Russia Uses Microsoft To Suppress Dissent

nytimes.com:

The group, Baikal Environmental Wave, was organizing protests against Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin's decision to reopen a paper factory that had polluted nearby Lake Baikal, a natural wonder that by some estimates holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water.
Instead, the group fell victim to one of the authorities' newest tactics for quelling dissent: confiscating computers under the pretext of searching for pirated Microsoft software.

Read the whole story: nytimes.com

Comments

[eMJayy]

09:29 AM on 09/13/2010

It looks like using Windows, whether legitimately licensed or pirated, is becoming a major liability for opponents to the Russian government and those in Russia fighting for greater transparency and democracy. Microsoft is clearly not offering any means for legitimate customers to protect their machines from arbitrary confiscation by the police. The only way they're going to be able to prevent this kind of harassment and intimidation is to begin to use non-proprietary operating systems based on Linux to store their data.

[spyguy68]

10:20 AM on 09/13/2010

There is absolutely NOTHING MS can do for anyone the Russian government decides to target. The government will do what it wants no matter what MS does.

As for using Linux, that will not stop the government from confiscating the systems for "forensic analysis." It will make it harder for the government to prosecute them for piracy.

What the groups can do to keep their information out of government hands is to encrypt it and store it on flash drives instead of the hard drives.

[netzwerg]

12:28 PM on 09/13/2010

Just encrypt your harddrive with everything, including Windows.

Truecrypt is quite useful for that. http://www.truecrypt.org/docs/system-encryption

[AndYetAnotherView]

05:00 PM on 09/13/2010

Microsoft, in reaction to yesterday's NY Times investigative piece, announced today that the company was changing its software licensing policies in Russia to prevent anti-piracy laws from being used in crackdowns on political dissent (source: Wall Street Journal). Before cheering MS, consider that the company had plenty of opportunities to stop the abuses, but only acted once the story went big time. Be sure to read the full article.

[spyguy68]

12:51 AM on 09/14/2010

This will NOT make any difference.

The Russian government will STILL ransack the groups it doesn't like.

Why is so hard for people to understand that MS is NOT the culprit here, it is the Russian government that is using international intellectual property law as ruse to disrupt groups.

No matter what MS does, the groups will still be attacked

[Cryostatic]

07:53 AM on 09/13/2010

While the idea behind this computer seizure is completely ridiculous, you can expect to see this sort of thing happening here in America, eventually.

Look up ACTA, it's designed for exactly this reason, to allow law enforcement and other "competent authorities" to seize and search computers (and any other electronic device, really) under the pretense of looking for pirated music and software, with or without the involvement of the copyright holder, and with no probable cause for suspicion required.

http://www.publicknowledge.org/anti-counterfeiting-trade-agreement
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/4510/125/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Counterfeiting_Trade_Agreement
http://www.keionline.org/acta

[spyguy68]

10:08 AM on 09/13/2010

BSA can and does already do this. All they need is probable cause (an ex employee getting back at their old employer by posting at the BSA web site) to get a search warrant and as soon as their test software finds ANY pirated software, then can legally remove the computer from the building for forensic analysis. They are nice enough to give the business owner a receipt.

[OldTulsan]

10:55 AM on 09/13/2010

The Obama administration is using another treaty, CIFTA, to circumvent the Second Amendment:

http://www.gunlaws.com/GunLawUpdate5-CIFTA.htm
Gun Law Update - CIFTA Treaty

http://www.oas.org/juridico/English/treaties/a-63.html
INTER-AMERICAN CONVENTION AGAINST THE ILLICIT MANUFACTURING OF AND TRAFFICKING IN FIREARMS, AMMUNITION, EXPLOSIVES, AND OTHER RELATED MATERIALS

Attorney General Eric Holder's view of the Second Amendment:

http://www.independent.org/issues/article.asp?id=2411
On the Nomination of Eric H. Holder, Jr., for Attorney General of the United States: The Independent Institute

[Goliadkin]

03:46 AM on 09/13/2010

Just one more proof that Bill Gates has no heart, no soul, and no bawls. He and his company are a giant leech sucking the blood of humanity.

Stay thirsty my friend.

[Parvaneh Ferhad]

02:14 AM on 09/13/2010

Simply use paper for the critical stuff, don't have it on a computer, or at least not exclusively on a computer.

[netzwerg]

06:52 AM on 09/13/2010

Use "air gap" for critical stuff, which is a second computer NEVER NEVER NEVER connected to the Internet or any network.
Also useful: www.ubuntu.com , www.truecrypt.com , www.torproject.org

[spyguy68]

12:30 AM on 09/13/2010

Linux, flash drives, strong data encryption and "throw-away" computers can easily solve the problem.

