As Western sanctions on Russia begin to seriously hurt Putin’s country’s economy, the Kremlin is turning to not-quite-legal practices to keep its head above water. He would thus consider legalizing the piracy of software in order to circumvent the sanctions imposed by the European, American and Asian technological giants.
Western sanctions are hurting the Russian economy
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sparked outrage in many countries around the world. In response, the countries of the West have decided to inflict colossal economic sanctions on Russia, so much so that they seem designed to destroy the economy of the Eastern country. In addition to governments, corporations have also taken action against Russia.
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For example, Apple has stopped selling its products in the country, like Samsung. Google has, for its part, decided to suspend its advertising activities there. Other emblematic technological giants of Silicon Valley, such as Oracle, Adobe, Intel, Microsoft, AMD or Airbnb have also announced the cessation of their activities in Russia.
The consequences of these measures are logically disastrous for the country. In an incredibly tense economic context, the Kremlin is trying by all means to find solutions. As reported Ars-Technicathe Russian government is considering legalizing software piracy.
China would not be concerned
If Russian law permits the use of any intellectual property without the consent of the patent holder ” in the event of a defense and state security emergency the government hasn’t gotten to that point yet, but it seems like it’s just a matter of time.
However, the practice of piracy is widespread in Russia. According to a 2019 report by ESET, a Slovak security company, 91% of Russians prefer pirated content, and almost 20% say they have installed pirated software. 75% of respondents say they use these practices because the official versions of the platforms are too expensive.
The Kremlin is considering measures and laws to limit the damage caused by Western sanctions. Photography: Michael Parulava / Unsplash
Logically, this law would concern software from large Western technology companies that have imposed sanctions on Russia. It would therefore seem that China is exempt from it, and this is good news for the Middle Kingdom, which wishes to sneak into the vacant space left by American and European big tech in Russia in order to implement its own products and services.
However, China finds itself in a very delicate position and must be very careful not to be targeted by Western sanctions. ” Chinese companies have much more to lose than to gain by violating sanctions. For most Chinese companies, Russia is simply too small a market for business to be worth risking being cut off from developed markets or being sanctioned itself. “, thus declared the analysts of Gavekal Dragonomics in a research report quoted by the wall street journal.
Would it really help?
The Kremlin’s plan to make piracy legal demonstrates how difficult the situation is in Russia, where residents find themselves completely isolated from the rest of the world. It is however difficult to know if this would be of much use because the digital landscape has changed considerably. Now, so-called SaaS (software as a service) solutions are legion and can only be accessed via a web application.
It’s still possible to hack many traditional apps that rely on authentication servers to check subscription status, but these are still fewer than a decade ago.