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VKontakte founder and CEO Pavel Durov says he was fired over his resistance to Moscow's efforts to monitor and control access to the popular social media platform.

Russia's version of Mark Zuckerberg,VKontaktefounder and CEO Pavel Durov, is out of a job.

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After what he describes as a long, under-the-carpet battle with Kremlin-linked forces who tried to force him to turn over user data to Russian secret services, Mr. Durov posted on his personal VKontakte pageMonday that he found out from the media that he was fired, and criticized shareholders for not having the "courage" to do it to his face. He added that "complete control" of the mainly Russian-language, Facebook-like social media site is now in the hands of Igor Sechin,the head of the Kremlin-owned oil company Rosneft, and Russia's richest man, metals tycoon Alisher Usmanov.

VKontakte claims to have more than 100 million registered users, primarily in the former Soviet Union, which would make it Europe's biggest social media network.

"Something like this was probably inevitable in Russia, but I am glad that we held out for 7-1/2 years," Durov said. "We accomplished a lot. And some of what we've managed to do cannot be undone."

It's been a long and murky saga.

Durov is a flamboyant and sometimes controversial figure who once threw paper airplanes made of 5,000 ruble notes (about $160) from his office window to see how people in the street would react (it reportedly created pandemonium). About a year ago he was accused in a bizarre hit-and-run incident, in which he allegedly ran over a policeman's foot. He denied it, insisting that he does not even drive a car. While he was under investigation, his partners reportedly sold 48 percent of the company to an investment fund run by a senior executive in the Kremlin oil company Rosneft.

Scrolling down Durov's VKontakte page reveals the milestones of what he says has been his struggle to protect the data of his users.

The rest is here:
Did the Kremlin just 'unfriend' the founder of Russia's Facebook?

SINGAPORE: The Media Development Authority (MDA) is proposing that Internet Service Providers offer subscribers basic parental control tools for free with the subscription or renewal of Internet access packages.

It is seeking public feedback on its recommendations to better help parents monitor their children's Internet usage.

Public consultations end on May 9.

These enhancements aim to raise the awareness of parental control tools offered by local Internet Access Service Providers (IASPs) and make it easier for parents to subscribe to these services.

Free tools for parents to screen content their children view online should include filtering services to allow parents to specify the types of content they do not want their children to see, but the service providers can choose to offer premium functionalities at an additional cost.

This may become a reality if recommendations by the MDA are well-received by the public.

MDAs chief executive officer, Koh Lin-net, said: "We recognise that the Internet offers many opportunities for everyone, but at the same time, there are some pitfalls to also watch out for.

"In particular, we know today that young children, as young as three or four years old, are already accessing the Internet, and we wanted to make sure that parents are aware that parental control solutions are out there so that they can make decisions as to what they want their children to see or not to see."

Service providers can also play a greater role.

Currently, they need to inform and offer parental control services to subscribers when they sign up for or renew their residential broadband and mobile internet packages.

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MDA seeks public feedback on Internet parental controls

The Crossing 48th St Media Control Room
Here is the monitors of the Media Control Room #39;s video switcher at The Crossing, 48th St. campus. This is the 2014 Easter Weekend service.

By: GcDmStudent

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The Crossing 48th St Media Control Room - Video

Despite Russia's attempts to control the Internet and manipulate opinion, especially over events in Ukraine, the truth seeps out. Social-media activists help ensure the free flow of ideas and facts.

The lie couldnt last for long, not in the Internet Age.

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On Thursday, President Vladimir Putin admitted for the first time that the troops in unmarked uniforms who took control of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula last month were Russian soldiers after all, not the local militia that he had claimed.

What made Mr. Putin fess up?

Perhaps it was the fact that many Russians are bypassing the Kremlin propaganda machine and turning to social media activists for the truth. One example is the Ukraine Crisis Media Center. It runs a fact-checking website called StopFake.org, which relies on dozens of volunteers to gather information that can refute the distortions and propaganda about Russias actions in Ukraine.

In the continuing struggle over Ukraine, the use of the Internet to spread the truth remains a powerful tool to counter Putins attempts to paint a false picture of events. It may even have helped push Russia into an agreement at talks Thursday in Geneva that calls for all illegal armed groups in Ukraine to be disarmed.

Nearly two-thirds of Russians say it is important that people have access to the Internet without government censorship, according to a 2013 Pew poll. Among young adults, this embrace of Web freedom is even stronger. But over the past two years, Putin has sought to rein in the Internet and other media in order to manipulate public opinion.

In January, investors close to Putin took control of the largest social media network, VKontakte. And a law that took effect Feb. 1 allows websites to be blocked if they are seen as extremist or inciting antigovernment protests. More than 100 sites have been shut down so far in an attempt to stifle political opposition.

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An Internet army of truth-tellers

Americas mainstream media still pretendsit is the custodian of serious journalism, but that claim continues to erode as the corporate press shies away from its duty to challengepropaganda emanating from various parts of the U.S. government, as Danny Schechter describes.

By Danny Schechter

First the good news: The Pulitzer Prize for Public Service was not only the best covered of its awards this year, but it recognized a series of disclosures that made many media outlets nervous, if not adversarial the publication of National Security Agency secrets leaked by Edward Snowden.

The award recognized the reporting by the Guardian in England and also Bart Gellmans work in the Washington Post even as they, did not recognize the work directly of Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras whose independent reporting appeared in many newspapers.

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden speaking in Moscow on Oct. 9, 2013. (From a video posted by WikiLeaks)

Poitras and Greenwald still make the news world nervous because a) they are outspoken, b) not always under the control and discipline of traditional editors, and 3) have an openly respectful and positive relationship with their source as if that is a high crime or misdemeanor.

It is significant that they were recognized by the Polk awards, but not the Pulitzer board. In some higher circles, their source, Edward Snowden, is still considered a traitor or worse.

The Pulitzer Prize is the big enchildada in the media world announced in a formal ceremony at the Pulitzer room in the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism on New Yorks Morningside Heights. The journalists who win these prizes are recognized for life as Pulitzer Prize Winners, a sign that they reached the highest heights in the profession. Its a ticket to raises and more recognition.

I once was once told by a former dean of the same J School where I taught as an adjunct that they considered themselves the Taj Mahal of American Journalism. I didnt have the heart to remind her that the original Taj was built as a tomb.

Almost as significant as the prizes to stories emanating from a whistleblower was the award to an investigative report into coal miners who were denied black-lung disease benefits, a report produced by one of the not-for-profit media organizations, the Center for Public Integrity. A CPI reporter, Chris Hamby, won that one.

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The Corruption of Mainstream Media