10 ms·

Microsoft responds to NYT story on suppressing dissent in Russia

100 points by credo 16y ago

NumberFiveAlive 16y ago
I'm sure most people are (rightly) going to take Microsoft's word on this with a great deal of skepticism, but kudos to them for at least responding to it in a timely fashion and with what appears to be a responsible approach to the allegations.
- credo 16y ago
  Agreed - more importantly, kudos to the New York Times for their original report (which seems to have convinced Microsoft to change their policy).
  - tomh 16y ago
    Although the Committee to Protect Journalists originally reported this tactic being used against the free press in Bishkek back in April: http://cpj.org/blog/2010/04/microsoft-piracy-and-independent-media-in-kyrgyzst.php http://cpj.org/blog/2010/04/microsoft-piracy-and-independent...
- doron 16y ago
  Non profits and NGO get phenomenal deals in terms of licensing software from Microsoft, from my personal experience i dont know of any other company that offers anything similar. The international reach needs to be improved though, as stated.
  - dchest 16y ago
    Microsoft mentioned Infodonor program (http://www.infodonor.ru http://www.infodonor.ru), and they have Symantec here too. The program was created by TechSoup (http://home.techsoup.org/pages/default.aspx http://home.techsoup.org/pages/default.aspx).
siculars 16y ago
Hey look at that. Good journalism still has a place in this fast paced, linked up, tweeted world we live in. I don't often say this but grats, nyt.
- pvg 16y ago
  http://baikalwave.blogspot.com/2010/07/police-finally-return-illegally-seized.html http://baikalwave.blogspot.com/2010/07/police-finally-return... The whole incident started and (mostly, but not entirely) concluded months before the NYT published anything about it, in this fast-paced, linked up, tweeted world we live in.
  - SwellJoe 16y ago
    But, it took an article in the NYT to get a response out of Microsoft.
    - pvg 16y ago
      There was already a response from Microsoft - their NGO discount program was in place, they claim to advise governments to focus enforcement efforts on the producers rather than consumers of pirated software and so on. It's great they've responded again and perhaps more stridently and publicly. But I have a hard time believing this sort of thing helps much with the fundamental problem which is an authoritarian and coercive government. And I think it's naive to expect that it would.
      - siculars 16y ago
        Obviously we can expect nothing from Russia except more of the same. Nevertheless, this kind of press moves the needle as evidenced by the prompt reply from Microsoft.
anonymous 16y ago
"A story in yesterday’s New York Times reports on anti-piracy enforcement actions in Russia that have been used for more nefarious purposes than protecting intellectual property rights." It's good of Microsoft PR to classify protecting IP rights as nefarious, though somewhat less nefarious than actually using IP for supressing dissent. A step in the right direction, to be sure!
- houseabsolute 16y ago
  I don't think that they are trying to make that implication. One thing can be more than another thing even if that other thing is zero.
  - wnoise 16y ago
    'Take some more tea,' the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly. 'I've had nothing yet,' Alice replied in an offended tone, 'so I can't take more.' 'You mean you can't take less,' said the Hatter: 'it's very easy to take more than nothing.'
pvg 16y ago
I didn't understand the kneejerky misdirected anger at Microsoft when this was first reported nor do I really get the congratulatory backslapping of the NYT now. Microsoft did not send their goons to some downtrodden NGO's office, they didn't confiscate anyone's computers, nor did they even accuse this particular organization of piracy. Their Russian offices may have been less than sympathetic to the NGO's frantic attempts to get their property back, but realistically, there probably wasn't a great deal they could do. The report itself suggested the NGO was running licensed software and this fact was simply ignored by the authorities who just happened to be using license enforcement as a pretext to harass an organization they didn't like. They might have well claimed Baikal Wave were running improperly licensed Ubuntu, for all the difference it would have made. Russia is simply not a society governed by the rule of law. No well-intentioned Microsoft initiative or poignant NYT report is likely to change that.
- dchest 16y ago
  I agree with you, however, the article pointed out that Microsoft's lawyers took part in court proceedings.
  - pvg 16y ago
