Streaming Music To Phones Is Officially The Oldest Trick In The Book

Russian President Skeptical Of Today's Copyright Laws

from the outdated-and-obsolete dept

Wed, Jun 1st 2011 7:08am — Mike Masnick

Here's a story from the G8 Summit that apparently didn't get very much attention in the mainstream press. It seems that, while most of the countries' leaders expressed support for greater internet regulations when it came to copyright issues, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev questioned the validity and necessity of such laws. Part of the G8 event was an attempt to put together specific recommendations on "internet governance" with the suggested text concerning intellectual property reading:

"With regard to the protection of intellectual property, in particular copyright, trademarks, trade secrets and patents, we recognize the need to have national laws and frameworks for improved enforcement. We are thus renewing our commitment to ensuring effective action against violations of intellectual property rights in the digital arena, including action that addresses present and future infringements."

Straight out of the RIAA/MPAA playbook, of course.

And the only one willing to point out that this made little sense, apparently, was Dmitry Medvedev, who pushed back:

"The declaration reflects an absolutely conservative position that intellectual property rights should be protected according to the existing conventions," said Medvedev. "No one questions that, but I have repeatedly stated that, unfortunately, those conventions were written 50 or almost 100 years ago, and they are unable to regulate the whole complex of relations between the copyright owner and users."

Characteristically unafraid to ruffle his fellow leaders' feathers, Medvedev continued "Unfortunately, this was not included in the declaration because, in my opinion, my colleagues have a more conservative opinion than is necessary at the moment. Or maybe they just don't use the Internet and have little understanding of it."

I think the final sentence may be accurate, though, I'm sure that heavy lobbying from the entertainment industry impacts their views as well...

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.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: copyright, dmitry medvedev, g8

33 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Killer_Tofu (profile), 1 Jun 2011 @ 7:09am

Dear Mike
I feel that you don't fully understand the gravity of the situation. Copyright laws are just not good enough yet. If we can just pass a few more then I am sure people will see how good and just they are. Here, let me fly you to Jamaica to visit me where we can have some fresh baby dolphin burgers. I am sure that by the time we are done you will see things my way.

Signed,
Friendly neighborhood RIAA lobbyist
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2011 @ 7:20am

Maybe the Russian President realizes that their own economic and legal systems are broken, and that most Russian people take what they want online because they have no simple way to get it in their country? Perhaps he has figured out that Russia has plenty of people making a living scamming online?

It's like asking a drug kingpin what he thinks of street dealers. He won't admit knowing them, but he will admire their spunk (and collect money from them all).
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) (profile), 1 Jun 2011 @ 7:43am
  
  Re:
  Or we can force others to spend a billion dollars to "fix" the problems to gain $300k in profit!? At a national level, leaders need to look at the overall economic impact of the whole not just the ones who are failing because they can't figure out how to make money except by lobbying the government. Money would be better spent elsewhere. If the recording industry had to use their own money to enforce/protect their (well, they didn't really create it) content, they would have long ago either economically collapsed or gave up.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2011 @ 8:24am
    
    Re: Re:
    I really feel it is more about the rest of us being dragged down to their level. Russia is a place with millions of stupid laws and incredible levels of lawlessness. People ignore the government, they ignore the rules, they ignore the laws, and what the Russian President is saying is pretty much "it's what we do".
    
    The internet means that the playing field is often defined by the worst players, not the best.
    
    It isn't about profits, at least not directly. It's about economic shifting, trading dollar industries in the western world for penny industries in the East. Russian doesn't produce any content of note. When was the last time you watched a great Russian TV show or boogied your ass off to a hot new dance track from Siberia? They are not producers, they are consumers, and in a consumer only market, ignoring the rules of the road (copyright) is good for your economy.
    
    Attempting to shift the burden of enforcment to the producers (as you suggest) is akin to asking car makers to provide police and enforce traffic laws. Governments exist to enforce the rules of the road and help create and maintain sustainable situations. If we pushed the burden of doing so always to the producer, we would be pretty much where Russia is today, screwed and living in cold apartments with terrible wall paper.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2011 @ 8:32am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      "Attempting to shift the burden of enforcment to the producers (as you suggest) is akin to asking car makers to provide police and enforce traffic laws."
      