These four keep the computers "legal" and secure so that no matter how many times the state picks up the computers, the work can go on.

Note that Ubuntu Linux and Fedora Linux both come in Russian.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Fedora_Remix

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RussianTeam

There are numerous open source encryption projects, with very strong (spy agency frustrating) encryption. Many are based outside the US so no US export licenses is needed.

http://www.truecrypt.org/

Any organization that is tweaking the nose of the establishment should take advantage of the free and excellent tools available to them. If the drug dealers and crime bosses are smart enough to use excellent technology why not all groups that are not liked by the "establishment?"

[Goliadkin]

03:47 AM on 09/13/2010

"Linux, flash drives, strong data encryption and "throw-away" computers can easily solve the problem."

Any computer running Microsoft products is a throwaway computer.

[spyguy68]

10:15 AM on 09/13/2010

MS products are no worse than products from other companies or open source.

[PenguinLinux]

11:18 AM on 09/13/2010

Touche' man....

[blueballs]

06:34 AM on 09/13/2010

Kinda SO not the point, Dude.

[spyguy68]

10:14 AM on 09/13/2010

so what is your point?

It appears that Russia is using international copyright law to suppress some groups.

This means the groups will have to use different tactics to minimize the risks.

I merely suggested some alternative tactics.

The bottom line is the Russian government is going to continue to raid the organizations no matter what MS does, especially since MS has no control over the Russian government. As a result the groups will have to change their behavior.

[MyTake]

10:54 PM on 09/12/2010

I hope the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a giant tax dodge, donate some funds for these groups to buy NEW computers with the FREE Linux operating system on them!

[Goliadkin]

03:32 AM on 09/13/2010

What is "donate"?

[Cryostatic]

08:08 AM on 09/13/2010

You realize, of course, that the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation is the largest transparently operated charitable foundation in the world?

No, you don't realize this, because you don't know anything about the foundation, or how it operates. You just make stuff up as you go along. What are you, Fox News?

[heartsmindsvision]

09:18 PM on 09/12/2010

He doesn't care (and you know who he is) as long as he is making money the show goes on. When you are the third richest person in the world you forget about everybody and almost everything except the bottom line. What's that group, oh yea they belong to the new world order.

[chuck prebys]

09:10 PM on 09/12/2010

Get em Microsoft!!!!!!!
Whatever it takes to maintain your monopoly OS empire.

[spyguy68]

12:37 AM on 09/13/2010

This is more a Russian suppression situation than a Microsoft situation.

Microsoft has every right in every country that observes the international copyright conventions to go after people that violates their copyrights.

The fact that some Microsoft contractors in Russian may be corrupt (imagine that, a corrupt official in Russia), is not entirely the responsibility of Microsoft. Now that they know of the problem MS will probably quietly try to minimize it (they can't eliminate it because corruption is just the way life is in Russia).

MS does NOT have a real monopoly on operating systems since there are two others that are available all over the world (MacOS and Linux).

[Parvaneh Ferhad]

02:20 AM on 09/13/2010

Well, if Microsoft initiates the proceedings against organisations who oppose the government, or lets itself be used to provide cover for such tactics, then it's a Microsoft situation as well.
What you have here is further evidence of the fusion of corporate and government interests and power. That's also called fascism.

[Simondj]

09:09 PM on 09/12/2010

This is a bit off-topic, but Lake Baikal is the tie that binds.

I lived in Russia for awhile and was in Moscow for Winter 07-08. During that time, a Russian friend invited me to have dinner with a colleague who had never met an American. During dinner we talked about varied topics, but for the most part our host wanted to tell me about his life during the Soviet era and instruct me about all of the misconceptions that we Americans have about Russia and her unacknowledged greatness. (This was a common theme for a number of conversations I had while living there).

At one point my host asked me why Americans were so arrogant as to call the Great Lakes "great," considering that Russia's Lake Baikal is much larger and "greater" than all of them combined. Are the Great Lakes known for the world's best caviar? Of course not, he said.

Also, as proof of how much greater Russia is than the US,my host asked me if I knew that it was necessary for American fire fighting aircraft to fly round trip from California to Lake Baikal and back - during the massive, forest fire outbreaks of October, 2007 - because the US didn't have enough water in the "Great" Lakes to douse the fires on our own.

I simply feigned surprise and accepted another invitation to more vodka and caviar.

