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posted by janrinok on Monday December 05 2016, @11:53PM   Printer-friendly
from the hey,-that's-me! dept.

Russia is one of only a handful of countries to have developed its own internet, including its own search engines, e-mail systems, and social networks. To get to the roots of this sovereign internet, I spend a day hanging out with Dmitry Grishin, co-founder and chairman of Russian internet giant Mail.Ru Group. Grishin is a technology legend in Russia. We cruise Moscow in his Tesla, check out his gadget collection at the Mail.Ru offices, and dine at the highest restaurant in Europe, because that's what Russian techno oligarchs do.

As for the budding tech oligarchs, well, there are plenty of those running around Moscow, too. Over the past few years, Russia's wealth of smart, aggressive entrepreneurs has yielded a new generation of world-class technology companies. There's Prisma, which uses artificial intelligence to turn your photos and videos into works of art, and Group-IB, one of the world's top cybersecurity firms, which has an unmatched track record when it comes to hunting down hackers.

But the most stunning—and creepiest—software developed in Russia is something called FindFace. It's an app that lets you take a picture of a stranger and then almost instantly, using a facial-recognition algorithm, find the person on a social network. If you're hoping the software doesn't work that well, you'll be disappointed: When I tested the app, it found the right faces all the freaking time. Privacy is so 2015.


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  • (Score: 5, Touché) by Thexalon on Tuesday December 06 2016, @12:28AM

    by Thexalon (636) on Tuesday December 06 2016, @12:28AM (#437478)

    The United States a is one of only a handful of countries to have developed its own internet, including its own search engines, e-mail systems, and social networks. To get to the roots of this sovereign internet, I spend a day hanging out with Sergei Brin, co-founder and chairman of US Internet giant Google Inc. Brin is a technology legend in the US. We cruise San Francisco in his Tesla, check out his gadget collection at the Google offices, and dine at the highest restaurant in California, because that's what US techno oligarchs do.

    As for the budding tech oligarchs, well, there are plenty of those running around the US, too. Over the past few years, America's wealth of smart, aggressive entrepreneurs has yielded a new generation of world-class technology companies. There's Instagram, which uses artificial intelligence to turn your photos and videos into works of art, and IBM, one of the world's top cybersecurity firms, which has an unmatched track record when it comes to hunting down hackers.

    But the most stunning—and creepiest—software developed in the US is something called Facebook. It's an app that lets those with special access to the data find out all the details about almost anybody's life, even those who didn't willingly give any of the information out. If you're hoping the software doesn't work that well, you'll be disappointed: When I tested the app, it found the right guesses all the freaking time. Privacy is so 2015.

    --
    The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by bob_super on Tuesday December 06 2016, @01:02AM

    by bob_super (1357) on Tuesday December 06 2016, @01:02AM (#437492)

    We're getting to a point where the distinguishing features between Russia, China and the US is getting much shorter than our propaganda would acknowledge.

    • (Score: 4, Funny) by KritonK on Tuesday December 06 2016, @11:36AM

      by KritonK (465) on Tuesday December 06 2016, @11:36AM (#437619)

      The difference is that in a US web page, the terms of use are in English, while in the FindPage web page, which is also in English, the terms of use are in a lengthy Russian document, to which you have to agree, even if you can't read it, before being you are given the opportunity to sign up. The US still has some catching up to do.

      • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday December 06 2016, @05:51PM

        by DeathMonkey (1380) on Tuesday December 06 2016, @05:51PM (#437889) Journal

        The difference is that in a US web page, the terms of use are in English,
         
        [citation needed]

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 06 2016, @03:39AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 06 2016, @03:39AM (#437531)

    The United States [...] developed its own internet, including its own search engines, [...] Brin is a technology legend in the US.

    Sergey Brin came from the USSR.