221–230 of 283 posts
> Do we want, at a time when Russia is considering the UK as an enemy, to be providing all our personal details to a server in Moscow? I think I am safer with Russian govt having access to my data vs my local govt having access to my data.
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I think the frequent comparisons of GDP leads the West to heavily underestimate Russia. While GDP may be lower than Italy and per capita is weak, a nation like Russia can probably accomplish an order of magnitude more large scale projects, and also sustain a certain economy climate for much much longer than we think. So don't underestimate Russia, even though we'd like to think they're soon running out of steam to co…
On the other side of the comparison, I think Italy is a lot more capable than many people give them credit for, so the comparison is not quite as damning as it may first seem. On just one axis of consideration, Italy has a blue water navy with power projection capabilities roughly similar to Russia and India, surpassed only by the United States, the UK and France. I think Italy also ranks higher than most anglosphere…
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>but I've never suspected them to be randomly hiding or suppressing search results the word 'random' must be doing a lot of work in that sentence given that they are subject to Roskomnadzor's regulations and are thus forced not just arbitrarily but systematically censor content: https://meduza.io/en/feature/2023/02/01/a-window-into-yandex...
It looks like the best solution is for “westerners” to use Yandex and everyone else to use Google or Bing and this way they can search with less targeted censoring on their terms.
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I think the frequent comparisons of GDP leads the West to heavily underestimate Russia. While GDP may be lower than Italy and per capita is weak, a nation like Russia can probably accomplish an order of magnitude more large scale projects, and also sustain a certain economy climate for much much longer than we think. So don't underestimate Russia, even though we'd like to think they're soon running out of steam to co…
GDP seems like a very questionable, and likely misleading, measure to me, even for Western nations. For example, Canada's inflation-adjusted per-capita GDP has supposedly increased over time, yet for many Canadians, the standard of living is now noticeably lower than it was (or would have likely been) two or three decades ago. In terms of production, Canadian businesses and governments generally don't seem to have be…
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>Russian corruption doesn't generally touch Western governments No offense but the fact that someone on HN could get to this conclusion is rather shocking to me. Western Europe has plenty of russian corruption and I'm afraid the ongoing war has unearthed only a fraction of it.
For example?
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That was tongue in cheek/sarcasm. I think it's insane people are dying for this.
If a killer will break-in a house and kill someone, it's not about doors or walls.
This was more like going to an old friend and asking for something you left there years ago.
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Of course we are focusing on the Russian part. Russia has made themselves the enemy of the west, so their spying is several factors more serious case than just a simple violation of privacy.
> Russia has made themselves the enemy of the west Well, either that or the west has decided that Russia is the enemy. I honestly don't buy the saying "Russia has made themselves the enemy of the west". Why would anybody want to be the enemy of the global superpower?
>Do we want, at a time when Russia is considering the UK as an enemy, to be providing all our personal details to a server in Moscow? Depends how good the search is. Google doesn’t seem to want to provide me proper results anymore, even very basic image search tasks on google now net you only about 20 results all of which are wrong or useless. Yandex image search actually works. If you don’t want me to use the Russia…
There is a reasonable argument that, as a minor nobody, we should rather use services from hostile countries. It isn't feasible for Russia to to compel someone in an English-speaking country to do something unpleasant. That is a lot more than can be said for the local police or politicians. Russian corruption doesn't generally touch Western governments - the atmosphere is too hostile to it.
Context: Yandex is in the news right now because a couple of days ago its cofounder and former CEO Arkady Volozh was caught trying to hide his Russian past [0], and today he finally issued a public statement condemning the war [1], almost 1.5 years after the full-scale invasion began. [0] https://kz.kursiv.media/en/2023-08-07/co-founder-of-yandex-e... [1] https://www.reuters.com/article/ukraine-crisis-yandex-volozh..…
Kazakhstani (born in Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union) ethnic Russian stops mentioning “Russia” in his biography during a period of increased Russophobia. More news at eight?
He is jewish. Just like the rest of the "yandex talents" that moved to work at Israeli office. They all get to be jewish when if suits them.
UPD.
Also, yandex news was (and still is) the pinnacle of russian putin propaganda. And the person in question was complicit with it. Even, given the fact he wasn't living in russia since 2014. He tries to whitewash himself because he is a sanctioned individual. And the protocol to get desanctioned is to publicly state he disapproves the war.
>Do we want, at a time when Russia is considering the UK as an enemy, to be providing all our personal details to a server in Moscow? Depends how good the search is. Google doesn’t seem to want to provide me proper results anymore, even very basic image search tasks on google now net you only about 20 results all of which are wrong or useless. Yandex image search actually works. If you don’t want me to use the Russia…
If I have to share my data with someone, I'd rather it be someone distant, and with limited capability. Sharing my data with Google is effectively the same thing as sharing my data with the FBI. And the FBI can stick guns in my face and lock me in a steel cage for anything they don't like in said data.
While I'm no fan of Putin, his regime can do precisely nothing actionable with my data, so long as I don't set foot in its territory.