[Time Before]

08:14 PM on 09/12/2010

So, the Russian style mixed with the Corporate cover......everyone one knows it is BS but her In the USA, we let the military and the NSA and DHS send agents to envirnmental groups....keep dossiers on them and anyone...hum, then******** net neutrality,**** smoked price you out of the game. Hum, then Earth First got some good US attacks, and MOVE, SDS and do any of your realize that they just passed a law that states that anyone who holds what the gov sees as radical views can be preemptively arrested! There is no code of definition ....you get disappeared or shut down:

Prevention of Violent Radicalism and Homegrown Terrorism,” passed the House of Representatives 404 to 6. http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/12/20/5920/

We can bad mouth Russians - they are bastards! Yet best we look at AT&T, Google, and or own Gov,

And look at the history of the USA on groups that present a threat to business interests. 1960's, was a modal, a toy modal of what they have today - and they keep stacking the deck.
That Micro-Soft and Google and others act as snipers – money first! And Hey, they like this, the Rus, Gov acts just like they do their employees!

The RUSSIAN PERSON HAS NO FALSE IDEAS ABOUT THE GOV BUT WE DO!

[MyTake]

10:52 PM on 09/12/2010

Good logic but don't place the blame on a government. Place the blame on the rise of the Corporate State that now controls the U.S. Government.

The Corporate State, when allied as they are under that viscous 4000 membership base of the Rockefeller funded/controlled/organized NY Council on Foreign Relations, directly sponsors key Senate/Congress politicians and lobby the he*l out of the rest of them.

The Council on Foreign Relations hands each incoming President over 300 names for appointment across each Administration.

As an example, Robert Rubin is co-chair of the CFR BoD's. He was provided to the Clinton Administration as was Summers. Summers was presented to the Obama Administration with Rubin and Volcker as economic advisors.

Add to this the fact that Corporations control what you read and see.

When Clinton closed all those military bases during his terms, they were never closed. They were retrofitted with electric and laser fencing along with Razor wire and handed over to FEMA to be used as mass detention centers for those that choose protest and uprising in the U.S..

The Corporate State has seized control of the U.S. and they control your food supply. So if they interrupt your food supply, there will be uprising for which they can move in and truck off everyone to those detention centers.

As you say, the Russians know what they are dealing with. The fast food eating Americans don't have a clue.

[Time Before]

12:33 AM on 09/14/2010

I do thank you for the new knowledge and view. I appreciate it.!



Crony capitalism is a reality. I am aware that the government is really all we have as a system.

I am aware too, that the elite and business community have written themselves a blank check with it Chomsky pointed out the movement of corporations from government post back again to companies - many who benefited directly from their policies. The corporations have set the policy for the, education, wars, - the agenda of the nation. I by no means miss their ugly hands. They have always had power, FDR took allot of that away but not all of it. The government is a system that can be used by the people.

Al Gore Vidal in one essay said Bush really threw a coup – the total capture of the US government by the elite. Chomsky would say the whole thing was started in the 1970’s when he quoted the Tri lateral community as saying that the movement of the 1960’s must never happen again!”

Right now the battle for mind space – the ability to own minds is where their at too. 5 hours of TV a day on average for the American –and yes, the news is Pravda. You know, I said that in 1989 and again in 2000. People were so upset, about me saying this. They call you names. Some got violent. The USA’s propaganda is so will entrenched in every aspect of our

[Cougar28]

08:00 PM on 09/12/2010

And Is rael pollutes River Jordan.

[Megajim]

07:55 PM on 09/12/2010

Russias got twenty percent of the worlds fresh water in one lake huh?

[rocketjsquirreil]

07:42 PM on 09/12/2010

Ah the good ole USSR.

[CtrlClick]

07:39 PM on 09/12/2010

"Russia Uses Microsoft to Suppress Dissent"

What a misleading headline. Russians makeup reason to harass trouble makers. That reason happens to be enforcing the law. Aren’t some states in American using the same pretence the target illegal immigrants?

[peter specht]

09:27 AM on 09/13/2010

the key word here is illegal.

[AndYetAnotherView]

04:54 PM on 09/13/2010

You're all absolutely missing the point. Read yesterday's New York Times article before judging the story. Microsoft was complicit in prosecutions of environmental and other activist groups that were considered hostile to the interests of Validimir Putin. The Russian commercial police, fronting for security police, confiscated computers, stole data, brought trumped up charges, tied up the groups' funds and activities, and won none of the cases. Yet the groups had done nothing illegal. They knew of the tactics and to protect themselves, purchased Microsoft products and had the receipts to prove it. Microsoft lawyers not only looked the other way in regards to the abuses, but proactively backed the police. The headline and the story were 100% accurate.

[Kevin Atlanta]

07:34 PM on 09/12/2010

The Russian Oligarchy doesn't much like dissent, truth or opposition.  Kind of like what Larry Summers from the Goldman Sachs White House is building here.  Go figure...