      No. It's not. That's a terrible analogy and you should feel terrible.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2011 @ 8:45am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        That analogy is like copyright; it sounds good without thinking about it but the moment a globally networked communication platform is born, not so much.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2011 @ 8:39am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Then what you are saying is that there is no winning. You are saying that the Russian economy is based on piracy. This means that they do have producers, and consumers, its just that in this case the producers are reproducing existing content in mass quantities for pennies on the dollar. This analysis is accurate in my opinion, however if we continue with this scenario, then we have no possible control over it since the Internet is a global ecology and cannot be individually governed by a national legal system. This is because no matter what you do, if your content is available on the internet it can be reproduced without DRM.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2011 @ 10:23am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        No, Russia has few producers. They have mostly consumers. They don't have to fulfill the two sides of the supply and demand economics because supply isn't their issue.
        
        Basic economics says that Russia has no interest in stopping piracy because they have no econmic benefits in doing so.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) (profile), 1 Jun 2011 @ 1:50pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        There is no economic benefit in the U.S., as a nation, to fight piracy either. It is a battle that can't be won. A lot more money has been put into stopping piracy than the rewards reaped for the overall U.S. economy. Plus, we are losing our freedoms and privacy for an irrelevant, legacy business to make comparably measly amounts of money.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Richard (profile), 5 Jun 2011 @ 8:35am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        No, Russia has few producers. They have mostly consumers.
        
        Insulting a whole nation now are we - and as usual based on your own ignorance! Russia has many producers - it's just that (unlike the west) they sell their stuff online at sensible prices - see rumvi.com.
        
        I have bought more music from there in the last year than anywhere else
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) (profile), 1 Jun 2011 @ 12:47pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      But industry wants "the internet" to come up with solutions to policing content. Since current law doesn't make Google or whoever liable, industry is trying to lobby government to make Google liable or to run enforcement raids for them. My point was that the money used for Google to create a magic infringing content wand or for local, state, and federal enforcement agencies to arrest all the pirates for, arguably, a recuperation of 'lost' sales would be better spent stopping, you know, murderers, rapists, and such. The damage to society and the economy from 'piracy' is miniscule compared to the damage industry is causing with the terrible laws they are trying to get pushed through the government and the cost to everyone else to keep them relevant.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Ed C., 1 Jun 2011 @ 9:06pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      If you live in a country where no sizable part of the population speaks Russian, then it should be obvious that no mega-blockbuster, no mater how big it is there, will draw any attention. And it's quite obvious that if you're not familiar with Russian yourself, you'd have no reason to seek out Russian media either. While your ignorance of their cultural taste and markets is understandable, you crossed the line when you concluded that because you prefer your media over theirs, that MUST prefer your media too. And that they MUST be pirating it like filthy beggars!
      
      You sir, are an idiot.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Jason, 2 Jun 2011 @ 8:27am
  
  Re:
  Which is different from the US because our drug dealers are incorporated and get government granted monopolies so they can rape the pensions and retirement accounts of old people.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2011 @ 7:23am

May be accurate?!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2011 @ 7:33am

Leader at the conference :-

"What is this international network contraption i've heard my grand children talking about? Does it make me money, if not why not? Tubes you say, how quaint."
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
ScytheNoire, 1 Jun 2011 @ 7:49am

Oh snap
I'm sure the MAFIAA is checking their list of paid off politicians and noticing that they forgot one.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- dcee (profile), 1 Jun 2011 @ 7:56am
  
  Re: Oh snap
  Well, Russians are not known to accept much bribes... others that from local sources.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Mr. LemurBoy (profile), 1 Jun 2011 @ 8:04am

In Soviet Russia, the Internet surfs you!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- :Lobo Santo (profile), 1 Jun 2011 @ 8:16am
  
  Re: Obligatory Joke
  ... just had to, huh?
  
