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In the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, many companies in the West have stopped doing business with the country, including plenty of technology and software companies. Tech giants Apple, Microsoft, Sony and Adobe have pulled products and services from Russia, along with plenty of gaming companies, like Nintendo, Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Take-Two Interactive and Epic Games, just to name a few.

However, as reported by TorrentFreak, Russia may change its laws to waive all punishments for software piracy, as long as the software originates from a company that is supporting the sanctions on Russia, and no Russian equivalent exists. In a document titled "Priority Action Plan for Ensuring the Development of the Russian Economy in the Conditions of External Sanctions Pressure," the Ministry of Economic Development proposes a number of measures to lessen the impact of these sanctions. One idea under consideration, point 6.7.3, reads “Cancellation of liability for the use of software (SW) unlicensed in the Russian Federation, owned by a copyright holder from countries that have supported the sanctions.”

A similar item, 6.7.1, regards intellectual property rights, removing punishments for violating intellectual property when it comes to "rights to an invention, utility model, industrial design in relation to computer programs, databases, topologies of integrated circuits." CityAM, a business and financial newspaper based out of London, has reported that this measure has been approved, citing state-sanctioned newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta as its source. While this doesn't apply to software (the measure simply allows "Russian firms [...] to use innovations from unfriendly countries without paying to use the IP," as CityAM explains), if this measure has been passed, it's possibly 6.7.3 has been or will be soon. Of course, being a state-owned newspaper, any reports from Rossiyskaya Gazeta should be taken with a grain of salt. Similarly, according to gazeta.ru, Russian politician Dmitry Ionin has proposed unblocking certain torrent trackers in the country in response to Hollywood films not being released in the country. While it still appears to be blocked, and the report may be fraudulent, it would be an unprecedented move for the Russian government to make.

itch.io's Bundle for Ukraine is still available for the next six days. It contains nearly a thousand games and assets for just $10, and has raised over $4 million so far, with all proceeds going to charities to support Ukraine. It contains some popular games like SkateBIRD, SUPERHOT, Celeste and Towerfall: Ascension.

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[Xzi]

Piracy is illegal?

In the US it's a civil matter, so...not really.

 

[impeeza]

That is the definition of marque and corsairs pirates permited by the government to capture enemies wealth

 

[Deleted member 194275]

Hope Putin is interested in putting state money to softmod the Mariko switch. It's better than invest in bombs.

 

[Darth Meteos]

Disclaimer: I'm not a supporter of Russia or Ukraine. The burden of proof is on whoever is doing violence.

a country attacks another without provocation
enlightened centrist: i'M oN nObOdY's SiDe I'm JuSt AgAiNsT vIoLeNcE

 

[ZeroFX]

Nice, just pirate it all. Also fuck that communist cesspool.

 

[the_randomizer]

This place is Neutral if you want an echo chamber go to reddit.

Also using insults proves his mental ineptitude lol. He should go to 4chan with rest of the troglodytes.

 

[NoobletCheese]

a country attacks another without provocation
enlightened centrist: i'M oN nObOdY's SiDe I'm JuSt AgAiNsT vIoLeNcE

Well the burden is on Russia to justify the attack. I don't know what their justification is, if any. The media outlets seem to have biases in various directions, so I don't really know what's true. I don't know how much of the stuff in this wiki section is true. I guess I'm becoming more skeptical of things in general. Sorry if that's annoying. If I had to bet my life savings on it, I'd probably bet that Russia doesn't have sufficient justification for going into Ukraine. Self defence would be a valid reason, but I'm not sure they could argue that.

 

[Xzi]

Well the burden is on Russia to justify the attack. I don't know what their justification is, if any.

They don't have any justification. They attempted to pin the blame for several false flag attacks on Ukraine in the weeks before the invasion, but nobody fell for it. Then they spent a while saying that worries over the possibility of invasion were baseless paranoia. Then they just invaded. We're now at the point where the Russian military has been given orders to target civilians, and they've bombed several hospitals and schools.

 

[NoobletCheese]

They don't have any justification. They attempted to pin the blame for several false flag attacks on Ukraine in the weeks before the invasion, but nobody fell for it. Then they spent a while saying that worries over the possibility of invasion were baseless paranoia. Then they just invaded. We're now at the point where the Russian military has been given orders to target civilians, and they've bombed several hospitals and schools.

