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As a result of sanctions: Russia could decriminalize piracy

Microsoft, Google, Netflix and many other companies are boycotting Russia due to the prevailing Ukraine war. Digital isolation continues to advance. But to get around the sanctions, Russia might take an unusual route: Are they planning to legalize piracy?

Russia could decriminalize piracy

A new Netflix subscription, searching with Google or creating a Word document – all this and much more is currently impossible in Russia, because these and many other tech companies are boycotting the country due to the prevailing Ukraine war.

Combined with the economic sanctions against the country, Russia is facing complete isolation – even if President Putin doesn’t want to see it that way at the moment.

To counter this, the government in the Kremlin could take an unusual path, according to a new planning document. It talks about “priority measures to ensure the development of the Russian economy in the face of pressure from external sanctions”.

Also interesting is point 6.7.3 of the document, which speaks of an“abolition of liability for the use of software not licensed in the Russian Federation by rights holders from countries that have supported sanctions”. Specifically, this means that the country would no longer be able to crack down on software piracy and classify it as criminal. A version of the document was published in English, as well as Russian, by the website Torrentfreak.

Bootleg

Focus on business

While individuals would of course also benefit from such a decriminalization of software piracy, the move is primarily aimed at the business community and is intended to mitigate the consequences through the sanctions imposed.

Providers of commercially used software products, such as Microsoft, Oracle and SAP, are increasingly withdrawing from the country and completely discontinuing support and the ability to use their products.

Illegal pirated copies of the software from named vendors would allow Russian companies to continue operating, at least transitionally. As Russian news website Gazeta.ru reports, even a Duma deputy is said to have suggested unblocking a blocked popular torrent site, allowing access to unlicensed software from foreign companies.

According to the RIA Novosti news agency, the Russian government denies the existence of such a document, saying it would not support a corresponding exemption from liability of illegally copied software.

However, it is questionable to what extent the decriminalization of pirated software could benefit Russian companies at all. After all, many software manufacturers offer their services cloud-based or in combination with a subscription, which could then also not be used in Russia.

Simon Lüthje

I am co-founder of this blog and am very interested in everything that has to do with technology, but I also like to play games. I was born in Hamburg, but now I live in Bad Segeberg.

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Microsoft, Google, Netflix and many other companies are boycotting Russia due to the prevailing Ukraine war. Digital isolation continues to advance. But to get around the sanctions, Russia might take an unusual route: Are they planning to legalize piracy? Russia could decriminalize piracy A new Netflix subscription, searching with Google or creating a Word document … (Weiterlesen...)

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