Sunday, January 25, 2009
UPDATE ON SITE CLOSURES: More sites disappearing
As was just reported, other sites used for news reference in Russia are disappearing. It appears that hackers are destroying ALL the Russian "dissident sites" within Russia. It CANNOT be a coincidence that this is occurring during the Patriarchal elections.
We believe that the incumbent "Patriarch-in-waiting", Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk, may well have a hand in this.
NFTU has discovered more sites that have suddenly disappeared:
http://www.apologetika.com Mech-I-Trost (Sword and Stick), A Russian news aggregator run by a part of ROCE
http://www.ispovednik.org, the official website of Metropolitan Damascene (Balabanov)
Other sites, as noted previously, that have vanished, are http://portal-credo.ru, a general news site and http://www.rpac.ru, the ROAC news sites.
This is getting scary, folks. NFTU
Saturday, January 24, 2009
SHOCK: Portal-Credo, ROAC site, other Russian "Dissident" Sites Shut Down
(NFTU; source: http://credo-rating.livejournal.com/2247.html- also found at Daily Courier, Russia) In a shock to alternative Orthodox media in Russia, Alexander Soldatov of portal-credo.ru has reported an unprecedented number of DOS (Denial of Service) attacks intended to both shut down the independent news site and damage its content. The site has been shut down since the evening of January 23, Moscow time.
In a press release found on "credo-rating", a temporary site now being used to maintain a news feed during the period of the Patriarchal elections, Soldatov further claimed that the hackers were attempting to destroy other sites as well, successfully closing the official site of the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church (ROAC) and the web forums of supporters of Bishop Diomid of Chukotka (MP). Soldatov claims the motive appears to be to block out contradictory information during the election of a new Patriarch.
To us it appears merely to be an excuse for something the MP would have wanted to do long ago anyway. While NFTU remains unaffiliated with any particular news organization, this is an insult to freedom of the press. Interfax has remained silent on the matter. We decry the censorship taking place in the name of making this appear to be a "free election".