Maidan.net

How the events on Maidan were reflected on Ukrnet

On January 28, Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov resigned , and the Verkhovna Rada decided to abolish the “dictatorial” laws on rallies and threats to the authorities on the Internet.

These events marked, if not the complete completion, then at least an intermediate finale of the events in the country in recent months. On this occasion, TJournal recalls how Euromaidan took place on the Ukrainian Internet.

There's an app for that

The clashes in Ukraine lasted long enough for local developers to release mobile applications for Protestants. Collections with headlines in the format “Five best apps for Euromaidan activists” have even begun to appear online, clearly hinting at the variety of options.

Most of these programs have a beacon function that instantly sends SMS messages to specified numbers, and also creates posts on social networks that something bad has happened to the owner of the smartphone. Some of them also collect information about the progress of the protest, while others are even able to illuminate the path of the marcher with the state colors of Ukraine.

Twitter storm

To draw attention to the protests of Western media, as well as to convey their point of view to them, the Ukrainian opposition used the technology of “Twitter storm”. To do this, Twitter users were asked to use a set of hashtags #euromaidan, #Ukraine and #digitalmaidan, as well as a special service Digital Maidan , with which anyone can choose and publish one of the pre-prepared English-language tweets on their microblog.

All 113 templates include mentions of Twitter representatives of international organizations, media, popular stars and politicians, including Hugh Laurie, Ringo Starr and Richard Branson. One of the drafts, for example, suggests sending Justin Bieber to Kyiv to draw CNN's attention to the events in Ukraine.

Plans Hromadske

In the wake of the protest, the local opposition channel Hromadske TB gained great popularity, regularly broadcasting and publishing reports from rallies. In December, its name became one of the three most popular queries in the Ukrainian Google segment.

On January 26, Hromadske TB decided to enlist the support of the editor-in-chief of the Ekho Moskvy radio station, Alexei Venediktov, but the broadcast with his participation did not go as expected. For example, Venediktov opposed their idea that Vladimir Putin wants to destabilize Ukraine, citing the fact that “he already has a lot of unstable regions at home.”

Microsoft on the barricades

In mid-November, the CEO of Microsoft's Ukrainian division shocked the public by temporarily stepping down to help build barricades and clear snow on the streets of Kiev.

Aggressive actions by security forces are unacceptable in a democratic country. Therefore, today I have temporarily resigned as CEO of Microsoft Ukraine. I am going to the Maidan to defend the rights and freedoms of my compatriots. Dmitry Shimkiv, CEO of Microsoft Ukraine

Dmitry especially noted that his political views do not in any way affect his work at Microsoft, and to express his civic position, he took leave at his own expense.

Shymkiv was not the only representative of the country’s IT industry to come out in support of Euromaidan. For example, the head of the Ukrainian division of Yandex, Sergei Petrenko, proposed declaring a public boycott of the authorities, citing the fact that “an honest person is not able to get rid of bandits,” but is not obliged to be polite to them or respond to them. And well-known Ukrainian companies InvisibleCRM and modnaKasta supported Euromaidan with funds, abandoning their New Year's corporate events.

Some figures in the local IT industry, on the contrary, spoke out against the protests, noting both the obvious negativity they bring (murders, pogroms and injuries) and the problems that may arise in the long term. For example, the founder of the Minution.ru auction, Pavel Bogacci, is pleased that “old guys” are far from “start-ups” and do not interfere in the industry.

Message from Guy Fawkes

On December 2, 2013, a message allegedly from the international hacker group Anonymous appeared on the Internet, in which a computer-processed voice in English expresses its dissatisfaction with the situation in Ukraine and sets a 24-hour ultimatum to the country’s president.

The ominous video was shown by local media, but no one managed to find out what Operation Ukraine mentioned in the video was about.

The mysterious case of Max Ishchenko

On January 19, after the Verkhovna Rada adopted a number of laws restricting citizens’ freedoms online, the largest forum for Ukrainian developers, DOU.ua, which had existed for about nine years, unexpectedly closed . A laconic stub appeared on the site explaining the reason for going offline on behalf of the founder Max Ishchenko.

At first, he said on his microblog that he did not plan to give additional explanations of what happened.

No comments

— Max Ischenko (@maxua) January 19, 2014

However, a few hours later he added that it was sabotage by some “unknown persons.”

Unknown people gained control over DOU hosting and set a redirect to http://t.co/AcDureOUgV

— Max Ischenko (@maxua) January 19, 2014

Three days later, Maxim Ishchenko again admitted that closing the site was his idea.

If we translate the text of Law 3879 into a clear meaning: I am the government and I decide what rights and freedoms you have. If I want, I give, I don’t want, I take... What should I do if I don’t like this arrangement? There are two options: cancel 3879 or change the country to one where 3879 is not possible. Maxim Ishchenko, founder of DOU.ua

There's no Wi-Fi in hell

During the heated clashes in the center of Kyiv, unconfirmed information was spread online that the authorities were planning to deprive Protestants of mobile communications and the Internet.

Messages are being sent to all providers that martial law is being introduced on the 24th. You need to disable all Internet and mobile gateways. #euromaidan

— Euromaidan (@Dbnmjr) January 22, 2014

Therefore, users actively shared pictures with the addresses and passwords of available Wi-Fi points.

The Internet Association of Ukraine took up the problem and set itself the task of ensuring the uninterrupted operation of “important communication resources Twitter, Facebook, Ukrpravda and Google.” One of its board members suggested that city center residents move their routers closer to the window and remove their passwords. Many local providers have upgraded their customers to unlimited plans for free specifically for this purpose.

Give me Wi-Fi and I will move the Earth!
Vadim Elistratov,
TJournal

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