    Not in the Baikal Wave case, specifically, although that doesn't really matter. Local lawyers representing Microsoft have, according to the report, participated in similar cases. I still think the 'Microsoft' part of this is largely irrelevant - it could have been anyone. In a corrupt country you can, unsurprisingly, find corrupt lawyers.
    - dchest 16y ago
      Again, I agree that it could have been anyone (I think Adobe took part in the recent raid of LG offices [or the authorities made them take part in this] -- http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gQtvHJ_pYRApRA40DwkiFOnr_XtA http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gQtvHJ_pY...), but if it were Microsoft's lawyers, Microsoft is fully responsible for their actions.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
SwellJoe 16y ago
Since I've been using Linux as my primary desktop OS for about 15 years, and my entire professional career has been managing Linux and UNIX systems, I haven't really thought much about Microsoft and their licensing policies or anti-piracy practices...but, we recently had a customer demand an online printable "Certificate of Authenticity" for our software, and pointed to the Microsoft digital certificate of authenticity as the ideal example of such. His organization requires all software used to have such a certificate. The truly nefarious aspect of this weird policy (which seems to exist, in lesser forms in other places, based on demands we've had for various specific bits of information on invoices) is that Open Source software is completely out of the running in the organizations that embrace such a policy. In our case, Virtualmin is an umbrella under which a couple dozen Open Source apps run, so I guess having the certificate for Virtualmin satisfies the policy (at least well enough for the IT guy to bluff his way through). This isn't really comparable to political dissent being squashed, of course, but it gave me a pretty chilling view of Microsoft and their anti-piracy practices that I hadn't been aware of, and makes me far more likely to believe that MS would participate in using the thug power of Russian police in order to scare organizations and individuals out of pirating their products. I'll also note that the BSA "report your neighbor" whistle-blower policy, which has been in effect for a couple of decades, has always reeked a little of the secret police and surveillance culture found in oppressive regimes.
- knowtheory 16y ago
  For your client, why not just print out a copy of the GPL, put a big "CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY" and then have someone sign it?
  - SwellJoe 16y ago
    It's actually our commercial software in question (we have a dual-licensed model for Virtualmin and Cloudmin, with the Open Source variant being under the GPL). I'm going to Photoshop something up for him, with the serial number and license key. I'm tempted to pirate the Microsoft Certificate of Authenticity, and stick our numbers in there. There would be some sort of poetic something or other in that.
VladRussian 16y ago
MS is just reaping what they saw as they worked extremely hard toward letting this demon out. Russian government wouldn't be defending your legal rights out of sheer generocity. The governments of all levels in Russia are now happily using anti-piracy law enforcement in addition to the old good sanitary, fire, tax audit inspections. It is a very Russian specific thing - the majority of laws are very good and very strong, while their application is a matter of government's selectively targeting will.
lappet 16y ago
Although NGOs would probably be better off with Opensource, Microsoft remains the market leader for Desktops and them willing to donate their products for a just cause does sound nice
- ljf 16y ago
  sounds nice /or/ good spin on bad situation?
Eliezer 16y ago
This seems like a perfect response from Microsoft. I don't see what more anyone could reasonably ask of them.
lfnik 16y ago
What happened to this man who was jailed? http://english.pravda.ru/society/stories/09-02-2007/87229-microsoft_windows-0/ http://english.pravda.ru/society/stories/09-02-2007/87229-mi...
danielnicollet 16y ago
How sweet and well-intentioned. If I were my grandmother, I would want this bright and appeasing young counsel as my son-in-law! :)
patrickaljord 16y ago
I'm not a big fan of Microsoft, but every time I read something tech related (google, facebook, apple etc) on the NYT, it's overblown sensationalism. Which is ok I guess except that the NYT always prides itself as the ultimate pro journalism and its website is always shown at google and apple web browsers demos as the reference in good journalism... BS.
nice1 16y ago
I am not a user of their software and I generally dislike their business practices, but I must say that for this response they deserve credit and respect.