Shocking if true.

 

[Xzi]

Shocking if true.

Not even our resident Putin propagandists will deny any of that, they can only claim that the schools and hospitals were being used as military staging grounds, and that of course is ridiculous.

 

[Guacaholey]

Piracy is illegal?

In the same way violating a contract is. Basically you might get sued. Unless you're living in one of the countries that takes it super seriously, but that's usually for distributing copies of copyrighted material.

 

[Guacaholey]

i guess all those people protesting in Russia are fake videos ? thanks for telling me western media lie to me again.

Those people don't exist and never did. They definitely haven't been incarcerated in an attempt to cover up dissenting views.

 

[Lacius]

In the US it's a civil matter, so...not really.

In the same way violating a contract is. Basically you might get sued. Unless you're living in one of the countries that takes it super seriously, but that's usually for distributing copies of copyrighted material.

Bummer.

 

[smf]

So, do VPN's not exist in Russia?

Yes. Of course, connecting to a VPN server outside of Russia is going to become tricky. The Russian government is starting to force Russian ISP's to lock down their Internet.

That would be bizarre, as VPN's were initially conceived to allow residents of 'restricted' locations to access the unrestricted web. A quick google shows that VPN's are indeed (especially right now) virtually a necessity in Russia.
...so why conceive allowing piracy when they could just advise VPN usage to get around geo-blocking?

VPN's were conceived for you to access the office LAN from a remote destination. geoblocking didn't exist when they were invented.

Announcing legalization of piracy is not aimed at Russian citizens, it's meant to scare fox/microsoft/etc into demanding that the sanctions are lifted. Putin is an idiot, he just doesn't get it.

Russias government will soon prevent Russian citizens from using VPN, because using a VPN means they are able to see the truth & Putin can't survive if people know the truth.

 

[AndorfRequissa]

Yes. Of course, connecting to a VPN server outside of Russia is going to become tricky. The Russian government is starting to force Russian ISP's to lock down their Internet.




VPN's were conceived for you to access the office LAN from a remote destination. geoblocking didn't exist when they were invented.

Announcing legalization of piracy is not aimed at Russian citizens, it's meant to scare fox/microsoft/etc into demanding that the sanctions are lifted. Putin is an idiot, he just doesn't get it.

Russias government will soon prevent Russian citizens from using VPN, because using a VPN means they are able to see the truth & Putin can't survive if people know the truth.

i dont think VPNs are going to change the way Russians think. We in the US get free flow of information and an election can be rigged and ran without any credibility and even with all the info available we got the puppet president who rigged the election. what does putin care about the truth? in politics there is little truth its who can sell the biggest lie.

You can lie to the American people and they will believe it alot easier than Russians but Russians even when they know the trust still have to fear having alternative thought. the USSR was filled with self policing and some interesting pyschological dynamics.

Satelilte connections and many other things exists that if people in Russia want to use VPN they probably can. RDP into Chinese remote computer and then VPN from there. boom problem solved

 

[raging_chaos]

Sony and Nintendo are not from west

Litigation claims are easier in the west and that's what matters to Nintendo's legal ninjas.

 

[XDel]

I wish we could disband copyright laws all together and make the market truly free, taxation aside.

 

[raging_chaos]

A 'free market' doesn't mean not having to pay for things.

 

[SG854]

Trump had the best idea, Paint the chinese flag on US bombers and bomb the shit out of moscow.

Fuck Russia in every possible way.

No no no. That will make China look like they bombed Russia. And when the truth comes out this will lead to problems with China and U.S. Do not take advice from Trump.

 

[Viri]

I was thinking this as well. Shouldn't these companies have pulled out of Israel and US long ago? US has actually bombed Somalia since this Russia scam began and Israel terrorizing Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon is pretty much a non-stop way of life. Where's all the outrage over any of that?

In a perfect world, the US would have to pay for what they did to Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, and countless other countries they meddled in, and made a lot worse. But the world literally cannot sanction the US, as it would tank the entire world. Russia is too much of a "shit hole" to matter, if they get sanctioned.