[pp.int.general] About PP Russia

[Boris Turovskiy]

Hello Fedor,
I haven't heard from you n quite some time and I can't say that I missed 
you...
>>
>> They failed to recognize the repressive nature of current copyright
>> system.
So enlighten us please. The current copyright system is very, very far 
from perfect, but your mantra about it violating civil rights (which you 
repeat twice in this letter alone) is kind of tiresome.
>> They claim that the only thing that's wrong with it is the fact
>> that authors get too little cut of the profit.
>
That's a lie.
>> Public rights doesn't
>> concern them; PPR is too afraid of being labeled as "freeloaders" if
>> they don't give the authors 100% guarantee that PPR program would make
>> them richer.
That's again a lie.
>> Such position is very strange in modern Russia, where government
>> agencies are starting to recognize copyright laws as an excuse for them
>> to harass human rights activists, environmentalists and members of other
>> non-government organizations.
That's true, but to me it says much more about a big problem with the 
government agencies, not with the copyright system.
>>
>> In 28th January, police of Irkutsk raided the office of NGO "Baikal
>> Ecological Wave"
>> (http://www.impunitywatch.net/impunity_watch_europe/2010/01/russian-police-raid-offices-of-environmental-ngo.html). 
>>
>> Policemen claim that environmentalists used non-licensed software.  They
>> refused to look at licence papers and destroyed Windows holographic
>> stickers.
Once again, to me the problem falls under the "corrupt police" category, 
not directly copyright laws.
Or would you argue that if the police planted heroin as a pretext of 
making this raid, that would be an indication of the drug regulations 
being of a "repressive nature"?
>>
>> When I reported this case to PPR, Mr. Shakirov (already official PPR
>> leader) said the law which permits police to attack people and make them
>> prove their innocence wasn't wrong; it is just some government agents
>> abused their power.
In most criminal investigations the perpetrator is not found _guilty_ at 
the moment of arrest (as only a court can do that, and not the police, 
luckily), but is a _suspect_. It is no violation of the presumption of 
innocence if a computer is taken for analysis of illegal content, just 
as it is no violation if the computer is confiscated as material 
evidence because a fraud is suspected, or if a suspect's DNA is analyzed 
in a murder case.
>> Such ideas isn't infamiliar to Russian people: many
>> neo-stalinists claim that there was nothing wrong with Stalin and with
>> notorious 58 article of Russian Criminal Code (this article was commonly
>> used to prosecute people during Stalin repressions); the local doers who
>> have run to the very extremes are to blame.
I think I won't comment on that one - it's too preposterous to make such 
comparisons.
>>
>> In 31th January, PPR website published their "official reaction" to the
>> attack against Baikal defenders (http://pirateparty.ru/home/?p=294,
>> Russian).  PPR not only failed to expose anti-human nature of copyright
>> law, they were too shy even to support Irkutsk activists, saying
>>
>> <...> Pirate Party of Russia calls all non-government organizations
>>      to be more serious with software installed on their computers.
>>
>> and
>>
>> <...> We all want to live in legal state, which means we must obey
>>      even the unwise laws and use only legal means to change them.
>>
>> Effectively, PPR put the blame for the abuse on the victims of abuse.
Well, we have dealt with that lie, so I won't repeat myself.
>>
>> Members of PP Russia often say what their position is supported by PPI.
>> It is not unusual for them to respond to critics saying something like
>> "our position is in agreement with PPI's, so go to them and f**k their
>> brains if you disagree; we aren't going to argue with you."
Well, you certainly followed our advice to start screwing the PPI's brains:)
>>   PPR members
>> say that one of major goals for any Pirate Party is to make "free
>> software cultists" to shut up and prevent software industry from being
>> destroyed by them; 
No, the exact wording was that
1. A Pirate Party is not the FSF's political arm;
2. When making political propositions their consequences should be 
thought out.
>> and that they are going to do so in Russia.  As said
>> Mr Shakirov:
>>
>>    I don't give a f**k to those rights (the citizen's rights which free
>>    software movement aims to protect, and the presumption of innocence
>>    which is violated then *you* need to prove that your copy of software
>>    is legal and many others -- F.Kh.) and don't want to use them, so let
>>    me use that I want.  Don't destroy companies which make the product
>>    for me without providing the working replacement!
Yep, because you were proposing to outlaw proprietary software at that 
point and thus force Mr.Shakirov, along with many others, to switch to a 
replacement which doesn't always exist.

Boris