Russia Cracking Down On Software Piracy... But Only On Gov't Critics?
from the sneaky,-sneaky dept
It's no secret that the US has been pressuring Russia to crack down on intellectual property abuses which are rampant throughout the country. And, in fact, there's been some evidence that Russia is now trying to crack down on abuses in order to keep the US happy (and aid its own chances in joining the WTO). However, some are suggesting that while things like unauthorized software use is rampant almost everywhere in Russia, the only ones who are being targeted in the "crackdown" happen to be those who are critical of the current Russian government. Perhaps the authorities in Russia saw it as a way of killing two birds with one stone: show a crackdown on companies using unauthorized software to make the US happy... and come up with something to use to silence local government critics. Remember how the Big Copyright players were claiming that file sharing helps support terrorism (without any real evidence to support it)? Does that mean we can now claim that cracking down on software "piracy" helps stifle gov't dissent? Yes, it's ridiculous, but it's no less ridiculous than the terrorism claims.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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lessons from the Feds.
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Re: Lessons from the Feds
Your first story is a good example of that. Your second one isn't, really, that's just a case of police brutality, plain and simple, and he should sue for false arrest.
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Re: Re: Lessons from the Feds
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Guy arrested for anti-bush sign
Reminds me of when I was a kid and I would call "TIME OUT" seconds before getting tagged.
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So while the US government congratulates Russia on it's crackdown on piracy, they turn a blind eye to the abuse of power against those that dare criticize the government. I guess it fits with the whole 'your either with us or against us' motto.
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