Microsoft and the Russian establishment
Does this make Microsoft a political force in Russia? Even if the company grants licenses to NGOs, it's still a player in political contests.Russia Uses Microsoft to Suppress Dissent
Across Russia, the security services have carried out dozens of… raids against outspoken advocacy groups or opposition newspapers in recent years. Security officials say the inquiries reflect their concern about software piracy, which is rampant in Russia. Yet they rarely if ever carry out raids against advocacy groups or news organizations that back the government.
As the ploy grows common, the authorities are receiving key assistance from an unexpected partner: Microsoft itself. In politically tinged inquiries across Russia, lawyers retained by Microsoft have staunchly backed the police.
Interviews and a review of law enforcement documents show that in recent cases, Microsoft lawyers made statements describing the company as a victim and arguing that criminal charges should be pursued…
Microsoft Changes Policy Over Russian Crackdown
Microsoft announced sweeping changes on Monday to ensure that the authorities in Russia and elsewhere do not use crackdowns on software piracy as an excuse to suppress advocacy or opposition groups, effectively prohibiting its lawyers from taking part in such cases.
The company was responding to criticism that it had supported tactics to clamp down on dissent…
The new Microsoft policy was announced in an apologetic statement by the company’s senior vice president and general counsel, Brad Smith, issued from its headquarters in Redmond, Wash…
Mr. Smith said that Microsoft would make sure that it was no longer offering legal support to politically motivated piracy inquiries by providing a blanket software license to advocacy groups and media outlets. They would be automatically covered by it, without having to apply…
He said the company would set up a program to offer legal aid to nonprofit groups and media outlets in Russia that are caught up in software inquiries. He also said the company had retained an international law firm to investigate its operations in the country…
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Labels: dissent, rule-of-law, Russia
posted by Ken Wedding @ 7:46 AM
4 Comments:
I would say this is soft power at the most.
However, real power would be if Microsoft were able to influence the course of Russian politics. They may play a minor part at the most.
For example, Russia isnt going to be turning a democracy anytime soon.
Normally, soft power refers to actions by nation states to co-opt or "persuade" other entities to take certain kinds of actions or adopt certain kinds of policies.
In this case, the Russian government was using very questionable law enforcement tactics (and co-opted Russian lawyers) as a public rationalization for silencing opposition to government positions. The actions were hardly "soft."
I would say that Microsoft has more than the Russian goverment itself because it has created an annual multi-billion dollar empire across the world. Even though Russia has elections every four years just like the United States, but still the goverment as totalitarian as it was during the Soviet Era. Their isn't any freedome of press,freedom of speech, or economic freedom
Mark,
"Microsoft has more" what?
And how is that related to your statements about the nature of the Russian regime?
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