Microsoft. A tool to combat opposition

Corporation promises to forgive human rights pirates

On a January morning in the premises of the Irkutsk environmental organization, which was protesting against the decision taken by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to resume the activity of a pulp and paper mill on the shores of Lake Baikal, ...

On a January morning, plainclothes-clad policemen appeared at the premises of an Irkutsk environmental organization protesting Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's decision to reopen a pulp and paper mill on the shores of Lake Baikal.

The Baikal Wave organization has become another victim of a new tactic used by the authorities to deal with pesky opposition - the confiscation of computers under the pretext of searching for pirated copies of Microsoft software.

In recent years, Russian law enforcement agencies have carried out dozens of similar searches on the premises of human rights organizations and opposition newspapers.

Law enforcement officials say the investigations are prompted by rampant software piracy in Russia. However, for some reason, similar raids have never been carried out on the premises of pro-government organizations and newspapers.

As the authorities began to use this method more and more often, Microsoft itself unexpectedly came to the rescue. Lawyers hired by the company have sided with the prosecution in many politically charged lawsuits.

However, on September 13 of this year, following the appearance of an article in The New York Times on this topic, Microsoft announced a fundamental change in its policy in this area. From now on, the Russian authorities are deprived of the opportunity to use unlicensed Microsoft software as a pretext for persecuting human rights activists and the opposition. In fact, the company banned lawyers working for it from taking part in court hearings in such cases.

Microsoft Vice President and General Counsel Brad Smith issued a statement not only announcing the policy change, but also apologizing. He said that in order to stop politically motivated persecution, Microsoft is introducing a new type of license, to which all human rights organizations and the media are now automatically entitled. No application is required to obtain this license.

Human rights activists and journalists who have faced prosecution up to this day said they welcome Microsoft's announced reform, although some of them still doubt the company's true intentions.

In the past, lawyers working for Microsoft in Russia have repeatedly rebuffed calls from journalists and human rights activists accused of piracy to refuse to cooperate with the authorities.

In particular, the Baikal Wave organization turned to Microsoft with a request for help in confronting the authorities. However, according to Marina Rikhanova, chairman of the Baikal Wave and one of Russia's most famous environmentalists, Microsoft refused to help: "They said that this issue should be dealt with by law enforcement agencies."

An analysis of similar cases shows that the police often seize computers, whether or not they have pirated software installed. Reports on the discovery of such software products are usually drawn up before the police have time to check the computers themselves. Such accusations have been repeatedly refuted in courts.

To disguise the political background of the charges, the police and the prosecutor's office resorted to the help of Microsoft. Thus, in an official statement from the Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for one of the southwestern regions of Russia, it was directly stated that a criminal case against a human rights activist suspected of using unlicensed software was initiated "at the request of a Microsoft lawyer."

In Samara, police also seized the computers of two opposition newspapers, with the help of Microsoft lawyers. “Without the participation of the company, such criminal cases simply could not have happened,” said Sergei Kurt-Adzhiev, editor of one of the newspapers.

The officer who led the search of the Baikal Wave drew up a protocol on the detection of illegal software on the spot. Prior to the search, each of the computers had a Microsoft Certificate of Authenticity affixed to it, but after the computers were taken away, all the stickers disappeared. As a result, Baikal Wave's website was blocked, its financial position was threatened, and all plans became known to the authorities.

Among other things, the police received at their disposal personal data stored in computers. Over the following weeks, police identified many of the organization's supporters and began calling them in for questioning.

“The purpose of the police actions is clear: to prevent us from working,” says Galina Kulebyakina, chairman of the Baikal Wave. “They confiscated our computers because we actively oppose the resumption of the work of the plant and loudly voice our position.”

A spokesman for the Irkutsk police said that an examination conducted in February showed that several copies of unlicensed products worth more than $3,300 were installed on computers.

"Baikal Wave" calls the results of this examination false. The organization sent copies of receipts and other documents to the Moscow office of Microsoft, indicating that all the software was acquired legally.

The leaders of Baikal Wave are sure that if Microsoft confirmed the authenticity of the installed software products, it would be difficult for the authorities to defend their position. However, Microsoft refused to do so. The letter received from there stated that all submitted documents would be sent to the Irkutsk investigative authorities.

"Baikal Wave" managed to get some old computers in Irkutsk and continue their fight against the pulp and paper mill. The militia returned the arrested computers only in July. It was impossible to use one of them: it turned out to be infected with viruses.