Room: STG-2  
  
Andrei Soldatov  
  
Since November 2012, we’ve been living in a country with the internet censored extensively by a nationwide system of filtering. Meanwhile, the Russian system of surveillance was significantly updated, and since April 2015 it combines the functions of the communications interception system known as SORM and DPI (Deep Packet Inspection). The technical means of censorship and surveillance are reinforced by the intimidation campaign aimed at the global and domestic online services and internet service providers. It looks gloomy enough, but whether the Russian approach was truly effective in crushing internet freedoms?


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The art of trolling

The  [**re:publica**](https://re-publica.de/) is one of the largest and most exciting conferences about digital culture in the world. Since its foundation in&nbsp;2007, it has grown from a cozy blogger meeting with 700 participants into a wide-ranging “society conference”, with more than&nbsp;6000&nbsp;visitors&nbsp;annually. Representatives of digital culture share their knowledge and decision-making tools, and discuss the future of the information society. Here they can mingle with activists, scientists, hackers, entrepreneurs, NGOs, journalists, social media and marketing experts, and many others. This fosters innovation and creates synergies between net politics, online marketing, network technology, digital society, and (pop) culture. What is more, around&nbsp;40 percent&nbsp;of re:publicaparticipants&nbsp;are&nbsp;female&nbsp;– far more than at many other similar events.

So&nbsp;this year’s&nbsp;edition is going to be exciting again: We are expecting some&nbsp;450 speakers&nbsp;from more than&nbsp;45 countries&nbsp;for re:publica 2015 – three days of celebration and debate with some of the most important trailblazers and forward thinkers of the Internet, packed with&nbsp;300 hours&nbsp;ofprogramme&nbsp;from a wide range of topics from politics, economy, science, society and culture.

Of course, our broad focus on issues related to the digital society – from net politics and technological innovations, music, culture and media, to health and education – has convinced sponsors and partners alike. Again, we’ve formed a close partnership with the [MEDIA CONVENTION Berlin](http://mediaconventionberlin.com/), the defining congress for the international media industry,&nbsp;which started with the same event space last year. For this year, the collaboration is intensified with one ticket for both events.

**re:publica** hosts various sub-conferences: In 2015 there is a renewed collaboration with the German Science Year 2015 with "City of the Future". The Global Innovation Gathering (GIG) sub-conference is already in its third year, this time supported by the German Agency for Technical Cooperation, GIZ, and the Vodafone Institute. And there is even more to be explored in new sub- conferences, e.g. the one-day Wearables sub-conference #FASHIONTECH BERLIN in collaboration with [PREMIUM International Fashion Trade Show](https://www2.premiumexhibitions.com/).
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