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."
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Russia's PM
by roblearns on Mon 13th Sep 2010 14:23 UTC in reply to "Russia's PM"
roblearns
Member since:
2010-09-13

I admit, I haven't read the NYT article, but then again, I don't have time to read every anti-Russia tirade that comes down the pike. It's great sensationalism. But it's not usually balanced.

Russia's record on Lake Baikal is getting better:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4945998.stm

They moved the proposed pipeline away from the region at the cost of years to the project and billions in dollars, but as then President Putin said, if you have a spill, you can't take it back. That type of forward thinking means you won't have a spill in Lake Baikal - as you did in the Gulf of Mexico.

What people don't understand about Russia - is when you have a problem, like piracy, you have to solve it, through law enforcement action.

This environmental group may not like an audit, but big deal. They are crying to the world 'evil Russia' because that is part of Russian society too - don't get your way - the threat is we are going to make these wild claims and try to embarass the country in front of the world.

So while you can muse about Russian authoritarianism - and its a subject to understand - also muse about Russian civil society - this isn't a country where everyone is a patriot and the only question is what is the best course for the country.

This is a country where everyone takes an extreme position - and tries to force their way. That isn't just the government, but includes this environmental group as well - all this talk of suppression, don't you believe it.

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