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“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,” Levy reports. “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.”
“Security officials say the inquiries reflect their concern about software piracy, which is rampant in Russia,” Levy reports. “Yet they rarely if ever carry out raids against advocacy groups or news organizations that back the government.”
Levy reports, “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.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Please read: Mac users should not buy Microsoft software or hardware.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “Wandering Joe” for the heads up.]
Nice to see a great range of opinion.
Where does this idea come from that the Obama administration is eroding civil liberties? Clearly it was the Bush administration (in particular Cheney) which sought to increase the powers of the executive branch, while simultaneously weakening civil protections in the name of fighting “terror.”
But no matter how far America drifts from its own admirable principles, it’s a drop in ocean compared to the civil rights abuses in Russia.
As others have pointed out, this case obviously has nothing to do with software piracy and everything to do with suppressing dissent.
Yes, there’s a strong level of partisanship in the U.S., but that’s hardly new. The point is despite the damage of the past ten years we have freedoms and civil protections that Russians can only dream of.
Oh, and Microsoft sucks.
The Nazis and commies were both liberal socialists. NOT right wing. Nice try dirt bags.
You cannot compare a representative republic based on democratic principles with Russia today or the communist era – left and right do not line up – apples and oranges.
Big Al,
Don’t confuse authoritarian dictatorships with communism. All the “communist” governments of the 20th century were perverted forms that were more military dictatorships than true communist goverments. The world has never seen true communism at work. Really. Marx and Engels were for the working masses, not the big shots and their secret police.
Big Al you would make a good Obama Czar!
And exactly what makes anyone feel this Administration is any different than the Russians?
Obama Czars don’t need no f&%king Microsoft……………………
Big Brother: Obama Demands Access to Internet Records, in Secret, and Without Court Review
The Obama administration is seeking authority from Congress that would compel internet service providers (ISPs) to turn over records of an individual’s internet activity for use in secretive FBI probes.
In another instance where Americans are urged to trust their political minders, The Washington Post reported last month that “the administration wants to add just four words–‘electronic communication transactional records’–to a list of items that the law says the FBI may demand without a judge’s approval.”
“In other words . . . THEY’RE BOTH LEFT WING. Huge government, no personal freedom. There’s no such thing as a “right wing” totalitarian state.”
That has got to be a new low in political sophistry.
Son, get your information from a wider range of sources than wikis & radio.
Geeze.
Silly un-educated remarks about political systems like this show up on a site that is supposedly about Apple products… Not a surprise.
@Only Lefties can be dictators… HA!
This is a perfect example of why MDN is a laughingstock elsewhere.
@ChrissyOne
Do you mean the times that MDN has denounced Greenpeace for annoying Apple about it’s products concerning the environment?
I will tell you I recently discovered I work with a member of Greenpeace. I had commented “Apple has always been one of the most environmentally friendly companies, why is Greenpeace (and others) always on their case not Dell’s, or other far worse offenders?”
He spoke up and said: “I am a member of Greenpeace. We target Apple because it’s hight profile company not because they are one of the big polluters.” I told him that was not fair to call Apple out publicly when their true target was other companies. His smug reply: “It’s politics. We have to. The only way we can get publicity is to target Apple.”
I then repeated that I felt their strategy was completely unfair placement of public blame, subjecting Apple to all the negative headline publicity. He repeated “It’s politics.”
As an environmentalist, this makes me not want to support Greenpeace anymore.
And exactly what makes you think the Obama Administration is any different from the Bush Administration?
Because to a very large extent, Barry is simply picking up where ol’ Dubya left off.
So is the whole Big Brother thing okay with you when the Republicans do it, but not okay when the Democrats do it?
I’m guessing the answer to that is a big fat “YES”. I understand, though. The political party you belong to can do no wrong, while the political party you don’t belong to is automatically evil incarnate. Even when both parties are actually doing the same things, you’re only allowed to rake the other party over the coals for it. Not your own, ever.
I hope the Republicans win the next election, that way you can go back to blissfully ignoring it every time the Administration compromises civil liberties just a wee bit more, instead of being politically duty-bound to rage against it.
@ldrhawke
You have jumped to a false conclusion. I am against all big big government….Republican or Democrat. They aren’t too much different right now. Hopefully this country will start to wake up before their is no United States of American. We are in a Democratic Count Down:
How Long Do We Have?
About the time our original thirteen states adopted their new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler,a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of theAthenian Republic some 2,000 years earlier:
‘A democracy is always temporary in nature;it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government.’
‘A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury.’
From that moment on, the majority always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.’
The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years’
During those 200 years, those nations always progressed through the following sequence:
1. from bondage to spiritual faith;
2. from spiritual faith to great courage;
3. from courage to liberty;
4. from liberty to abundance;
5. from abundance to complacency;
6. from complacency to apathy;
7. from apathy to dependence;
8. from dependence back into bondage’
Professor Joseph Olson of Hemline University School of Law, St. Paul , Minnesota points out some interesting facts concerning the 2008 Presidential election:
Number of States won by:
Democrats: 19
Republicans: 29
Square miles of land won by:
Democrats: 580,000
Republicans: 2,427,000
Population of counties won by:
Democrats: 127 million
Republicans: 143 million
Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by:
Democrats: 13.2
Republicans: 2.1
Professor Olson adds:
‘In aggregate, the map of the territory the Republican won was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of this great country. Democrat
territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off various forms of government welfare.’ Olson believes the United States is somewhere between the ‘complacency and apathy’ phase of Professor Tyler’s definition of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation’s population already having reached the ‘governmental dependency phase.
If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million criminal invaders called illegals so that progressive liberals can continue their give away programs for votes, then we can say goodbye to the USA in fewer than five years.
If you are in favor of this, then by all means, delete this message. If you are not, then pass this along to help everyone realize just how much is at stake, knowing that apathy is the greatest danger to our freedom.
God help us to wake up. Our children don’t deserve what we are stealing from them and doing to them. God Save our Republic.
There’s no such thing as a “right wing” totalitarian state.
So – by your logic – when the CIA backed the Pinochet-led coup against Allende in the Seventies, they were replacing a democratically elected left-wing government with a left-wing military dictatorship.
Was Paraguay under Stroessner a left-wing totalitarian state? If it was, I’d be surprised, Stroessner was avowedly anti-communist and was an ally of American administrations from 1954 to 1976: the man was so rabidly anti-communist, that not one single communist country had an embassy in Asuncion with the exception of non-aligned Yugoslavia.
Was he a totalitarian tyrant? I have my view, How about you go and do some research and learn for yourself?
Rand was right. And Atlas is shrugging…
Russian are such pessimists. All they try to do is whining all the time. They have such a huge country double the size of Europe and yet all they do is care about money.
Russia deserves a better class of developers and Khamkar is going to give it to them.
Aap mahan ho.