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Russia’s Sane Thoughts on Copyright and Internet

There’s been a lot of talk on copyright and Internet regulation at the G8 summit in France.

This led to a statement titled “Renewed Commitment for Freedom and Democracy,” where several suggestions on the topic are written down.

While the leaders of most countries backed the interests of a handful of entertainment industry companies, Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev had a different view.

“The declaration reflects an absolutely conservative position that intellectual property rights should be protected according to the existing conventions,” said Medvedev.

“No one questions that, but I have repeatedly stated that, unfortunately, those conventions were written 50 or almost 100 years ago, and they are unable to regulate the whole complex of relations between the copyright owner and users.”

“Unfortunately, this was not included in the declaration because, in my opinion, my colleagues have a more conservative opinion than is necessary at the moment. Or maybe they just don’t use the Internet and have little understanding of it.”

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  • http://twitter.com/bsteven3 Ben Stevenson

    props

  • John Space

    Let’s better wonder what Putin is up to, gentlemen.

    • http://twitter.com/slavixtube slavixtube

      Putin ordered transition of all governmental services to open source technologies in the next few years.

      • Anonymous

        when? 2008?

    • Anonymous

      well whatever he’s up to, it’s not being president of Russia

  • Anonymous

    “Or maybe they just don’t use the Internet and have little understanding of it.”
    nail on the head

    also they don’t care about it.

  • Anonymous

    Now, cue the comments saying they’re a bunch of commies and thieves (which is why there’s so much piracy that’s just overlooked in Russia) from the Troll Harder crowd.

    I for one tip my hat to the Russian president. The man speaks the truth and appears to have a bit of common sense.

    • http://twitter.com/icanhazsake Ninja

      Actually in Soviet Russian common sense has YOU!

      Ahem, it’s surprising and refreshing to see that from Russia, despite the latest reports of police raids regarding p2p sites there.

      • http://www.facebook.com/Doc.Mindwipe Brynjar Borgersen

        There’s no “Soviet” anymore. And hasn’t been for about 20 years ;)

  • Joe-is-a-spass

    Funny that

    US = Antipiracy + Censorship
    RU = Piracy + Middlefinger to the censorship

    Who do we love and who do we hate? The roles have reversed. Fuck US of fuckin Communist A.

    Moscow got more billionaires than New York. 1-0 Russia and fuck you Obama + RIAA staff.

    • http://twitter.com/icanhazsake Ninja

      I call that irony. But let’s not be hasty, Russia has its share of raids against p2p sites.

  • http://disqus.com/ Rob8urcakes

    Copyright has no place in the 21st century. It’s as simple as that.

    These laws are now holding back human development, competition and knowledge and they need abrogated NOW!!!

    • SomeAsian

      Now I don’t fully agree with that either. Copyrights ARE too restrictive and the book needs to be rewritten. If I create something, I want people to know that it was me who created it and “compensate”(I use this word very lightly) me for my efforts accordingly, BUT NOT IN PERPETUITY. Currently, I believe copyright law needs to be completely reformed, but not abolished.

      • http://don.reba.myopenid.com/ Alexey

        Don’t confuse copyright with authorship. As for compensation: we all want to be compensated for everything we do, but are not entitled to it.

        • SomeAsian

          I hear what you’re saying and I’m not confusing the two at all. Example: If I install a hardwood floor in someones home, they know it was I who did it and that they must pay me for my labor and the service that I rendered. BUT, having them pay me a fee every time they walk on it would just be ridiculous.

          I’m sure you know what I’m getting at.

        • http://don.reba.myopenid.com/ Alexey

          Of course, we want to compensate authors. Their work is grealy benefitial to society, the more so the more it is used. Copyright is not the answer, because it penalizes usage. Good thing, we already have a successful financing model for something just like that – Science.

  • are you on crack?

    I think that human development is evolving too fast for our laws to take into consideration. every law should be revised and looked through. however I do not think Russia knows much past corruption. my whole family is russian, all of russia is corrupt. there is little legitimate business’ out there, believe me, USA is doing the right thing for the most part.

    • http://don.reba.myopenid.com/ Alexey

      Do you really think that your family being Russian makes you an expert on “all of Russia”? :)

      • Anonymous

        Apparently he also thinks Russia doesn’t know much past corruption. Which one could almost infer that he thinks there is NO corruption in the U.S. Which is laughable to say the least.

      • Guest

        Dude, have you yourself been to Russia or any former eastern block nation? They all fucking suck. It’s like 6000 miles of Bratislava from the movie Eurotrip.

