As thousands of assertive Russians signal via a Facebook page that they plan to join a protest rally this weekend, the question of how to fund such massive protests will continue to haunt protest leaders. But in a surprise move, Yandex, the nation's largest search engine, has supplied a rescue plan. Electronic money operator Yandex.Dengi announced Monday that it has launched a new application that will allow protest organizers and other fundraisers to easily collect donations online through their Facebook accounts.
"It's a tool for donors and crowd-funders to collect donations in real time through their social network," Yandex.Dengi spokeswoman, Asya Melkumova, said in E-mailed comments. "We have just created a special application that will enable fast circulation of information about any activity in the social network. The application will enable a fundraiser or event-organizer to easily track financial contributions in real time without leaving Facebook."
To raise funds using the application, which is aptly called "Collect Money," a user only needs to tie his or her Yandex.Dengi account to Facebook, using a program downloadable here. The user may also need to give a brief description of the type of activity for which money is being collected. Non-Facebook users can still use the application by simply inputting information on other popular social networks, like VKontakte and Odnoklassniki.
By coincidence or design, Yandex.Dengi's announcement came as protest leaders try to build momentum ahead of Saturday's rally in part by pooling resources together. So far more than 30,000 people have ticked off on a Facebook page that they plan to join a rally, which will take place on Prospekt Sakharova in central Moscow. Protest organizers hope Saturday's protest will surpass the estimated crowd of 50,000 that gathered on December 10 on Bolotnaya Square, the biggest demonstration Russia has seen since the fall of Soviet Union. However, before Monday's announcement by Yandex.Dengi, collecting money has been a hassle, and activists like journalist and prisoner rights campaigner Olga Romanova have been making the rounds to collect money for the protests, Vedomosti reported on Tuesday.
While Facebook is not the most popular social network in Russia, Yandex.Dengi started off with it because "it is easy to use, understandable and accessible," Melkumova said. By the last count, Facebook has just 3.4 million users in Russia, a far cry from the 34.3 million users on VKontakte, the country's most popular social network. Melkumova said her company is working hard to release a similar application for other social networks in Russia, including VKontakte and Odnoklassniki. However, she kept tight-lipped on other details, like the timing.
For Yandex, the country's largest search portal, Monday's announcement is not the first "goodwill gesture" toward protesters. As tens of thousands of people turned out to protest what observers and opposition leaders say were rigged parliamentary elections, many protesters turned to Yandex Probki a Web site typically used for monitoring traffic jams to post messages of support around the Bolotnaya map location, using symbols reserved for road accidents, The Moscow Times reported.
Opposition groups and ordinary Russians have had to resort to social networks like Facebook and VKontakte to organize protests over the December 4 parliamentary election that they claim was rigged to benefit Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's ruling party. However, the authorities have signaled in recent weeks that they are ready to crack down on donation-driven Web sites. Nikolai Patrushev, the head of the Security Council, said in remarks published last week that the Internet must be subjected to "reasonable regulation." "Attempts to stop people from communicating are in principle counterproductive and even amoral," Patrushev, who headed the Federal Security Service, or FSB, during Putin's 2000 to 2008 presidency, told Argumenty i Fakty.
In April, the Federal Security Service asked Yandex for information about people who have donated funds to support Rospil.info, a Web site created by Alexei Navalny, the whistle-blowing blogger, to track rigged state tenders. Donors sent payments to Navalny through the Web payment system Yandex.Dengi. When some of the personal information was leaked to a third party, Navalny accused the FSB of passing the data to Nashi, the pro-Kremlin youth group that has harassed government critics in the past. The FSB has not commented, and Nashi has denied involvement.
Melkumova said Yandex.Dengi is not obliged to provide the authorities with information about users of the new application. "[However,] like any other company operating in Russia, Yandex is required by Russian law to respond to official inquiries about the actions of customers," Melkumova said. "We never do it on our own volition, but we have no right to ignore such requests." And the "Collect Money" application poses no risks whatsoever to its users, Melkumova said. "It's a bridge between those who collect money and those who want to donate to a cause," Melkumova said. "The contributions are never stored on Facebook. They remain on the account of the promoter on Yandex.Dengi. If contributors have reservations, they should simply look at who's collecting."