100 points by credo 16y ago

I'm sure most people are (rightly) going to take Microsoft's word on this with a great deal of skepticism, but kudos to them for at least responding to it in a timely fashion and with what appears to be a responsible approach to the allegations.

credo 16y ago
Agreed - more importantly, kudos to the New York Times for their original report (which seems to have convinced Microsoft to change their policy).
- tomh 16y ago
  Although the Committee to Protect Journalists originally reported this tactic being used against the free press in Bishkek back in April: http://cpj.org/blog/2010/04/microsoft-piracy-and-independent-media-in-kyrgyzst.php http://cpj.org/blog/2010/04/microsoft-piracy-and-independent...
doron 16y ago
Non profits and NGO get phenomenal deals in terms of licensing software from Microsoft, from my personal experience i dont know of any other company that offers anything similar. The international reach needs to be improved though, as stated.
- dchest 16y ago
  Microsoft mentioned Infodonor program (http://www.infodonor.ru http://www.infodonor.ru), and they have Symantec here too. The program was created by TechSoup (http://home.techsoup.org/pages/default.aspx http://home.techsoup.org/pages/default.aspx).

siculars 16y ago

Hey look at that. Good journalism still has a place in this fast paced, linked up, tweeted world we live in. I don't often say this but grats, nyt.

pvg 16y ago
http://baikalwave.blogspot.com/2010/07/police-finally-return-illegally-seized.html http://baikalwave.blogspot.com/2010/07/police-finally-return... The whole incident started and (mostly, but not entirely) concluded months before the NYT published anything about it, in this fast-paced, linked up, tweeted world we live in.
- SwellJoe 16y ago
  But, it took an article in the NYT to get a response out of Microsoft.
  - pvg 16y ago
    There was already a response from Microsoft - their NGO discount program was in place, they claim to advise governments to focus enforcement efforts on the producers rather than consumers of pirated software and so on. It's great they've responded again and perhaps more stridently and publicly. But I have a hard time believing this sort of thing helps much with the fundamental problem which is an authoritarian and coercive government. And I think it's naive to expect that it would.
    - siculars 16y ago
      Obviously we can expect nothing from Russia except more of the same. Nevertheless, this kind of press moves the needle as evidenced by the prompt reply from Microsoft.

anonymous 16y ago

"A story in yesterday’s New York Times reports on anti-piracy enforcement actions in Russia that have been used for more nefarious purposes than protecting intellectual property rights." It's good of Microsoft PR to classify protecting IP rights as nefarious, though somewhat less nefarious than actually using IP for supressing dissent. A step in the right direction, to be sure!

houseabsolute 16y ago
I don't think that they are trying to make that implication. One thing can be more than another thing even if that other thing is zero.
- wnoise 16y ago
  'Take some more tea,' the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly. 'I've had nothing yet,' Alice replied in an offended tone, 'so I can't take more.' 'You mean you can't take less,' said the Hatter: 'it's very easy to take more than nothing.'

pvg 16y ago

I didn't understand the kneejerky misdirected anger at Microsoft when this was first reported nor do I really get the congratulatory backslapping of the NYT now. Microsoft did not send their goons to some downtrodden NGO's office, they didn't confiscate anyone's computers, nor did they even accuse this particular organization of piracy. Their Russian offices may have been less than sympathetic to the NGO's frantic attempts to get their property back, but realistically, there probably wasn't a great deal they could do. The report itself suggested the NGO was running licensed software and this fact was simply ignored by the authorities who just happened to be using license enforcement as a pretext to harass an organization they didn't like. They might have well claimed Baikal Wave were running improperly licensed Ubuntu, for all the difference it would have made. Russia is simply not a society governed by the rule of law. No well-intentioned Microsoft initiative or poignant NYT report is likely to change that.