        • http://don.reba.myopenid.com/ Alexey

          Meh. I’ve seen better trolling. Better luck next time.

    • Jack

      No corruption in the United States is more laughable than your post stating that there is no corruption in the United States.

  • Anonymous

    Russia is just cool like that. Amazing.
    privacy-web.no.tc

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  • Anonymous

    “Or maybe they just don’t use the Internet and have little understanding of it.”

    Gee, ya think?!

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_series_of_tubes

  • blackHat

    Way to go, Russia! While i’m a staunch advocate for people who create art and other media receiving adequate compensation for their work, the current course of U.S. copyright law (and, incidentally, the model the U.S. is force-feeding the rest of the world) benefits only profiteering middlemen like the RIAA–not the artists and producers themselves–and furthermore, turns law enforcement into their de-facto employees.

    • Anonymous

      This. If only the Trolls would read what you just wrote. They all quote the RIAA/MPAA verbatim and speak about how people are stealing from the actual creators (musicians, script writers, etc.) but they all conveniently overlook the fact that no one screws those people over more than the middlemen (RIAA/MPAA).

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  • Brandon Nalls

    It’s easy to say “NO COPYRIGHTS” when your USELESS COUNTRY doesn’t develop anything WORTH a copyright!

    Piracy IS a crime with victims.

    The USA may by “too strict” but without copyrights, if everyone pirates software and media, there will be no content developers, investors, actors, programmers.

    • Brandon-is-a-spass

      Are you trying to say “may be ‘too strict’” = Censorship is OK? That’s how I read it.

      There are ways to combat piracy online and it is NOT by censoring websites via a preliminary court order. Jesus Christ.

    • http://don.reba.myopenid.com/ Alexey

      Actually, a lot of common software is developed in Russia (7-zip, WinRar, Resharper, IDEA, Finereader, Kaspersky AV), many popular games, as well. Russia has large music and movie industries, although those mostly serve the domestic market.

    • Guest

      no money = revolution

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_IZ5BM5GNLA54OADSWGSXAMA7SY Jay

      Yeah, having Microsoft being used as an excuse, to raid open source software in Russia, is really the best way to protect against piracy.

      Or how about how the P2P raids in Russia are all politically related to keeping the former party in power?

      Why not next time, you read up on how Russian piracy turns into censorship before going off on a tangent?

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_IZ5BM5GNLA54OADSWGSXAMA7SY Jay

      Yeah, having Microsoft being used as an excuse, to raid open source software in Russia, is really the best way to protect against piracy.

      Or how about how the P2P raids in Russia are all politically related to keeping the former party in power?

      Why not next time, you read up on how Russian piracy turns into censorship before going off on a tangent?

    • Clubber

      Russian programmers are actually quite skilled, and have been every since I remember (Jimmy-Z in the Commodore days was Russian). Blindly following other people’s stereotypes makes you sound stupid.

    • http://www.facebook.com/Doc.Mindwipe Brynjar Borgersen

      Oh… Yeah… sure… that’s why Linux doesn’t have any…. Oh wait

  • Ahoy

    The fact is, there’s a loooooot of ID fraud, pay per click scamming and counterfeiting going on that involves the Russian mafia. Sort of stands to reason that their respectable face (i.e. the Russian government) doesn’t want any further scrutiny of that sort of thing going on – I’d imagine that there are some trails that would lead to some quite embarassing places for the ol’ Ruskis.
    Don’t mistake this for Russia making a stand for filesharers – it’s far more likely that their gangster paymasters have told them to block this any way they can

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  • drop.a.lama

    the american and russian governments are constituted of individuals just like you. they care more about generalizing their beliefs, which are basically reactionary povs. at least they’re sure to gain more out this than any one of us. all the corrupt ones who swing both ways for the sake of it, or out of ignorance, will gain some votes.

    of course copyrights are bad law, in that they over penalize and over protect. but they’re the only form popular incentive the world has known and accepted. mostly because powerful nations have thrust the regime upon governments (through international instruments which are not easy to get out of if your GDP is running backwards) which in themselves are clueless and powerless- which is not to excuse them either. with newer ways to incentivize creation, at least at the copyright level- we have donations, club subscriptions, magnatune, etc- there is some headway towards another system which clubs many informal regimes that can foster creativity without the operation of penal law.

    so why not leave the cold war skullduggery behind and just bloody accept that at least Medvedev, whatever be his ‘ruskin’ motivations, for once at least has said a thing or two we all have said before, most important being that copyrights are incorrect insofar as they represent an archaic model which can no longer be effectively implemented

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