In The Name of Microsoft, We Oppress This Media!

from the convenient-excuse dept

Mon, Apr 19th 2010 7:37am — Carlo Longino

Before its recent ouster, the government in Krygyzstan began to crack down on pro-opposition media. In one case, Kyrgyz financial police raided Stan TV, an independent TV channel and shut it down by seizing all of its computers, it claimed, on the authority of Microsoft (via Boing Boing), because they were supposedly running pirated software. It should be stressed that Microsoft had nothing to do with this, it was solely an action of a repressive regime. But we've reached a point where a government seizing computers on behalf of private companies because of piracy is a believable excuse used to justify repression. Also, don't think it's something that can only happen under some repressive regime in a small country on the other side of the world. The FBI's done the bidding of the entertainment industry here in the US -- a role several entertainment industry groups would love to see grow.

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Filed Under: krygyzstan
Companies: microsoft

43 Comments

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Dark Helmet (profile), 19 Apr 2010 @ 7:41am

Question:
Is it still fascism if the privatge industry in question is neither of that nation nor at all involved?
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2010 @ 7:43am

carlo, you need to go back to masnick school for moral outrage. this one doesnt pass the stink test. they could have raided them for not having the right picture of the loyal leader on the wall. does that damn kodak?
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- Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2010 @ 8:39am
  
  Re:
  Do you really have that bad a reading comprehension problem? No one said Microsoft is to blame.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2010 @ 9:04am
    
    Re: Re:
    did i say microsoft is to blame? it is just stupid to take the actions of some third world tin pot dictatorship and try to link it to the FBI or DoJ and the entertainment industry. it is a stretch even the masnick wouldnt try to make. carlo is trying to raise outrage and fear by tying the two together. its pathetic.
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    - Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2010 @ 9:38am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      The entertainment industry? You mean the same industry that would love to have spyware installed on your computer and be able to delete files off it?
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    - ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 19 Apr 2010 @ 9:40am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      How is it different than the FBI serving at the behest of the *AAs? If you don't think the same thing isn't going on here, you've got your head in the proverbial sand.
      
      I hate sand.
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      - Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2010 @ 10:08am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        the fbi doesnt serve at the behest of the riaa or anyone else. that is just a stupid lie, and you know it.
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        ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 19 Apr 2010 @ 10:28am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        "the fbi doesnt serve at the behest of the riaa or anyone else. that is just a stupid lie, and you know it."
        
        C'mon dude. If you're going to troll, at least avail yourself of google first.
        
        http://www.riaa.com/whatwedo.php?content_selector=whatwedo_fbi_seal
        
        Also, the caps key is your friend.
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        Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2010 @ 11:29am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        that is a long way from behest. the fbi is empowered to enforce the law, even the ones you dont like.
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        Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2010 @ 3:01pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        "the fbi is empowered to enforce the law"
        
        and by enforcing retarded laws that the entertainment industry lobbies for they are serving at the behest of the entertainment industry.
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        Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2010 @ 3:33pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        you need better tin foil. now you are up to a conspiracy to operate at the behest. all you need is a grassy knoll and a second gunman and you have it all covered.
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        Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2010 @ 8:01pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        So you're in favor of retarded laws?
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Ima Fish (profile), 19 Apr 2010 @ 7:44am

"piracy is a believable excuse used to justify repression"

Just like our drug war.
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- :Lobo Santo (profile), 19 Apr 2010 @ 8:20am
  
  Re:
  I hear they're starting a "Drug Cease Fire" which will eventually by follow by "Drug Peace Talks" and then "Drug Democracy."
  
  Personally, I can't wait.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2010 @ 8:41am
    
    Re: Re:
    It's just a bunch of lip service by politicians to pretend that their actions and decisions are a product of democracy and what the public wants.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2010 @ 7:48am

Nothing that can't be fixed...
By a big enough HERF gun.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2010 @ 8:21am

The DOJ has not "done the bidding" of the "entertainment industry" (an undefined term in the article), your creative interpretation of federal law notwithstanding.

It does not pursue civil matters. That it the responsibility of rights holders if they choose to do so.

It does pursue criminal matters under appropriate circumstances, including the criminal provisions of copyright law, though such provisions are not the highest priority on the DOJ's "plate".

Its role in a civil matter is limited to those circumstances where a party to such matter seeks to invalidate a federal statute on constitutional grounds.
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- Modplan (profile), 19 Apr 2010 @ 8:26am
  
  Re:
  I think by DoJ you mean FBI, and by undefined term, you mean has gone on raids to try and stop piracy, effectively on the behalf of the entertainment industry as it's them that have been pushing for those kind of raids and crackdowns in the first place.
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  - Chronno S. Trigger (profile), 19 Apr 2010 @ 8:42am
    
    Re: Re:
    and by FBI you mean the same people who let identity fraud fall of the priorities list.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2010 @ 9:05am
    
    Re: Re:
    you mean the fbi and doj who go on raids to stop crime? or do you think that they should ignore crime altogether? is your modplan to make law enforcement only apply where you like it?
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    - Modplan (profile), 19 Apr 2010 @ 9:28am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      I love you too troll.
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      - Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2010 @ 10:09am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        i think you failed to answer the question.
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        Modplan (profile), 20 Apr 2010 @ 5:51am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        Because you're obviously trolling.
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    - Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2010 @ 9:43am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Says the one who constantly whines that the current laws (and things like due process and the requirement of good evidence) make it too difficult for the industry he shills for.
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    - Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2010 @ 2:57pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      I think laws shouldn't be designed on behalf of the entertainment industry and that taxpayers shouldn't waste money to enforce such worthless and harmful laws.
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scarr (profile), 19 Apr 2010 @ 8:30am

