NYT: Russia Uses Microsoft to Suppress Dissent
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sun 12th Sep 2010 21:16 UTC
Microsoft Piracy is a big problem for large software vendors licensors like Microsoft. As such, the Redmond giant is undertaking several anti-piracy efforts all over the world, and, of course, it attempts to make its software harder to crack through activation and validation. As The New York Times has discovered, however, the prevalence of pirated Microsoft software in Russia is giving the Russian authorities a pretence to raid the offices of outspoken advocacy groups or opposition media - supported by Microsoft lawyers. Update: Microsoft responds with a blog post that says all the right things, including "Microsoft will create a new unilateral software license for NGOs that will ensure they have free, legal copies of our products."
E-mail Print r 5   · Read More · 49 Comment(s) http://osne.ws/id1
Thread beginning with comment 440745
To view parent comment, click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
lemur2
Member since:
2007-02-17

Cannot? They went after group that had fully licensed Microsoft software. What makes you think that using GNU would prevent authorities from raiding them, taking the computers and then slowly and carefully investigating if their software is indeed legal?


The only thing that can make software illegal is if it is copied without permission from the authors.

Any authorities, even Russian, would be unable to pretend that they did not know that everyone has such permission form the authors of GNU/Linux GPL software.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7034828.stm
Schoolchildren in Russia are to be taught using the free, open-source Linux software in an effort to cut the cost of teaching information technology.

By 2009, all computers in Russian schools are to be run on Linux - which means they will not have to pay for a licence for software, such as Microsoft's Windows.

Reply Parent Score: 1

qbast Member since:
2010-02-08

We are talking about two different things. It does not matter if it is legal or not. I am sure that the organization immediately provided licenses, invoices, whatever authorities wanted. And it did not help.
So you say you are using Linux? Well, we have information from anonymous source that you are lying. So we will take all your computers and check. It won't take more than 6 months so don't complain.

Reply Parent Score: 4

lemur2 Member since:
2007-02-17

We are talking about two different things. It does not matter if it is legal or not. I am sure that the organization immediately provided licenses, invoices, whatever authorities wanted. And it did not help.
So you say you are using Linux? Well, we have information from anonymous source that you are lying. So we will take all your computers and check. It won't take more than 6 months so don't complain.


Get Linux from an officially supported Russian distribution. Register it.

http://www.linux.com/archive/feed/119106
http://www.altlinux.com/

The authorities cannot simultaneously promote Linux for the Russian people on the one hand, and then confiscate the computers of people who are using it on the other.

That kind of thing can only happen in America concerning the products of American global monopoly corporations, and American-pushed political/commercial agendas such as ACTA.

Edited 2010-09-13 10:48 UTC

Reply Parent Score: 2

Read more of this thread... >
viton Member since:
2005-08-09

The only thing that can make software illegal is if it is copied without permission from the authors.

In reality, everything without installation disc is considered as counterfeit. You can't install Linux and feel yourself protected. Well, in Russia nobody can feel safe except uber-corrupted ministry of internal affairs.

Reply Parent Score: 2