Protest against Vladimir Putin in Moscow

Protest against Vladimir Putin in Moscow

"We want free elections" and "Putin is a thief" shouted protesters as they took to the streets of Moscow on Monday night. Thousands turned out for one of the largest opposition demonstrations in Russia for years. They were protesting against the parliamentary elections which took place on Sunday, and were won by the president’s United Russia party. There were a number of apparent violations in the conduct of the elections, which web users are intent on denouncing, despite a series of cyber-attacks on independent websites.

In this video, a man from Moscow says pens in voting booths were filled with a special ink that could later be erased. But despite the allegations of electoral fraud, Vladimir Putin’s party lost 77 seats in parliament, showing a major drop in popularity for Russia’s ruling party.

Up until now Russians have been voicing their frustrations online, but now they are taking to the streets of Moscow to do so. Anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny had called upon his many supporters to take part in Monday night’s rally. His speech was hailed by protesters, many of whom were young first time demonstrators.

The blogger was arrested shortly afterwards along with hundreds of other demonstrators. But this did not affect their determination, as we can see in this photo of the detained activists, taken by Navalni in the police van. With just a few months to go before the Presidential election, this should give Vladimir Putin something to worry about.

Teen suicide shines light on cyberbullying problem in Canada

15 year old high school student Marjorie Raymond committed suicide last week sending shockwaves across Quebec and the web. She took her own life after apparently being bullied by class mates in school and on social networks. The affair has grabbed headlines across the country and reignited debate on teenage bullying, and in particular on the Internet.

Several Facebook groups have been set up to pay tribute to Marjorie. They include photomontages in her memory, and web users can share their thoughts, feelings and sadness over this terrible act of desperation.

Others like Canadian comedian Laurent Paquin have made videos condemning school bullying and expressing their sorrow over Marjorie Raymond’s death. Silent films directly inspired by another video called “Jade’s Story” which was made a few months ago and had greatly moved Canadian web users at the time. The film depicts a teenage girl, also a victim of school bullying, explaining the suffering she endures on a daily basis.

The affair is being taken very seriously, and has been taken to the highest levels of the State, a number of politicians have recently announced they will be toughening up anti-bullying legislation. The Radio Canada website has reported that MPs want to give schools the authority to close down Facebook accounts if students are using them to bully classmates.

UK recruits hackers with online code-cracking contest

The British Government Communication Headquarters, known for its phone hacking expertise, is looking to recruit computer hackers, and has launched an online contest to do so; potential candidates have to solve a visual code which is hosted on this site. Those who succeed will be invited to interview for a position within the government agency’s cyber security unit. All interested hackers have until the 11th of December to submit their entry.

Now trending on social networks

Africa’s largest shopping mall, the Morocco Mall, opened its doors in Casablanca, Morocco on Monday, and has since been trending heavily on social networks. Moroccan web users are delighted with this huge shopping center and hope it will boost the country’s economy by creating new jobs, as the Morocco mall is expected to generate 5 000 direct jobs and 21 000 indirect ones.

Video of the day

American artist and designer Miguel Endara drew a picture of his dad composed of millions of ink dots, and in this video called “hero” he takes us through the painstaking work involved. It took him 210 hours to complete the piece which consists of over 3 million dots…