This could be a good thing
While this is a precedent, it's a horrible precedent for anyone to follow. Nobody can reference the Nazis (the most common hyperbole) seizing computers, but this doesn't come off much better. If the entertainment industry tries arguing for such behaviour, this story makes for easy negative PR.
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- Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2010 @ 8:33am
  
  Re: This could be a good thing
  The entertainment clearly industry doesn't care about negative PR. If they did they wouldn't argue that piracy somehow undermines humanitarian efforts in Haiti. Clearly, PR is not an issue for them.
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- Dark Helmet (profile), 19 Apr 2010 @ 8:37am
  
  Re: This could be a good thing
  "Nobody can reference the Nazis (the most common hyperbole) seizing computers..."
  
  Well, no, that's because they were too busy using IBMs punchcard computers to run the logistics for moving captured Jews around via train...
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- Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2010 @ 9:12am
  
  Re: This could be a good thing
  the only one arguing for such behavior is carlo. he is the one raising the specter. nobody else is touching it. he is just scare mongering techdirt style. he is just isnt as good as it as the masnick, who appears to have left techdirt to the 3rd stringers.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2010 @ 2:54pm
    
    Re: Re: This could be a good thing
    What the heck are you rambling about?
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BBT, 19 Apr 2010 @ 8:42am

It looks like you are being oppressed.

Would you like to...

Call out "Help, help, I'm being oppressed!"?
Curl into the fetal position and protect your head?
Organize a resistance movement?
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- Dark Helmet (profile), 19 Apr 2010 @ 8:51am
  
  Re:
  "Organize a resistance movement?"
  
  We're sorry, but you need administrator privelages to access the file resist.exe. Please contact your local trigger happy death squad for assistance....
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  - The Infamous Joe (profile), 19 Apr 2010 @ 9:47am
    
    Re: Re:
    sudo chown everyone resist.exe
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- Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2010 @ 9:08am
  
  Re:
  That's what I think we need to do, create more organized opposition. and I think that this is one of the very few opportunities we have really had in a long time, especially in America where the Internet still allows free speech. Everything outside the Internet makes it impossible to organize opposition without breaking some kind of law (ie: retard FCC laws) and the corporations and big media that control all the laws and public airwaves and information distribution infrastructure are part of the problem. All this needs to be fixed and if it doesn't get fixed we might get our Internet communication, like the communication we have here on techdirt, taken away just like it's been taken away everywhere outside the Internet. I see this as a small window of time to allow us to take and maintain control of our government and force them to act in the public interest for once in a LONG time. and if we let this rare opportunity pass us we may not get it back in a LONG time, perhaps one day when unstoppable quantum communication devices have been invented and are distributed to everyone illegally through some sort of black market. but I don't see that happening in a while.
  
  For now we can create stealth communication devices that aren't currently beyond our technical ability to create.
  
  http://sciencestage.com/d/5719178/stealth-communication:-zero-power-classical-communicati on,-zero-quantum-quantum-communication-and-environmental-noise-communication.html
  
  but I see the Internet as a rare golden opportunity to hold governments and corrupt corporations accountable for their actions, and I think we should take full advantage of this opportunity before it gets taken away.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2010 @ 10:29am
    
    Re: Re:
    too bad nobody wants to hold corrupt individuals responsible for their actions. you need some fresh tinfoil for your hat.
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    - Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2010 @ 2:59pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      We already have people holding corrupt individuals accountable for their actions. If you kill someone you go to jail if caught. No one said that corrupt individuals shouldn't be held accountable for their actions. We're just saying that corrupt corporations and governments should also be held accountable and, by and large, they are not.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2010 @ 10:32am

While I understand that MS was in no way involved in this incident, I still believe it would be wise of them to issue a press release diplomatically detailing any/all correspondence they have had with that government.

May be they have been contacted by Krygyzstani government after the fact in regard to their intent on pressing charges or being awarded a portion of the defendants "fines"...

Full disclosure from MS is in order despite the likelihood that MS is only being used as an excuse for the raid.
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- Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2010 @ 1:18pm
  
  Re:
  what do they call it here? streisand effect? why even both to address stupidity?
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Vic, 19 Apr 2010 @ 11:40am

They obviously are taking lessons from local regional Russian authorities. I recall reading about some cases of shutting the opposition's papers and radio stations going after the "illegal" or "pirated" softwares in southern Russia. Will try to find a link.
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NullOp, 19 Apr 2010 @ 12:26pm

Believe!
Raise yer hands! WHO out there would believe Micro$oft WOULDN'T oppress the media? Any takers....
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- Chargone (profile), 19 Apr 2010 @ 3:44pm
  
  Re: Believe!
  well, i can believe they wouldn't have got around to it anywhere it didn't particularly profit them to do so, so there's a part vote.
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Sam I Am, 19 Apr 2010 @ 5:30pm

Change of heart
When I was younger, before I built a company from scratch, I would have been outraged at the thought of a government seizing computers in response to piracy.

Now that we all see what some people will do misusing technology and our privacy to cloak unlawful behavior for pure illegal gain for themselves, I have far less of a problem with it.
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kevin (profile), 6 Apr 2011 @ 2:44am

I am sure to all the commenter here! It's always nice when you can not only be informed, but also entertained! I'm sure you had fun writing this article. Pellet Plant
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