Kind of funny to see how quickly authoritarianism can destroy something that was profitable and usable. I used to use the image search sometimes when google was failing miserably and it worked pretty well. I'm afraid to visit there now as it's not unlikely they could inject a virus into your system.
The Yandex leak: How a Russian search giant uses consumer data
251–260 of 283 posts
Re: The Yandex leak: How a Russian search giant uses consumer data
#252Folks are focussing on the Russian part of this. But Yandex just happens to be the one whose source code got analyzed; you can safely substitute "Google" or "Facebook" or any of the other various behavior advertising companies here. They're all doing similar things and it's terrific to have such a detailed analysis of how it works. Wired has a good summary if you want something more like a mainstream press article: h…
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.
however for hackers it's pretty interesting to see the code as an example of what apple/google/amazon/facebook are up to when it comes to tracking/sending ads/privacy invasion techniques. We are all quite aware of Russia's attempted genocide of Ukraine.
Re: The Yandex leak: How a Russian search giant uses consumer data
#253Earlier quoted context omitted.
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?
They have though. They showed they don't care about borders and that if they're successful in Ukraine then they will just keep trying in the next nation over. Tyrants are never happy and always need more to conquer and to control. You can't just let them roll over other countries because they're a "super power" because evidently they aren't since Ukraine with help from the west is at least keeping them at bay.
Re: The Yandex leak: How a Russian search giant uses consumer data
#254Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Are people in Russia allowed to use Google? I thought Russia has been locking down their Internet for a while. Not as bad as China, but still missing anything unflattering to Putie.
Google properties are still unblocked, for now. But, yes, Internet censorship in Russia went into overdrive with the invasion.
Re: The Yandex leak: How a Russian search giant uses consumer data
#255Earlier quoted context omitted.
>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...
But us westerners usually don't care much about that kind of censorship because it doesn't affect the searches we normally do. ("normally" as in "we usually don't search stuff about russian politics")
While I was still living in Russia, llvm.org was blocked for several years because fuck you we balling.
Re: The Yandex leak: How a Russian search giant uses consumer data
#256Earlier quoted context omitted.
>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?
The former chancellor of Germany Gerhard Schröder went to work for Gazprom afterwards: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Schr%C3%B6der
Re: The Yandex leak: How a Russian search giant uses consumer data
#257Funny how news loves to refer to russian companies as "giants". Russian oil "giant", search "giant", etc. Just an amusing fact.
Also Western billionaire versus Russian oligarch - even if the source of wealth is virtually identical and their political power probably higher in the West.
Eh, while billionaires enjoy privilege in the West, oligarchs literally run gangs, murder people on the regular, and support Putin's attempted genocide of Ukraine. I would say that's definitely comparing grapes and oranges.
Re: The Yandex leak: How a Russian search giant uses consumer data
#258Earlier quoted context omitted.
If a killer will break-in a house and kill someone, it's not about doors or walls.
This wasn't a killer that broke in and killed someone. This was more like going to an old friend and asking for something you left there years ago.
The Russian military are literally killers breaking into Ukraine and killing people.
Re: The Yandex leak: How a Russian search giant uses consumer data
#259Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can someone explain this to me? America won the Cold War and had an influence on Russia's (the successor state) transition to a market-based economy. Then how can “we“ at the same time be mad about how the transition was handled?
Excuse me? America did not get to define Russia's development, what the heck?
Many Russians do believe exactly that. While "getting to define Russia's development" is a stretch, there has been some US involvement: https://www.thenation.com/article/world/harvard-boys-do-russ...
Re: The Yandex leak: How a Russian search giant uses consumer data
#260Earlier quoted context omitted.
For example?
Austria is the lobbying arm and safe heaven of Russian banks, oil & gas and oligarchs in the EU, and vice versa, Austrian banks and companies are heavily invested in Russia, and you don't just get to be a major investor in Russia without the bribes, connections and blessing of some very high up people in the government. Pretty sure plenty of German politicians were similarly cozy with Russia before.
While there will be obvious corruption involved in that, voting for access to cheap energy and access to foreign economies for investment are both things I'm in favour of. Being warm in winter and being wealthy are both good outcomes. So corruption is bad in all its forms, but that corruption doesn't threaten me.
A pretty basic assumption about Google and Facebook is that the US 3 letter agencies use the data in coups. Speaking as an Australian, the next time we have a Whitlam-style dismissal I assume Google will be covertly involved. Yandex not so much. Similar logic would hold in the Americas, Asia, and most of Western Europe. It'd be fascinating to know what role US social media companies were playing in the 2014 Ukraine revolution too as a comparison to somewhere that is very much a place where Russia would want to weaponise Yandexq.