Dmitri (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} dm_krylov) wrote,@ 2006-10-25 18:35:00 |
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OPEN LETTER TO BRAD FITZPATRICK REGARDING THE DEAL BETWEEN LJ AND SUP
Dear Brad,
This is a collective letter on behalf of many Russian LJ users who are concerned about the recent sale of AT, access to information and other rights to a Moscow-based company SUP. While many Russian-speaking users in Russia, United States and elsewhere in the world have enjoyed LJ service and continue to feel loyal to the company after many changes, it has come to our attention that this particular deal is little short of a franchise for a) conflict resolution, b) access to information, c) payment and other services to a newly formed company SUP. This company and its CEO Mr. Nosik in particular have tarnished their reputation among Russian users by several outrageous public statements. In particular:
Well, I surely believe that in the Cyrillic LJ segment there are 10, 100, and even 1000 dumb fucks (out of 698 thousand). I just don’t believe that they have the right to command Brad Fitzpatrick (or Barak Berkovitz) whom to choose as business partners in Russia and on what conditions. (…)
"These bastards won't like it, but I forgive them."
Because Mr. Nosik feels so much disdain to his potential clients we wonder what policies he may implement and what use he may make of our personal and financial information once he acquires control of it.
A copy of Mr. Nosik’s recollections of his criminal past is a vivid self-inrimination in several wrong-doings. Among other things he describes his violating citizenship laws, forging official seals and financial schemes.
The original of these recollections has been edited and some comments have been deleted.
Mr Nossik is known to have closed two overseas sites of the Russian publicist Dugin. In particular, he discribes his own actions in a forum post as follows:
I shut down Dugin's serevers the same way as ruspatriot.da.ru. I simply asked the provider this question: does he understand what kind of site is using his free service?
(Запись 1545 оставил(а) Антон Носик <anton@cityline.ru> Москва, Россия - Monday, March 01, 1999 at 03:47:40 (MSK))
He has also censored and put under rigid political control a magazine in Kirghizia (Kirghizia-previously the part of USSR and now a new independent state). The first of May 2003 independent Kirghizia's news-paper
"Газета.KG"( The Newspaper.KG) with a chief-editor Ulan Melisbekov started its public life. The Internet news-paper was extremely popular- it had thousands of readers. After the civil unrest in Kirghizia (and a new president) the owner and editor of this media Ulan Melisbekov was pressed to sell his media-asset to "companies in Russia" which put Anton Nosik in charge of this newspaper. Making the long story short: "The Newspaper.KG" under the censorship of mr. Nosik lost its audience, there are just few subscribers now.
The whole story can be found here(in Russian)
Alexander Mamut who invested in the SUP company has been implicated in money laundering through the bank of New York which has received national coverage in the US.
A poll in the Russian LJ shows that only 9% of responders perceive as positive the SUP’s acquisition of services for the Russian LJ sector, while 52% (4058 users) perceive it as a negative development (about 20% of each are a. undecided or b. don’t have an opinion).
In view of the above many Russian users are concerned about the safety of their personal and financial data as well as the ability of Mr. Nosik and those working under him to be impartial as an AT service.
The purpose of this letter is to express these concerns to LJ management and to inform you of possible consequences potential mis-handling of private and financial information may have in the future.
To safeguard ourselves from these mishandlings and to understand the technical side of the deal between LJ and SUP, we would like to inquire:
1. how will the switch to the SUP service be made technically for a Russian user based in Russia and elsewhere?
2. will there be a clear and simple way to opt out from switching to SUP at any point and select any other AT and other services of choice?
3. what level of support to Russian users are you planning to have after the switch to SUP becomes available? In particular, we would like to know if the currently existing support will be diminished or altered in any way.
4. how do you plan to resolve conflicts between those users that will have opted to be under SUP and those who will remain loyal to LJ proper?
5.if you plan to consult SUP in AT matters related to those Russian users who decide to be non-SUP clients, as has been mentioned in press, what will be the procedure for appealing their potentially biased opinions?
6.will personal and financial information for non-SUP clients be accessible to SUP, in particular with they have SQL database access and at what level? If not, are you planning to limit their access by technical means or simply by their good will?
7.will IP and log information for non-SUP clients be accessible to SUP?
8.if SUP software developers decide to install new modules on the LJ servers what will be the procedure to guarantee that they are not designed to be an illigal backdoor to the above mentioned information?
9. will new users have a choice between SUP and non-SUP service when signing up?
We would also like to indicate that at this point several Russian LJ users have decided to close their journals and move to another blogging services as a resut of the newly announced deal. Many are discussing similar issues and plan to leave LJ altogether if and when SUP takes control of the Russian sector. There are a number of users who are deeply offended by Mr. Nosik’s remarks. Many Russian LJ users in the US are considering a class action law suit against SUP CEO and/or LJ if their personal or financial information becomes available to SUP.
