most striking cathedrals you will ever see in this world. Nearly 600 years old, the architecture of this cathedral appears to be some wild offering of extraterrestrial elegance. In short, it’s breath-taking.


    View Larger Map

    Petrodvorets, located in St. Petersburg, was built on the order of Peter the Great and has been described as the Russian Versailles. Taking the tour below you can see that the landscape and fountains live up to that description if not outright exceed it. Google happened to visit the gardens on a gorgeous day and, while there, captured a couple dressed in period costume. Browse around below and see how they captivated a crowd while performing whatever it is they perform.


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    With images like that stored on Street View, you have to believe that the Google team that’s out there running around taking these photos have a keen and adventurous sense of humor. Aside from that, this capture above is a great example of how Street View isn’t just a map of cities but of the human experience within these cities.

    For the romantics and aesthetes, below is the view at Arts Square in St. Petersburg. The square is home to the Russian Museum as well as the location of an iconic statue of who is arguably Russia’s greatest poet ever, Alexander Pushkin, which is seen below.


    View Larger Map

    There’s really not a better excuse to waste time than by toying around with Street View. Now, I will continue my virtual tour of Peterhof Palace until Street View finally comes to Siberia.

  • Yandex Gets Twitter Access, Launches Social Features. Should Google Worry?

    Yandex, the Russian search engine giant, announced a new social networking search program.

    The announcement doesn’t mention Twitter specifically, but Search Engine Land is reporting that the search engine has made a deal with Twitter to gain access to the Twitter Firehose. Little has been said about how Yandex will actually used this, but reporter Greg Sterling says, Yandex “has discretion over what it uses and how that content is ranked and displayed.”

    You may recall that last year, Google’s deal with Twitter for that same access expired, and the two companies failed to reach an agreement to extend it. This led to the disappearance of Google’s Realtime Search feature, making Google less useful for some searches.

    Google would later go on to release “Search Plus Your World,” favoring Google+ connections in search results, and souring the relationship between the two companies further.

    Bing has access to Twitter (and Facebook), and some have expressed intent to actually switch search engines over the whole thing. Could Yandex become a more significant global competitor with some more expansion? Beyond Russia, Yandex has sites in Turkey, Belarus, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan.

    Yandex’s new offerings include the roll out of a beta version of a “people finder” for its Russian site. Users can view all public profiles of a person with accounts on sites like VKontakte, Facebook, LiveJournal, and Odnoklassniki (popular services in that country).

    “It is so much more convenient to see multiple profiles of the same person grouped together,” says Yandex Product Manager Alexander Chubinskiy. “Yandex does this grouping with care — only those profiles that refer to one another get grouped. Web users can choose if they want their profiles on different websites to appear in search results separately, or as grouped together. So, if one of your personal profiles refers to others, the icons of those websites on which they are hosted will appear on the same thumbnail. Conversely, the user can remove cross-reference from their personal pages so that each of the profiles appears in Yandex’s search results independently.”

    Yandex claims about 61% of Russia’s search market share and 45 million monthly visitors to its Russian search engine.

    The company says it processes over two million people searches daily. About half of them, it says, are to find information about celebrities, while the other half ask about someone’s friend, a contact, an employee or a partner.

  • Russia Urges UN Envoy to Syria on Twitter

    Russia proposed that the UN send a special envoy to Syria on Twitter Tuesday, to help coordiniate security and humanitarian efforts. Russia’s foreign ministry has urged the U.N. Security council to prompt the U.N. Security General to set these efforts in motion.

    This comes after Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin stated the world should help correct the humanitarian crisis in Syria on Monday, after Damascus permitted the Red Cross to bring aid to some regions. Russia had also recently opted out of the “Friends of Syria” meeting in Tunisia, citing that the oraganizers failed to invite any members of the Syrian government.

    Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said the meeting in wouldn’t facilitate a dialogue, saying that “the global community should act as friends of the entire Syrian people, and not just one part.”

    Syria is the last ally Russia has in the Middle East, and Moscow has maintained close ties with Damascus since the Cold War era, when Syria was led by President Bashar Assad’s father, Hafez Assad. Russia, along with China, have already vetoed two Security Council plans that were backed by the Arab League, fearing a repeat of the resolution in Libya. In that instance, Russia refused to vote, which cleared the way for months of NATO air force attacks that assisted Libyans to end Moammar Gadhafi’s regime.

    So far, this is the sole reaction to Russia’s urging of a UN Envoy to Syria:

  • Russian Anonymous Leaks Emails of Pro-Putin Group

    The Russian branch of Anonymous has leaked emails that claim Nashi, a Russian youth group, is paying off journalists and bloggers for positive coverage of Vladimir Putin.

    The Guardian is reporting that the emails detail conversations between Vasily Yakemenko, the Kremlin’s Federal Youth Agency head, and its spokeswoman, Kristina Potupchik. The emails talk of payments to journalists and bloggers.

