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Vkontakte Founder Flees Russia

themoscowtimes.com

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Re: Vkontakte Founder Flees Russia

#11

Post by acqq »

Imagine Zuckerberg selling his Facebook shares, then claiming to flee from USA for not willing to give the data from the Facebook to the FBI. Which of course Facebook (just like any other competitor like Google and Microsoft) gives since it's all regulated by the law:

https://www.facebook.com/about/government_requests

Disclaimer: I don't know how much Durov actually sold. Any additional info welcome.

Re: Vkontakte Founder Flees Russia

#12

Post by melling »

jsumrall wrote: post #3

I'm not sure how to articulate it, but I find it immensely interesting that Snowden fled to Russia, while Pavel is fleeing from Russia, both for issues within similar realms.

What's so hard to understand? Hacker News has a lot of naive people who have no idea how the world works.

Hey, the 80's called, and if you were born during or after, it's probably time to ask what you don't understand.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/wp/2014/03/...

Re: Vkontakte Founder Flees Russia

#14

Post by arjie »

jsumrall wrote: post #3

I'm not sure how to articulate it, but I find it immensely interesting that Snowden fled to Russia, while Pavel is fleeing from Russia, both for issues within similar realms.

Enemy of my enemy and all that. Seems logical to me. Unfortunately, no western nation would protect Snowden.

By the way, you seem to have triple posted.

Re: Vkontakte Founder Flees Russia

#16

Post by GuiA »

In a dictatorship, if the ones holding power want to take control of an internet company holding data about the personal lives of hundreds of millions of people, they do so by ousting the CEO and taking control the hard way.

In a democracy with a free market, if the ones holding power want to take control of an internet company which holds data about the personal lives of hundreds of millions of people, they do so by strategically adding members to the company's board who are part of the oligarchy in place.

Putin's Russia still has a lot to learn! :')

Re: Vkontakte Founder Flees Russia

#17

Post by mverwijs »

jsumrall wrote: post #3

I'm not sure how to articulate it, but I find it immensely interesting that Snowden fled to Russia, while Pavel is fleeing from Russia, both for issues within similar realms.

This is factually incorrect. Snowden stranded in Russia. He had a ticket for Cuba where intended to transfer to Bolivia(?). Either way: not Russia.

Re: Vkontakte Founder Flees Russia

#18

Post by scotty79 »

DangerousPie wrote: post #8
jsumrall wrote: post #3

I'm not sure how to articulate it, but I find it immensely interesting that Snowden fled to Russia, while Pavel is fleeing from Russia, both for issues within similar realms.

Similar realms maybe, but I still think there is a huge difference between exposing your country's secret service operations and running a popular website. The fact that the former gets you into legal trouble is expected. The fact that the latter does is very concerning.

He got in trouble for refusal to turn his company into goverment surveillance device. Much like the ones Snowden exposed so there's some symmetry between those situations albeit not obvious one.

Re: Vkontakte Founder Flees Russia

#19

Post by domdip »

broflosup wrote: post #6

He made $260 million in Russia creating a copy of Facebook. He sold his shares and resigned. But wait, he didn't _really_ resign. No, it was all an April fools joke! The investors didn't buy it and fired him. He claims the site is now under the control of Kremlin because one of its shareholders is Alisher Usmanov, an alleged ally of Putin. Yet, that guy was a shareholder for awhile now and Durov never complained abou…

As far as business in Russia goes, this sounds like a fairly normal course of events. Almost every large company has someone Putin-connected at the top, and when the Kremlin wants more control that's how they exercise it. (Either that, or corrupt court judgments that directly change corporate control.)

Don't be surprised if there are a rash of allegations of corruption, embezzlement, etc., against Durov. The sad thing about Russia is that they could be true, they could be part of a conspiracy against Durov, or both. You'll never know.

Re: Vkontakte Founder Flees Russia

#20

Post by finspin »

jsumrall wrote: post #3

I'm not sure how to articulate it, but I find it immensely interesting that Snowden fled to Russia, while Pavel is fleeing from Russia, both for issues within similar realms.

Snowden didn't flee to Russia. He was on his way to South America, transiting through Russia, when the USA revoked his passport, forcing him to stay in Russia.
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