We all know that Russia is a democracy in name only. Yet more proof of this comes from the front page of today's NYT (below the fold). The Kremlin is using a particularly insidious tactic to silence those who dare speak out against it--claiming that dissidents are using pirated software.
Across Russia, the security services have carried out dozens of similar raids against outspoken advocacy groups or opposition newspapers in recent years. Security officials say the inquiries reflect their concern about software piracy, which is rampant in Russia. Yet they rarely if ever carry out raids against advocacy groups or news organizations that back the government.
Anyone who knows anything about the Internet knows how transparently insincere this is. Russia has long been a haven for Internet bottom-feeders--spammers, porn, etc.
Microsoft's lawyers have been cooperating with the Kremlin, but that may change after the NYT alerted senior Microsoft officials. A spokesman said that while Microsoft is as zealous about snuffing out piracy, it is equally committed to human rights.
In many cases, the police did such shoddy work that the dissidents were easily able to discredit the charges. However, the damage has usually already been done. For instance, Novaya Gazeta, the country's most prominent opposition newspaper, had its computers seized just before Putin held a summit meeting with several of his European counterparts. It later turned out the police never bothered to examine the computers, and a raid on a sister paper was based on a complaint from a man who had never set foot in its office. Still, the paper has had to close its local Moscow edition.
Another group, Baikal Environmental Wave, was protesting the reopening of a paper factory that had fouled Lake Baikal with heavy metals and chlorine. Even though the group had proof it bought genuine Microsoft software, the authorities carted off the computers anyway. Baikal Wave got its computers back--but not before having its Website disabled and many of its supporters harassed.
This story, to my mind, is proof that a country that seemed to be well on the way to democracy has turned into a bigger version of Singapore.