    The Guardian contacted Potupchik for comment who only said, “I will not comment on illegal actions.”

    The current leader of Nashi, Nikita Borovikov, said that the group is used to its email getting hacked every few years, and the news of this potential hack doesn’t surprise him. He says that he is a “law-abiding person, and have nothing to fear of hiding.”

    The emails detail a period between November 2010 and December 2011 where the group, funded by the Kremlin, attacked enemies and paid for positive reports while reasserting Putin’s popularity.

    The emails detail the group’s attempt at boosting pro-Putin coverage on the Internet. They claim that the group hires pro-Putin bloggers and commenters to leave hundreds of comments on press articles that are critical of the Kremlin. It goes on to say that some of these people are paid upwards of $19,000 to improve Putin’s online image.

    One email suggested that the group was going to spend about $335,000 to buy a series of articles about its annual Seliger summer camp in two popular Russian tabloids. The tabloids denied any such action and said that their journalists were not paid money for their articles.

    Other tabloids said that the news that they were bought and paid for to run stories on a pro-Putin event doesn’t interest them.

    The emails point out that Nashi manipulates YouTube viewcounts and ratings and has anti-Putin videos bombarded with “dislikes.”

    The emails also point out that Nashi pays particular attention to an anti-Putin blogger named Navalny. They talk about various things they can do to discredit the blogger such as dressing up as him and begging in front of the U.S. embassy.

    The hackers told a Russian Web site on Monday that they had been planning the attack since last year “as a sign of protest against the government’s actions in the public Internet sphere.”

    As the Guardian points out, these leaks could not have come at a worse time as anti-Putin sentiment is rising in Russia. Thousands of Russians turned out last Saturday at the Kremlin to protest Putin and his bid for the presidency.

    According to the leaked emails, Nashi went into high gear looking for ways to counter the protests. Borovikov allegedly said that they need to keep up the pro-Kremlin rhetoric or the country will see a revolution like the 2004 Orange Revolution in the Ukraine.

    It remains to be seen if the leaked emails will have any effect. The attitude being displayed by the those in power in Nashi seem to indicate that it’s business as usual for them.

  • Russian 3G Provider Lets User Download 419GB In One Week

    Data caps are pretty bad. They restrict how much I can download on our smartphones when all I want to do is stream Pandora on the way to work. I should move to Russia where you win money for downloading all you can.

    The Next Web is reporting that Russian mobile carrier MegaFon not only has unlimited data, but they encourage their users to download as much as they can. They even offer prizes for those who downloaded the most data over a given period of time.

    Between November 1, 2011 to January 31, 2012, MegaFon customers who bought a 3G moden were asked to download as much data as they could. The person who performed the herculean task was rewarded a $5,000 holiday overseas trip.

    The winner downloaded a whopping 419GB of 3G data in one week. He won the contest, but MegaFon used the event to showcase their data network.

    The company covers 80 percent of north-Western Russia with its 3G service. According to the company, the second and third place winners come from small Russian towns. MegaFon used this to flaunt their ability to offer 21Mbps download speeds in rural areas.

    This is the kind of unlimited data plans that need to happen in the U.S. Our Internet infrastructure is so pathetically behind every other country now that it’s kind of embarrassing. It would go a long way to give users unlimited data again. The majority of users would still use the same amount of data like always while still allowing those who need to download a lot the ability to without data throttling or extra charges.

  • Yandex Gets New Map Content From NAVTEQ

    Russia’s most popular search engine, Yandex, announced today that it has purchased a license for digital maps from NAVTEQ, which will be used in the development of a “detailed world map” for Yandex.Maps.

    Yandex is using maps from NAVTEQ from around the world, including in Europe, North America, Australia and developed countries in Asia. The maps include roadways, traffic networks and buildings.

    Maria Orlova, head of production and quality control on the Yandex.Maps service, says, “Our users have already appreciated high-quality detailed maps of Russia and Ukraine with the search function and other useful features such as routing, traffic information, satellite images and panoramic views. We continue to enhance our map services for Belarus and Kazakhstan.”

    Yandex has actually already been using NAVTEQ maps for Turkey at yandex.com.tr. The company also partners with other map providers to license content for Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan. In 2010, the company purchased GIS Technologies for city maps.

    “NAVTEQ’s content will help us make Yandex.Maps a comprehensive, all-purpose mapping service that can answer users’ questions about countries throughout the world,” she adds.

    Yandex says it will gradually add content to both its desktop version and mobile app to support all major platforms.

    There’s an API available for sites to utilize, and embed maps.

  • Cyber Criminals Are Selling Web Traffic

    Have you ever wanted to buy traffic to your Web site? Well, now you can through the help of Russian cyber criminals.