  Okay, okay.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Mr. LemurBoy (profile), 1 Jun 2011 @ 8:35am
    
    Re: Re: Obligatory Joke
    Yeah, I know, I'm kinda ashamed of myself
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Jason, 2 Jun 2011 @ 9:27am
      
      Re: Re: Re: Obligatory Joke
      In Soviet Russia, self is ashamed of you. Oh, wait...
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ima Fish (profile), 1 Jun 2011 @ 8:07am

"Russian President Skeptical Of Today's Copyright Laws"

Actually, he's skeptical of century old copyright laws being applied to today's technology.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Buck Lateral, 1 Jun 2011 @ 8:14am

Wow, stop the presses!!! Russia is skeptical of copyright laws? Imagine that. Funny how people who can't create, innovate or invent oppose laws protecting creating, innovation and inventions. Great story Masnick, a real scoop.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- dcee (profile), 1 Jun 2011 @ 8:33am
  
  Re:
  What? Russia can't create, innovate or invent?
  
  Let me help you with a simple Google search:
  
  http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=russian+researchers&a q=f&aqi=g1g-v2&aql=&oq=
  
  You ignorant and/or racist [insert accepted insult here].
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Neppe (profile), 1 Jun 2011 @ 8:35am
  
  Re:
  Hey Buck.
  
  Please provide some documentation for your statement. It seems a tad ridiculous as it stands.
  
  Thanks.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Dark Helmet (profile), 1 Jun 2011 @ 8:36am
  
  Re:
  "Funny how people who can't create, innovate or invent oppose laws protecting creating, innovation and inventions."
  
  Only in America could we call the country that produced the following:
  
  1. The Nord Stream
  2. The Aviation Thermobaric Bomb
  3. The Orbitrap
  4. Space Tourism
  5. Underwater assault rifles
  6. Tetris (You're damn right I'm including it here)
  7. The Typhoon Class submarine
  8. Electron cooling
  9. The Space Rover
  10. Supersonic Transport
  11. The space toilet
  12. and oh, I don't know, human motherfucking space flight
  
  as a country that doesn't create, innovate, or invent.
  
  Are you willfully trying to come off as the world's most ethnocentric pile of douche leftovers, or does it just come naturally to you?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2011 @ 8:47am
    
    Re: Re:
    In Soviet Russia . . .
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 1 Jun 2011 @ 11:58am
    
    Re: Re:
    It's so cute when buck lateral pretends to know what he's talking about.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Niall (profile), 13 Jun 2011 @ 2:01pm
    
    Re: Re:
    I might add, the only country to have (regular) orbital space capacity now that the US has decided to fall behind China and India by throwing away the Shuttles, and indeed, their huge lead in the space industry.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- The eejit (profile), 1 Jun 2011 @ 9:18am
  
  Re:
  Russia innovated in wartimes, made the world's second most reliable firearm, and are generally pretty badass.
  
  You bitching about Russia is like a gaming geek betiching about 'how misunderstood' he is. It's given that you'll do it, but it won't get you very far (not even to first base).
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Richard (profile), 5 Jun 2011 @ 8:45am
  
  Re:
  Wow, stop the presses!!! Russia is skeptical of copyright laws? Imagine that. Funny how people who can't create, innovate or invent
  According to Russia's own History - they invented everything. This is true of all nations - as a patriotic Brit, I of course believe that we invented everything. However from where I'm standing Russia's claims look a lot more convincing than the US's.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
tedbissell (profile), 1 Jun 2011 @ 8:31am

Copyright Laws Dead?
Medvedev is only speaking of the internet as he sees it. Killer_Tofu: You are accurate also in your perception of motives. At least, we hope so.
Anonymous Coward: Medvedev's motives may not be as bleak as you think they are.
We already have the technologies in place to enforce copyright protections globally; as they have been known to be in the past. The issue of the protection of original ideas in the form of music, art, and literature are well covered by law already. "Intellectual Property" is a concept that has only developed in the internet age. But when we want to apply past history to the future; we often fail in discovering the appropriate path to take. So, what is the best path? The one that balances concerns of ownership with fairness and equality of benefit is the best one to pursue. I am not defending any point of view without sufficient evidence of the good will of the intent.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Overcast (profile), 1 Jun 2011 @ 9:03am

Yes, indeed AC.

Even in Soviet Russia, they realize the US is becoming a tyranny of control freaks.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]