Leveraging Copyright: Russia and Microsoft | Public Knowledge:

This week, the New York Times reported that Russian authorities were searching the offices and seizing the computers of public interest non-governmental organizations (NGOs) disfavored by the government, under the guise of enforcing Microsoft copyrights.


This is why you only use Linux in your NGO and announce to the government ahead of time. I wonder if there's any such thing as probable cause here. Was there a reason to expect that the versions of Windows, etc weren't legit?

WinZip in the 90s and early 2000s would probably have been an even better cover.

Microsoft's reply is, for me, honestly, unexpected.

Anti-Piracy Enforcement and NGOs - The Official Microsoft Blog โ€“ News and Perspectives from Microsoft - Site Home - TechNet Blogs:

To prevent non-government organizations from falling victim to nefarious actions taken in the guise of anti-piracy enforcement, Microsoft will create a new unilateral software license for NGOs that will ensure they have free, legal copies of our products.

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