Lame title-joke aside, it seems that Russia is about to start requiring all wireless internet devices and routers to be registered with the Russian Mass Media Communications and Cultural Protection Service, or Rossvyazokhrankultura for "short." Failure to register your laptop, PDA, smart phone, Nintendo Wii, TiVo, etc., could result in the government confiscating your property. The agency says that registering a new laptop or phone could take ten days, while setting up a home network would take significantly longer, requiring a slew of paperwork and forms to be filed. Aside from the Orwellian overtones and frightening anti-freedom movements Russia's been making lately, I'm left wondering why registering anything should take ten days or more. Are they actually using paper and filing cabinets? If they had a high speed network, I bet they could oppress ten times as quickly. Read more here.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
In Russia, Use of Wi-Fi Puts You in Hot Spot