Posted link at
http://brad.livejournal.com/2260398.htm
Dear Brad,
This is a collective letter on behalf of many Russian LJ users who are concerned about the recent sale of AT, access to information and other rights to a Moscow-based company SUP. While many Russian-speaking users in Russia, United States and elsewhere in the world have enjoyed LJ service and continue to feel loyal to the company after many changes, it has come to our attention that this particular deal is little short of a franchise for a) conflict resolution, b) access to information, c) payment and other services to a newly formed company SUP. This company and its CEO Mr. Nosik in particular have tarnished their reputation among Russian users by several outrageous public statements. In particular:
Well, I surely believe that in the Cyrillic LJ segment there are 10, 100, and even 1000 dumb fucks (out of 698 thousand). I just don’t believe that they have the right to command Brad Fitzpatrick (or Barak Berkovitz) whom to choose as business partners in Russia and on what conditions. (…)
"These bastards won't like it, but I forgive them."
Because Mr. Nosik feels so much disdain to his potential clients we wonder what policies he may implement and what use he may make of our personal and financial information once he acquires control of it.
A copy of Mr. Nosik’s recollections of his criminal past is a vivid self-inrimination in several wrong-doings. Among other things he describes his violating citizenship laws, forging official seals and financial schemes.
The original of these recollections has been edited and some comments have been deleted.
Mr Nossik is known to have closed two overseas sites of the Russian publicist Dugin. In particular, he discribes his own actions in a forum post as follows:
I shut down Dugin's serevers the same way as ruspatriot.da.ru. I simply asked the provider this question: does he understand what kind of site is using his free service?
(Запись 1545 оставил(а) Антон Носик <anton@cityline.ru> Москва, Россия - Monday, March 01, 1999 at 03:47:40 (MSK))
He has also censored and put under rigid political control a magazine in Kirghizia (Kirghizia-previously the part of USSR and now a new independent state). The first of May 2003 independent Kirghizia's news-paper
"Газета.KG"( The Newspaper.KG) with a chief-editor Ulan Melisbekov started its public life. The Internet news-paper was extremely popular- it had thousands of readers. After the civil unrest in Kirghizia (and a new president) the owner and editor of this media Ulan Melisbekov was pressed to sell his media-asset to "companies in Russia" which put Anton Nosik in charge of this newspaper. Making the long story short: "The Newspaper.KG" under the censorship of mr. Nosik lost its audience, there are just few subscribers now.
The whole story can be found here(in Russian)
Alexander Mamut who invested in the SUP company has been implicated in money laundering through the bank of New York which has received national coverage in the US.
A poll in the Russian LJ shows that only 9% of responders perceive as positive the SUP’s acquisition of services for the Russian LJ sector, while 52% (4058 users) perceive it as a negative development (about 20% of each are a. undecided or b. don’t have an opinion).
In view of the above many Russian users are concerned about the safety of their personal and financial data as well as the ability of Mr. Nosik and those working under him to be impartial as an AT service.
The purpose of this letter is to express these concerns to LJ management and to inform you of possible consequences potential mis-handling of private and financial information may have in the future.
To safeguard ourselves from these mishandlings and to understand the technical side of the deal between LJ and SUP, we would like to inquire:
1. how will the switch to the SUP service be made technically for a Russian user based in Russia and elsewhere?
2. will there be a clear and simple way to opt out from switching to SUP at any point and select any other AT and other services of choice?
3. what level of support to Russian users are you planning to have after the switch to SUP becomes available? In particular, we would like to know if the currently existing support will be diminished or altered in any way.
4. how do you plan to resolve conflicts between those users that will have opted to be under SUP and those who will remain loyal to LJ proper?
5.if you plan to consult SUP in AT matters related to those Russian users who decide to be non-SUP clients, as has been mentioned in press, what will be the procedure for appealing their potentially biased opinions?
6.will personal and financial information for non-SUP clients be accessible to SUP, in particular with they have SQL database access and at what level? If not, are you planning to limit their access by technical means or simply by their good will?
7.will IP and log information for non-SUP clients be accessible to SUP?
8.if SUP software developers decide to install new modules on the LJ servers what will be the procedure to guarantee that they are not designed to be an illigal backdoor to the above mentioned information?
9. will new users have a choice between SUP and non-SUP service when signing up?
We would also like to indicate that at this point several Russian LJ users have decided to close their journals and move to another blogging services as a resut of the newly announced deal. Many are discussing similar issues and plan to leave LJ altogether if and when SUP takes control of the Russian sector. There are a number of users who are deeply offended by Mr. Nosik’s remarks. Many Russian LJ users in the US are considering a class action law suit against SUP CEO and/or LJ if their personal or financial information becomes available to SUP.
Posted link at
http://brad.livejournal.com/2260398.htm
