Say hi to the KGB

It turns out the NSA isn't the only thing to think about out here in the high plains of cyberspace.

Veronica Khokholva via Xeni Jardin:

The Russian-language blogosphere (commonly known as ZheZhe) is on fire: some users are shutting down their blogs, others are emigrating to the virtual Trinidad & Tobago - all because LiveJournal.com's owner Six Apart has decided to team up with the Russian internet company Sup, founded this year by Aleksandr Mamut, a Russian "oligarch," and Andrew Paulson, an American entrepreneur.
...
Assurances from managers of Six Apart and Sup have left many unconvinced and still concerned over whether the Russian security services would gain access to their personal information and whether the new Abuse Team would carry out ruthless purges...

Somehow I think the purges they're talking about aren't just kicking people off the blogroll.

But it's inevitable. The KGB, long a tool of organized crime in Russia (and vice-versa), meets DynCorp/ CIA/ NSA. It's impossible to tell who's adopted whose tacics, because these boys have been playing the same game all along.