Thread: Pavel Durov, Founder of VK sells and moves to US "VK in the hands of Putin"?

What, you mean because VKs servers were in Russia, they fell under Russian law, even if they were Ukrainians in Ukraine? I see the logic but I disagree with it.

If anyone ever plans to start a revolution over social media: Please get a trusted VPN first, in a different country than where you live. Pay with a non-traceable method, like bitcoin and don't use your real name!

Originally Posted by Hanna

What, you mean because VKs servers were in Russia, they fell under Russian law, even if they were Ukrainians in Ukraine? I see the logic but I disagree with it.

As Paul said, there aren't anything to agree or disagree. Just the law.

I've had a look at the VK's User Agreement. It says the following:

2.2. Все права на Сайт в целом и на использование сетевого адреса (доменного имени) vk.com принадлежат Администрации Сайта. Последняя предоставляет доступ к Сайту всем заинтересованным лицам в соответствии с настоящими Правилами и действующим законодательством Российской Федерации.

3.1. Под Администрацией Сайта ВКонтакте (ранее и далее – Администрация Сайта, Администрация) в настоящих Правилах и иных специальных документах, размещенных на Сайте, понимается Общество с ограниченной ответственностью «В Контакте», юридическое лицо, созданное по законодательству Российской Федерации и зарегистрированное по адресу: 191040, Санкт-Петербург, Лиговский пр., д. 61, литер А.

VK Administration is a legal entity registered under the jurisdiction of Russia. So it must act in accordance with Russian laws.
Durov can argue that there is no law which obliges them to disclose private user information to the State in that situation (court's decision required etc). But if he argues that "we cannot betray our Ukrainian users", that is pointless.

Originally Posted by RedFox

As Paul said, there aren't anything to agree or disagree. Just the law.

I've had a look at the VK's User Agreement. It says the following:

2.2. Все права на Сайт в целом и на использование сетевого адреса (доменного имени) vk.com принадлежат Администрации Сайта. Последняя предоставляет доступ к Сайту всем заинтересованным лицам в соответствии с настоящими Правилами и действующим законодательством Российской Федерации.

3.1. Под Администрацией Сайта ВКонтакте (ранее и далее – Администрация Сайта, Администрация) в настоящих Правилах и иных специальных документах, размещенных на Сайте, понимается Общество с ограниченной ответственностью «В Контакте», юридическое лицо, созданное по законодательству Российской Федерации и зарегистрированное по адресу: 191040, Санкт-Петербург, Лиговский пр., д. 61, литер А.

VK Administration is a legal entity registered under the jurisdiction of Russia. So it must act in accordance with Russian laws.
Durov can argue that there is no law which obliges them to disclose private user information to the State in that situation (court's decision required etc). But if he argues that "we cannot betray our Ukrainian users", that is pointless.

Ok, I get that - but what Russia did in this instance is similar to what the US does with Facebook, which I object to.
I.e. they abuse the fact that Facebook's main servers are in the USA to spy on users, for example Europeans and Canadians.

Here, Russia takes advantage of the fact that VKs servers happen to be in Russia, to spy on what Ukrainians do in Ukraine... I don't agree with that. If Russia needs to keep track of terrorists within their own borders, that's one thing. But this is only one step down from the routine spying that the USA does.

And I am worried that there will be some kind of "cold war escalation" online and every country will feel they must follow in the footsteps of the USA and start spying on their own citizens and perceived enemies online.
That seems to be what Russia is doing in this case. It's not like Euromaidan was planning to invade Russia. They were not a threat to Russia.