dchest 16y ago
I agree with you, however, the article pointed out that Microsoft's lawyers took part in court proceedings.
- pvg 16y ago
  Not in the Baikal Wave case, specifically, although that doesn't really matter. Local lawyers representing Microsoft have, according to the report, participated in similar cases. I still think the 'Microsoft' part of this is largely irrelevant - it could have been anyone. In a corrupt country you can, unsurprisingly, find corrupt lawyers.
  - dchest 16y ago
    Again, I agree that it could have been anyone (I think Adobe took part in the recent raid of LG offices [or the authorities made them take part in this] -- http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gQtvHJ_pYRApRA40DwkiFOnr_XtA http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gQtvHJ_pY...), but if it were Microsoft's lawyers, Microsoft is fully responsible for their actions.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

SwellJoe 16y ago

Since I've been using Linux as my primary desktop OS for about 15 years, and my entire professional career has been managing Linux and UNIX systems, I haven't really thought much about Microsoft and their licensing policies or anti-piracy practices...but, we recently had a customer demand an online printable "Certificate of Authenticity" for our software, and pointed to the Microsoft digital certificate of authenticity as the ideal example of such. His organization requires all software used to have such a certificate. The truly nefarious aspect of this weird policy (which seems to exist, in lesser forms in other places, based on demands we've had for various specific bits of information on invoices) is that Open Source software is completely out of the running in the organizations that embrace such a policy. In our case, Virtualmin is an umbrella under which a couple dozen Open Source apps run, so I guess having the certificate for Virtualmin satisfies the policy (at least well enough for the IT guy to bluff his way through). This isn't really comparable to political dissent being squashed, of course, but it gave me a pretty chilling view of Microsoft and their anti-piracy practices that I hadn't been aware of, and makes me far more likely to believe that MS would participate in using the thug power of Russian police in order to scare organizations and individuals out of pirating their products. I'll also note that the BSA "report your neighbor" whistle-blower policy, which has been in effect for a couple of decades, has always reeked a little of the secret police and surveillance culture found in oppressive regimes.

knowtheory 16y ago
For your client, why not just print out a copy of the GPL, put a big "CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY" and then have someone sign it?
- SwellJoe 16y ago
  It's actually our commercial software in question (we have a dual-licensed model for Virtualmin and Cloudmin, with the Open Source variant being under the GPL). I'm going to Photoshop something up for him, with the serial number and license key. I'm tempted to pirate the Microsoft Certificate of Authenticity, and stick our numbers in there. There would be some sort of poetic something or other in that.

VladRussian 16y ago

MS is just reaping what they saw as they worked extremely hard toward letting this demon out. Russian government wouldn't be defending your legal rights out of sheer generocity. The governments of all levels in Russia are now happily using anti-piracy law enforcement in addition to the old good sanitary, fire, tax audit inspections. It is a very Russian specific thing - the majority of laws are very good and very strong, while their application is a matter of government's selectively targeting will.

lappet 16y ago

Although NGOs would probably be better off with Opensource, Microsoft remains the market leader for Desktops and them willing to donate their products for a just cause does sound nice

ljf 16y ago
sounds nice /or/ good spin on bad situation?

Eliezer 16y ago

This seems like a perfect response from Microsoft. I don't see what more anyone could reasonably ask of them.

lfnik 16y ago

What happened to this man who was jailed? http://english.pravda.ru/society/stories/09-02-2007/87229-microsoft_windows-0/ http://english.pravda.ru/society/stories/09-02-2007/87229-mi...

danielnicollet 16y ago

How sweet and well-intentioned. If I were my grandmother, I would want this bright and appeasing young counsel as my son-in-law! :)

patrickaljord 16y ago

I'm not a big fan of Microsoft, but every time I read something tech related (google, facebook, apple etc) on the NYT, it's overblown sensationalism. Which is ok I guess except that the NYT always prides itself as the ultimate pro journalism and its website is always shown at google and apple web browsers demos as the reference in good journalism... BS.

nice1 16y ago

I am not a user of their software and I generally dislike their business practices, but I must say that for this response they deserve credit and respect.