[LINK] MS finally stops helping despots crush resistance

Tue Oct 19 10:19:52 AEDT 2010

It's an interesting story but I can't see how Microsoft can come out  
of this well.  The countries where Microsoft does this, could now  
accuse them (as a foreign company and even as an arm of a foreign  
government) of helping dissident groups, interfering in internal  
politics.  And they would have a very good point.

On 2010/Oct/19, at 9:48 AM, Roger Clarke wrote:

> As is often the case, you have to read carefully to get the actual  
> story.
> Microsoft has been behaving badly, has been caught out, and the flak
> has been sufficiently bad that they've had to take steps to fix the
> problem:
>
> "The security services in Russia have confiscated computers from
> dozens of advocacy organizations in recent years under the guise of
> antipiracy inquiries. Some of these groups did have illegal software,
> and the authorities have said they are carrying out legitimate
> efforts to curtail software piracy. But they almost never investigate
> organizations allied with the government.
>
> "Microsoft had long rejected requests from human-rights groups that
> it refrain from taking part in such cases, saying it was merely
> complying with Russian law.
>
> "But now, the organizations would be automatically granted the
> software licenses without even having to apply for them, meaning that
> any programs that they possessed would effectively be legalized. That
> essentially bars the company's lawyers from assisting the police in
> piracy inquiries against the groups."
>
>
> Full NYT story follows:
>
> Microsoft Moves to Help Nonprofits Avoid Piracy-Linked Crackdowns
> By CLIFFORD J. LEVY
> The New York Times [reprinted in the SMH of 18 Oct 2010]
> Published: October 16, 2010
> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/world/17russia.html?_r=1&src=mv
>
> MOSCOW - Microsoft is vastly expanding its efforts to prevent
> governments from using software piracy inquiries as a pretext to
> suppress dissent. It plans to provide free software licenses to more
> than 500,000 advocacy groups, independent media outlets and other
> nonprofit organizations in 12 countries with tightly controlled
> governments, including Russia and China.
>
> With the new program in place, authorities in these countries would
> have no legal basis for accusing these groups of installing pirated
> Microsoft software.
>
> Microsoft began overhauling its antipiracy policy after The New York
> Times reported last month that private lawyers retained by the
> company had often supported law enforcement officials in Russia in
> crackdowns on outspoken advocacy groups and opposition newspapers.
>
> At first, Microsoft responded to the article by apologizing and
> saying it would focus on protecting these organizations in Russia
> from such inquiries.
>
> But it is now extending the program to other countries: eight former
> Soviet republics - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan,
> Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan - as well as
> China, Malaysia and Vietnam. Microsoft executives said they would
> consider adding more.
>
> "We clearly have a very strong interest in ensuring that any
> antipiracy activities are being done for the purpose of reducing
> illegal piracy, and not for other purposes," said Nancy J. Anderson,
> a deputy general counsel and vice president at Microsoft. "Under the
> terms of our new nongovernmental organization software license, we
> will definitely not have any claims and not pursue any claims against
> nongovernmental organizations."
>
> Software piracy inquiries against advocacy groups and media outlets
> in other former Soviet republics are less common than in Russia, but
> they have occurred. This year, the police in Kyrgyzstan raided an
> independent television station, and its employees said a lawyer
> retained by Microsoft had played a role.
>
> In China, experts said they were not aware of many cases. They
> pointed out that if the security services wanted to hound or close
> advocacy groups, they had many other ways of doing so.
>
> But China has been a minefield for American technology companies,
> including Microsoft, Yahoo and Google, which have grappled with the
> country's Internet censorship, and it appears that Microsoft is
> hoping to avoid new controversies there.
>
> Microsoft's offer "will surely promote the health of nongovernmental
> organizations in China," said Lu Fei, director of a clearinghouse for
> these groups.
>
> Software piracy is widespread in the 12 countries covered by the new
> program, and Microsoft has long urged governments to curb it. But in
> Russia, officials used the intellectual property laws against
> dissenters.
>
> The security services in Russia have confiscated computers from
> dozens of advocacy organizations in recent years under the guise of
> antipiracy inquiries. Some of these groups did have illegal software,
> and the authorities have said they are carrying out legitimate
> efforts to curtail software piracy. But they almost never investigate
> organizations allied with the government.
>
> Microsoft had long rejected requests from human-rights groups that it
> refrain from taking part in such cases, saying it was merely
> complying with Russian law.
>
> But now, the organizations would be automatically granted the
> software licenses without even having to apply for them, meaning that
> any programs that they possessed would effectively be legalized. That
> essentially bars the company's lawyers from assisting the police in
> piracy inquiries against the groups.
>
> Ms. Anderson of Microsoft said the company was trying to quickly
> prepare the automatic licenses for the 12 countries, a process that
> includes translating them, ensuring that they comply with local laws
> and disseminating them to the authorities.
>
> Microsoft already provides actual copies of software free to some
> nonprofit groups. It said that in its last fiscal year, it gave out
> half a billion dollars worth of programs in more than 100 countries.
> But it has also found that this policy is not well known in some
> countries.
>
> In Russia, nonprofit groups said they had already noticed a striking
> change in Microsoft's attitude toward these piracy cases. In one
> notorious inquiry, plainclothes police officers raided a group in
> Siberia, Baikal Environmental Wave, and seized its computers in
> January.
>
> Baikal Wave's leaders said they had used only licensed software, but
> they were unable to get help from Microsoft.
>
> The case was a focus of the article last month in The Times. After it
> was published, Microsoft gave Baikal Wave free updated versions of
> software for all its computers and asked the police to drop the
> inquiry.
>
> The police have not yet formally done so, but Baikal Wave said it was
> pleased with Microsoft's reaction and the new program of automatic
> software licenses.
>
> "The security services will now know that they will not be able to
> harass nonprofit and human rights organizations and take their
> computers," said Galina Kulebyakina, a co-chairwoman of Baikal Wave.
> "It is outrageous what they did, and now that will no longer happen
> to others."
>
> Jing Zhang contributed research from Beijing.
>
>
> -- 
> Roger Clarke                                 http://www.rogerclarke.com/
> 			
> Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611  
> AUSTRALIA
>                    Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916
> mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au                http://www.xamax.com.au/
>
> Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of  
> NSW
> Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National  
> University
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