    SC Magazine is reporting that cyber criminals have opened an online store selling Web traffic by hijacking other Web site’s traffic. The shop injects hidden integrated frames into pages of legitimate Web sites to redirect visitors to the buyer’s URL.

    Integrated frames split pages into parts that are used to embed windows from another Web site. When an iframe’s height and width is set to zero, it becomes invisible.

    Customers can purchase 1000 visitors through the online store for an average of $4.

    Regional traffic prices do vary with 1000 Dutch visitors costing $18 while 1000 visitors from Australia is only $8. One thousand visitors from the U.S. is only $12.

    The shop will also purchase redirected traffic from others. Sellers can inject their own iframes and sell the resulting traffic to the shop.

    The operator said that the service does not record any IPs, no one will ban your account and they don’t care what you’re promoting.

    The shop can adjust prices automatically based on supply and demand.

    The site was originally created for personal use but was opened for public use after the realisation that money could be had.

    There are “legal” options to buy Web traffic, but what this shop offers is definitely illegal. If you want to increase your Web traffic, use the old fashioned method of promoting via social media like Facebook and Twitter.

  • Anonymous Creates MegaUpload Replacement

    Anonymous Creates MegaUpload Replacement

    After the MegaUpload shut down and every other file sharing service backing down, surely nobody would be trying to start up a new file hosting service, right?

    Anonymous couldn’t care less and threw caution to the wind by announcing Anonyupload today. The site is billed as being, “100% Free – No Advertising – 100% Anonymous.”

    They are asking for help from users, however, to help them buy server and disk space. They also want to ensure the quality of the service, safety of the users and rapid transfer. The main reason behind the new service is the “sharing of knowledge and culture free and accessible for all.”

    They also send a special thanks to Kim DotCom, founder of MegaUpload. They say, “Thank you mister Dotcom for the service for several years. We hope you’ll release as soon as possible.”

    For those worried about the safety of the site, they claim that their infrastructure is set outside of U.S. jurisdiction in Russia.

    They hope to launch the service within three days.

    I don’t think anybody expected this, but we should have seen it coming. Anonymous is becoming more than just an activist group. They are slowly emerging as a brand that is inseparable from the Internet and has become a part of it.

  • iPhone 5 Rumors: November Release Date in Russia?

    Another day, another rumor – but this time with some international flair.

    Russian publication RBC daily is reporting that the much anticipated iPhone 5 could hit the shelves in their country in November.

    Apparently, the Russian handset retailers are in direct negotiations with Apple to speed up shipments of Apple devices to the country. This comes from two sources inside the mobile “retail market.”

    Generally, iPhones have been appearing in Russia long after they launch in the U.S. and Europe – up to 6 months in most cases. Russian retailers obviously want to eliminate some of that delay. Here is an explanation of the situation, courtesy of RBC (note: the original page is in Russian, so this is a Google translate version)

    Russian operators are negotiating with Apple to supply the iPhone 5, told RBC daily two sources for cellular retail market. According to them, this time mobile companies are trying to achieve the optimal term supply pipes from the American manufacturer. “In general, official aids on the shelves of Russian stores, usually appearing only six months after the official release, that is after premieres not only in the U.S. and Europe. Russian operators want to speed up delivery times “, – says one of the RBC daily. According to preliminary unofficial data, iPhone 5 in Russia may appear as early as November.

    “To reduce delivery times operators have long wanted. Indeed, because of delays in Russia, there are many “gray” pipes. And this essentially takes the income of MTS and “VimpelCom” who are forced to wait for official release in Russia “, – says head of research Dennis Agency Telecomdaily pieces. In his view, to include Russia in the list of countries receiving iPhone immediately after the premiere of a new vehicle in the U.S., is quite real. “For Apple this is quite large, important market.”

    It seems like service providers are a little miffed that they are unable to sell the actual handsets to customers, only the service to customers who have acquired the handsets through other means.

    One of those providers mentioned, VimpelCom, told RBC that yes, they are in negotiations with Apple for expedited supply.

    This is important to American and European customers because it implies an earlier release date than November for them. If the Russians project November, that’s more evidence to suggest a September/October release here. And as we know, that speculation has been flying around all week.

    Still sick of iPhone 5 rumors? Check out this uber-creepy case for your existing iPhone 3Gs or 4. It will definitely help cure the rumor fatigue.

    [Hat Tip to TNW]

  • Moscow’s Saint Basil’s Cathedral Gets Google Doodled

    It has many names – Cathedral of the Protecting Veil of the Mother of God, Cathedral of St. Vasily the Blessed, and of course St. Basil’s Cathedral to most English speakers. But whatever you call it, the beautiful Russian church is the subject of today’s Google Doodle.

    The Cathedral, which sits in Moscow’s Red Square, has been part of the Kremlin and Red Square UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1990. It was begun in 1555 at the behest of Ivan the Terrible and completed in 1561, and is celebrating its 450th anniversary.

