September 22, 2021

What's Worse: Unsympathetic Aliens or Interfering AI?


What's Worse: Unsympathetic Aliens or Interfering AI?

“The App Store portal: who regulates it? Artificial intelligence, people from Mars?”

– Andrei Klimov, Russian representative of the executive authority of the Perm territory

In a bid to protect Russia’s sovereignty during this week’s State Duma elections, Senator Andrei Klimov questioned Apple representative Daria Yermolina about the App Store’s regulations. The Russian government summoned both Apple and Google to the Temporary Commission of the Federation Council for the protection of state sovereignty. The government claimed that Apple and Google’s refusal to remove the “Navalny” and “Smart Voting” applications from the App Store and the Google Play digital store amounted to interference in Russia’s elections. The “Smart Voting” application listed State Duma candidates likely to win against state-backed contenders.

Following the committee hearing, both Apple and Google removed the applications from their stores.

 

 

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The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 

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Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.

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Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.

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