What is probiv for?
Probiv is a service that finds information about people by simply typing something in the search bar. Anyone can buy this information, at high prices on the Dark Web or at low prices on Telegram. The types of information that can be obtained are various, you can also obtain personal information: call records, phone geolocation, personal passwords to access social networks or e-mail. Today probiv is used not only by jealous spouses and criminals, but above all by journalists and activists (The Moscow Times, 2021).
The important role of probiv in the Navalnyj case
This service helped the Bellingcat investigative collective and the Russian website ‘The insider’ accessing flight information to identify Russian intelligence agents responsible for Navalny's poisoning (The Moscow Times, 2021).
Russian investigative journalism is also the result of the use of internet and Navalnyj with his videos on YouTube played an important role in its development, in fact he was the first who demonstrated that some limits can be overcome.
Journalism criticizing the Russian government is spreading
Such a kind of journalism that is so critical of the government and Putin's authority figure is “unseen in our country since the end of the 1990s” said Denis Volkov, the deputy director of the Levada Center, a Russian public opinion research group (The New York Times, 2021).
People who spread and sell secret information about the Russian government and Vladimir Putin are the underpaid police and intelligence officers. Thus, his instruments of surveillance and corruption are used against him.
Furthermore, some journalists in the country claim, for a matter of ethics and legality, that they do not buy information from this market because they do not want to pay for stolen information; other journalists, however, argue that it is normal to use this system in an investigation, but not in an article. However, Roman Anin, the founder of a Russian nonprofit detective site, said that “The audience doesn’t care whether you bought data or got it from a source, since we live in a country where authorities are killing opposition leaders, let’s forget about these rules, because these stories are more important than our ethical rules” (The New York Times, 2021).
Where does the data and information come from? What are the legal consequences for those who sell them and those who buy them?
The information that comes from Telegram is obtained with bots. The best-known services in Russia are Glas Boga, Smart_SearchBot, Archangel, Av_InfoBot. By entering the name of a person, you will get the telephone numbers connected to this person, his contacts on social networks, the number plate of the car. And, again, with the license plate of the car you can trace other information such as residence, passport and so on. Therefore, it is a complex and chaotic network of information. Usually, the operators of these services obtain this information thanks to leaks of data from organizations and companies (The New York Times, 2021).
Regarding the responsibility for the dissemination of important data, the service operators pass the responsibility on the users by having customers confirm that they have the authorization to use the data of the person on whom the search is carried out. In case of liability, there are administrative offenses for which a fine can reach up to 3 thousand rubles and those responsible could be criminally prosecuted for violation of privacy up to a sentence of 2 years in prison. However, from a procedural point of view it is almost impossible to punish someone for using bots; a person can only be convicted on the basis of transferring money to the account of the owners of the bots. Russia is simply showing the rest of the world a key truth of the panopticon era: nothing stays secret forever (The Moscow Times, 2021).
Russian Investigative Journalism and the War: What's New?
Amnesty International denounced the campaign launched by the Russian authorities against independent journalism, the anti-war movement and dissident voices.
Russia has deprived the population of objective and impartial information by blocking the government's critical media.
Since February 24, Roskomnadzor, the federal service that regulates communications, has instituted a censorship to turn dissent into silence and ordered all media to use only official sources, with the threat of severe punishment for "spreading false news".
The words "war", "invasion" and "attack" have been banned (Amnesty International, 2022).
Since March 1, almost all Ukrainian portals have been found to be inaccessible to Russian Internet users. The blocking of information portals and the threat of criminal prosecution have caused many journalists to flee.
On March 4, the Russian parliament introduced a law that criminalizes the dissemination of "false information" about the activities of the armed forces and the "discrediting" of them. Anyone accused of committing these "crimes" risks disproportionate fines or a sentence of up to 15 years in prison. So far, more than 140 people have been arrested under the new law, which effectively prevents them from using the word "war" and invoking "peace" (Amnesty International, 2022).
As explained by Alexey Kovalev, an award-winning investigative journalist, working with sources becomes increasingly difficult.
Preventing independent journalism is "a process that has been going on for years, we only lost part of our readers because we started using other means to communicate, such as Telegram," he says (Evangelista, 2022).
After the entry into force of the law that provides for up to 15 years in prison for those who spread "fake news", people are terrified and do not want to talk to journalists.
Bibliography
Amnesty International. (2022, March 10). Amnesty International. Retrieved from Amnesty International: https://www.amnesty.ch/it/ucraina/documenti/2022/russia-continua-repressione-giornalismo-indipendente-e-movimento-antiguerra
Amnesty International. (2022, March 10). Amnesty International. Retrieved from Amnesty International: https://www.amnesty.ch/it/ucraina/documenti/2022/russia-continua-repressione-giornalismo-indipendente-e-movimento-antiguerra
Evangelista, J. (2022, March 28). Gariwo la foresta dei giusti. Retrieved from Gariwo la foresta dei giusti: https://it.gariwo.net/testi-e-contesti/diritti-umani-e-crimini-contro-l-umanita/meduza-la-rivista-russa-che-sfida-la-censura-di-putin-24811.html
The Moscow Times. (2021, March 9). Kremlin Turns on Russia’s ‘Subversive Transparency’. Retrieved from The Moscow Times : https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/03/09/kremlin-turns-on-russias-subversive-transparency-a73178
The Moscow Times. (2021, March 9). Kremlin Turns on Russia’s ‘Subversive Transparency’. Retrieved from The Moscow Times : https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/03/09/kremlin-turns-on-russias-subversive-transparency-a73178
The Moscow Times. (2021, March 9). Kremlin Turns on Russia’s ‘Subversive Transparency’. Retrieved from The Moscow Times: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/03/09/kremlin-turns-on-russias-subversive-transparency-a73178
The New York Times. (2021, February 21). How Investigative Journalism Flourished in Hostile Russia. Retrieved from The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/21/business/media/probiv-investigative-reporting-russia.html
The New York Times. (2021, February 21). How Investigative Journalism Flourished in Hostile Russia. Retrieved from The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/21/business/media/probiv-investigative-reporting-russia.html
The New York Times. (2021, February 21). How Investigative Journalism Flourished in Hostile Russia. Retrieved from The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/21/business/media/probiv-investigative-reporting-russia.html
The New York Times. (2021, February 21). How Investigative Journalism Flourished in Hostile Russia. Retrieved from The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/21/business/media/probiv-investigative-reporting-russia.html
Comments