    Here’s how it is described on its official site, saintbasil.ru –

    It is for nearly 450 years now that this architectural ensemble of inimitable beauty and grandeur has been filling our hearts with joy, excitement and pride.

    The Cathedral of the Protecting Veil of the Mother of God upon the Moat was built in fulfillment of a vow made by Czar Ivan the Terrible before his campaign against Kazan in 1552 and with the blessing of Metropolitan Makary. The cathedral was constructed under the supervision of Russian master builders Postnik and Barma in 1555-1561. Uniquely conceived by Metropolitan Makary, the cathedral was to epitomize the image of the Holy City of Jerusalem.

    As a result, its nine churches, most of which were consecrated in memory of major events of the victorious Kazan campaign, were built on a single foundation.

    It has been secularized and now operates as a state museum.

    Here’s a photo from Wikipedia –

    And here’s an awesome Lego version –

    Also, here’s some YouTube video from inside the cathedral –

    What do you think of today’s St. Basil’s Google Doodle? How does it rate in comparison to other recent Google Doodles? Let us know what you think.

  • Virtual Russian Roulette for Your Facebook Life

    It always interested me just how much the term “Russian Roulette” has permeated out culture.  Anything that’s dangerous and involves chance is said to be “like russian roulette” for X.  People can only speculate that the game is named due to its suspected origins, and I always wondered if the Russians were offended by the connotation or if they wore it like a badge of ultimate badassery.

    None of my fascination with the term ever tempted me to play, however, as I really do have the worst luck ever – just ask my Tuesday poker group.  But what if all you had to lose was your virtual life?  On Facebook?  Would you try it for the rush?  What if surviving the game meant you could win a free vacation?

    A video has begun to circulate around the interwebs from Berlin, Germany division of The Miami Ad School.  It is a spec promotion involving guns, vodka and Facebook.  The spec promotion offers people the chance to win a 7 day trip to Russia courtesy of Russian Standard vodka.

    The catch is that to be entered to do so, you must participate in a game of online Russian Roulette with your Facebook life on the line.  To play, you turn your Facebook password over and one by one you and your friends pull the virtual trigger.  Losers will be “killed” online, as thier Facebook accounts will be deleted.

    But alas, it is only a thought.  But it may be one that we see materialize in the future.

    This Facebook Russian Roulette business would have been brutal back when Facebook was just for college kids and it required your valid .edu email address to register.  Losing this game would have seriously killed your virtual self.  Now, the dead would be able to resurrect their accounts, but they would have to start all over.  So while not devastating, it sure would be a pain in the ass.

    For the social media addicted, however, losing this game of online Russian Roulette might prompt them to try out the real thing.

    But no doubt, if this concept becomes a reality, it will draw massive attention on Facebook.  And why shouldn’t it?  People love a rush.  And these days possibly losing your Facebook profile, if for only a little while, could prove to be quite a rush.

    [ via PSFK]

  • Russia to Ban Skype, Gmail?

    Russia to Ban Skype, Gmail?

    Russian Internet News Roundup:

    Skype, Gmail Ban

    Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) is set to propose a ban on the popular sites Skype, Hotmail and Gmail.  The FSB is concerned that since the services use foreign made encryption technology, their large use poses a security risk.

    The FSB is an organization shrouded in secrecy.  Implemented as an successor to the KGB, the organization controls homeland security, counter-intelligence and surveillance.  Some have accused the FSB of human rights violations as well as conspiring to limit dissent within the country.  As the Agence France Presse (AFP) reports, the FSB has a large mount of power, but stays clear of most public scrutiny including their budget.

    According to AFP, the FSB is “increasingly concerned” that “uncontrolled usage of these services may lead to a massive threat to Russia’s security.”  The FSB also was quoted as saying the services are often used by extremist organizations because control of the traffic is through servers outside Russia.

    LiveJournal Russia attack

    Last Wednesday, the Cyrillic wing of the LiveJournal service was hit with an attack that crippled it for days.  LiveJournal.ru, which serves over 4 million users, was flooded by requests from malware infested computers and taken down for hours.  Similar attacks followed, up until it was reported to have recovered on Tuesday.

    Now, the Moscow Times is reporting that many are blaming the Russian government for the attacks.  “The reason for attack is more than clear in this case – someone wants LiveJournal to disappear as a platform,” said Ilya Dronov, development director with the site’s owner, SUP.

    LiveJournal Russia is where most of the uncensored political discussion occurs in the country.  Dronov thinks that individual bloggers were targeted, possibly critics of the Kremlin.  But LiveJournal management says that the entirety of the site was a target.

    Up to now, Russia has been able to avoid the total internet crackdown that is in effect in China.  No telling how long and to what degree internet freedom will survive in the country.