a bit of context - the network of Navalny's organizations "The fund to fight corruption" has been officially designated as an extremist organization, and any association with it after such a designation is a crime, and Navalny is facing additional charges for creating an extremist organization. (The organization supposedly acted against foundations of Russian state, and there is no joke lost that corruption is the foundation of the modern Russian state).<p>The "Smart voting" has a lot of connections to "The fund to fight corruption", so the Russian state can go here pretty far. A comment from a political pundit in the top Russian commercial media:<p><a href="https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/4868616" rel="nofollow">https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/4868616</a><p>"There is a technical capacity to block. The government understands the disadvantages of it, and initially will try to make Google to cooperate and to block by their own means. If such "goodwill" approach wouldn't work, the government will force it the hard way."
What would the legal process look like if the app were made by anonymous unaffiliated Russian developers and merely recommended by Navalny?<p>Perhaps Google would be required to hand over the personal information associated with the developer account, because presumably a judge could be "convinced" to issue a warrant for this information based on the theory that the developers were secretly working for Navalny's organization.<p>If the developers were actually based outside of Russia, then no doubt the app would be deemed to be foreign interference, so perhaps it would not be exculpatory for Google to say that the developers always used Tor exit nodes.<p>In such situations, I wonder if someone brave would volunteer to have their personal information given to Google. If the app doesn't need any updates, then I suppose the developers could give the details of a recently deceased person. I'm assuming that Google would let the real developer lie, which might be risky if the Russian government can catch them conspiring like that.
This is not Russia asking, this is the Russia's ruling party which has nothing to do with the people whose vote it seeks to suppress. Given the fact in the title the vote is clear - against this specific party, for anybody who can stand against them.
Eventually there's a time where corporations, like individuals have to decide what's important, putting their money where their mouth is as it were. What matters more to Google, profit or accessibility of information. Issues like these highlight those choices.
for all the modern self loathing of tech, it ongoingly feels to me like we have just barely scratched tbe surface of what connected technologies could do for us. i dont know how probable it is that there be any change- any people feeling more empowered amid their authoritarian oppressors- from an communication system like this. but that the government is so afraid of it is certainly promising.