Russia's War on Piracy/Malicious Software

tmk writes "Russian minister Leonid Reiman has announced new legislation to fight software piracy. According to official information the share of pirated software in the Russian Federation decreased in the last years from 90 to 60 percent. Reiman dismissed as a myth the impression that many viruses originate in his country: 'Viruses are written all over the world. Russia is waging a consistent and successful war on malicious software.' Reiman calls for an international organization to fight Internet crime. Last year Russia agreed to take down Allofmp3 after the United States intervened."

Comments

Eye witness report.

[rumith]

I am system administrator in a large nuclear physics institute in Moscow, which is by no mere coincidence a vital part of the Russian internet backbone. Since my day one I've been advocating Linux and free software, and here's the fruit: already about 10% of the institute's workers, including the director himself, use various distributions of Linux [mostly Ubuntu/Debian, Mandriva and Red Hat]. Besides, I'm currently engaged in talks with Sun regarding our migration to Sun Ray, which will run on a customized Debian system.

I believe that if the result will look as I expect it to, the university [it's the largest university in Russia and AFAIK Europe] which we are a significant part of might break off Microsoft crap in toto, although this statement can be considered a pure speculation at this moment.

Re:Eye witness report.

[heinousjay]

So all I had to do was add context not suggested by either the article, or your post, and it all made sense. I can see how that's reasonable.

Imperialism

[iamacat]

Why else would a country enact laws against the interests of both country's population and its future economic power? I can see limited term copyright laws being beneficial in Russia, but only with exemptions for income levels and educational use. How does anyone benefit from a kid being computer illiterate because his parents one year salary still can not buy Vista, Office and Photoshop? If one day oil cartel countries force US women to wear burkas, you will know how that feels. Stop mucking with democratically chosen laws of sovereign nations.

Re:Allofmp3

[cyclone96]

Walk to the subway station, and there are about 5 vendors who will happily sell you pirated version of any music CD, most DVDs, and almost any software for $5.

I actually put that to the test last time I was in Moscow. Was in one of the high end shopping districts near Red Square and walked up to one of the multitudes of CD street vendors. Asked her if she had Borat (which had been released to theaters only a couple of weeks before, and is actually banned in Russia).

Yup, had it. Just under the table. Commanded a premium price though, I seem to remember it was around 300 rubles (about $10).

Re:Allofmp3.com shut down?

[fyoder]

It operates within Russian law. There are two ways they can shut it down

1. Poison everyone involved with radioactive pellets.
2. Change the law so that allofmp3.com is operating outside it.

Basically, American perception that the Russian gov't is shutting down allofmp3.com is a misperception, and one which I suspect the Russians are happy not to correct. Perhaps they'll get around to changing the law, but remember that allofmp3.com pays a cut to some Russian licensing agency -- not sure where that money goes, but wouldn't surprise me if money is finding its way into gov't coffers (or politicians' pockets?)