As thousands of assertive Russians signal via a Facebook page that they plan to join a protest rally this weekend, the question of how to fund such massive protests will continue to haunt protest leaders. But in a surprise move, Yandex, the nation's largest search engine, has supplied a rescue plan. Electronic money operator Yandex.Dengi announced Monday that it has launched a new application that will allow protest organizers and other fundraisers to easily collect donations online through their Facebook accounts.
"It's a tool for donors and crowd-funders to collect donations in real time through their social network," Yandex.Dengi spokeswoman, Asya Melkumova, said in E-mailed comments. "We have just created a special application that will enable fast circulation of information about any activity in the social network. The application will enable a fundraiser or event-organizer to easily track financial contributions in real time without leaving Facebook."
To raise funds using the application, which is aptly called "Collect Money," a user only needs to tie his or her Yandex.Dengi account to Facebook, using a program downloadable here. The user may also need to give a brief description of the type of activity for which money is being collected. Non-Facebook users can still use the application by simply inputting information on other popular social networks, like VKontakte and Odnoklassniki.
By coincidence or design, Yandex.Dengi's announcement came as protest leaders try to build momentum ahead of Saturday's rally in part by pooling resources together. So far more than 30,000 people have ticked off on a Facebook page that they plan to join a rally, which will take place on Prospekt Sakharova in central Moscow. Protest organizers hope Saturday's protest will surpass the estimated crowd of 50,000 that gathered on December 10 on Bolotnaya Square, the biggest demonstration Russia has seen since the fall of Soviet Union. However, before Monday's announcement by Yandex.Dengi, collecting money has been a hassle, and activists like journalist and prisoner rights campaigner Olga Romanova have been making the rounds to collect money for the protests, Vedomosti reported on Tuesday.
While Facebook is not the most popular social network in Russia, Yandex.Dengi started off with it because "it is easy to use, understandable and accessible," Melkumova said. By the last count, Facebook has just 3.4 million users in Russia, a far cry from the 34.3 million users on VKontakte, the country's most popular social network. Melkumova said her company is working hard to release a similar application for other social networks in Russia, including VKontakte and Odnoklassniki. However, she kept tight-lipped on other details, like the timing.
For Yandex, the country's largest search portal, Monday's announcement is not the first "goodwill gesture" toward protesters. As tens of thousands of people turned out to protest what observers and opposition leaders say were rigged parliamentary elections, many protesters turned to Yandex Probki a Web site typically used for monitoring traffic jams to post messages of support around the Bolotnaya map location, using symbols reserved for road accidents, The Moscow Times reported.
Opposition groups and ordinary Russians have had to resort to social networks like Facebook and VKontakte to organize protests over the December 4 parliamentary election that they claim was rigged to benefit Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's ruling party. However, the authorities have signaled in recent weeks that they are ready to crack down on donation-driven Web sites. Nikolai Patrushev, the head of the Security Council, said in remarks published last week that the Internet must be subjected to "reasonable regulation." "Attempts to stop people from communicating are in principle counterproductive and even amoral," Patrushev, who headed the Federal Security Service, or FSB, during Putin's 2000 to 2008 presidency, told Argumenty i Fakty.
In April, the Federal Security Service asked Yandex for information about people who have donated funds to support Rospil.info, a Web site created by Alexei Navalny, the whistle-blowing blogger, to track rigged state tenders. Donors sent payments to Navalny through the Web payment system Yandex.Dengi. When some of the personal information was leaked to a third party, Navalny accused the FSB of passing the data to Nashi, the pro-Kremlin youth group that has harassed government critics in the past. The FSB has not commented, and Nashi has denied involvement.
Melkumova said Yandex.Dengi is not obliged to provide the authorities with information about users of the new application. "[However,] like any other company operating in Russia, Yandex is required by Russian law to respond to official inquiries about the actions of customers," Melkumova said. "We never do it on our own volition, but we have no right to ignore such requests." And the "Collect Money" application poses no risks whatsoever to its users, Melkumova said. "It's a bridge between those who collect money and those who want to donate to a cause," Melkumova said. "The contributions are never stored on Facebook. They remain on the account of the promoter on Yandex.Dengi. If contributors have reservations, they should simply look at who's collecting."