Putin’s piracy pretense

The Providence Journal: It is hardly surprising that in Russia, a crime-ridden country under the boot of the thuggish Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, software piracy is rampant. Nor is it surprising that the regime is using piracy as a pretext to go after political enemies.

According to The New York Times, security officials have conducted “dozens” of raids against outspoken advocacy groups and opposition newspapers in search of illegally copied Microsoft software. And it has used testimony from Microsoft lawyers to help proceed with these cases, which may or may not be entirely specious.

Microsoft — anxious about the worldwide theft of its intellectual property and obviously interested in growing its business in Russia — insists it has only done what it is required to do under the law.

But it clearly has a moral duty to do more — namely, denounce the tactics of using piracy raids against the regime’s foes, even at the risk of irritating the dictator. It should also provide evidence immediately to the public and the authorities when these controversial groups have, indeed, purchased their software legally.

And it should not stand alone. The Obama administration should also speak out against this practice.

As of now, such groups find themselves in a no man’s land of lawsuits and loss of vital communications tools for months.