"Witch Hunt" - an unpopular view of copyright, licensed products and copyright issues in Russia

Studying the press, one can see that most of the reports on copyright infringement concern either ordinary citizens or groups of citizens united by some kind of idea . I do not recall reports in the press that politicians, government officials, deputies, employees of various bodies or large commercial units (firms, offices) were involved in using non-licensed software. I would venture to suggest that it is not because all of the above are more honest and cleaner than any of the citizens, but because copyright law does not exist for everyone. There is always the opportunity to pay off, to agree, "to put the brakes on." In general, the law as such is different for everyone depending on the “class”.

Moreover, if you slide into history deeper than ten years - the situation with the laws and their execution was even worse. Double standards, as there was now. There were people above and people below. Now those who stand higher in the case of fatal mistakes (they have stolen too much, or have done so blatantly, or have too visibly trampled the law) - are given "at the mercy of the people", or the press, as part of an anti-corruption program. The court in most cases deprives them of regalia, but leaves free. At the same time, as ordinary citizens, for less serious crimes, they “shake the deadline for the full program” and in any case turn into public cases of copyright infringement. No wonder there is a saying "From prison and from SUM do not promise."
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It seems to me that there is a major contradiction here. It would not be if the law was the same for all. When I hear outrage among adherents of copyright and copyright - I feel a strange bewilderment. Why?

Because it says everything is true. You kind of fashioned a pot, burned it and laid it out for sale. And someone came to you and dragged your pots. In front of you. Pots just yesterday you burned and painted. Two thieves. One is one for whom nothing will happen. The other is the one that sits down. In general - do not like both. And not because half the pots are returned, but not half. And simply because stealing is not good. BUT…

I would like to start my thoughts on copyright with the case of a Latvian teacher. As you know, "the laws of flies are caught, and the hornets are released." The one who is with the money - and the young man, and the average person to process faster and more convenient. That's what interests me. Do the various states and power structures supporting them consider their citizens so close to them that they cannot trace this strange pattern?

We live in a world that is constantly changing. Every minute. Right now. In this world it turned out that information in many respects ceased to be someone's separate property. She became common. More recently, a woman could not know what the man knows, her destiny was the kitchen, children and embroidery. Times have changed. Progress has reached the fact that now everyone has the opportunity to touch almost any information. There would be a desire. Progress did not stop and, moving further, reached the point where for knowledge you can easily go to jail. Speech in this case is not about knowledge of state secrets, but about knowledge in general. Only in my understanding this is not progress, but regress. Degradation and complete discredit of law and power in the eyes of ordinary citizens.

In my understanding, this case (the situation with the Latvian teacher) should not have been made public at all. The absence of such cases in relation to clear offenders only emphasizes and emphasizes the wildness of the situation. Her artificiality and absurdity. On the one hand, by protecting the copyright, like cow boys on the field, relevant organizations drive torrent trackers, on the other hand, there is a social network in our country where you can easily listen to unlicensed audio content, watch unlicensed movies. In the recent past, the theft of Western games with a change of cover was common (logos and other commercial information were removed, and their own were put).
Statements about the fact that if they press that these users are not suitable. Because in this case it is the same as the torrent tracker. Only one beautifully closed, and the other perfectly exists. What is characteristic is where big money is found.

It's funny that in these cases some idealists are invited to be civilly conscious and refuse to watch or listen to obviously pirated products. And what if any not bought film and any not bought composition is obviously pirated? What if there is no free version of Madonna's new album? How are idealist comrades with this?

Is it possible to live (and how to do it in general) in agreement with oneself, if, on the one hand, the state actively pursues offenders, on the other hand closes its eyes to offenses of a regional scale? When do these wrongdoings look at us from TV screens? The scope of corruption, bribery, outright hypocrisy, and thoroughly deceitful, ostentatious "witch hunt" habitually strikes the imagination, but does not solve the dilemma. On the one hand, you always want to be a law-abiding citizen without a stain on reputation, with a clear conscience, on the other hand, we are surrounded by thieving content so much that we can buy it even in a regular store, not knowing about it.

Yes, and how to understand this "witch hunt"? Why should I? If for a fair period, did the country move along the path of progress through theft and piracy? If every citizen who wanted in this country to have something or to learn something was forced to acquire it on the "flea market" (the then name of the black markets)? How can a person's psychology change so dramatically if the floor of his apartment is still lined with “pirate tiles”?

“Perhaps in rare cases when the struggle for a just cause forces you to become a pirate, piracy can become a just thing.” Governor Swann

In the distant 90s, there was no software market as such in our country. What can I say about software. Even the chewing gum was sold from under the floor in the “black markets”. It was so? It was. We were held hostage to a situation where we were originally in the status of people who commit an offense, if you follow the letter of the law? Is not it so?

And in general, there was no choice. Do you want a beautiful dress? Black market. "Vidic"? Audio and video? All the same. Going there (and almost everyone was sinning) committed a crime. Contributed to the spread is not that infringing copyright products, buying contraband goods. Both actors and musicians still talk about this time with a smile. About how something then mined.
And, in fact, nobody thought about the copyrights of some Americans who made this or that product. The law enforcement agencies thought about preventing the merchant from getting rich on resale of smuggled goods. That is, with a shortage (although it should be said - the complete absence) of a number of domestic goods, it was possible to get one too - but ten times better. At that time, it was generally “fashionable” to take out items “according to cronyism” and to be incredibly proud of their enterprise. Poor country. Poor people.

Thanks to the laws of that time, not a single novelty would have passed through the “information curtain” if it were not for those pirates. And the matter is not even in copyright, we would buy, I am sure of it. Then still would buy. Because they would not be spoiled by what happened after. The culture of buying goods was present. And the tapes were bought, and for money in stalls they recorded something on them. Remember how difficult it was to get audio tapes? How good were those westerners, and how strikingly different were ours, then still sovkovskys? JVC, TDK ... I remember these names solely because of these rectangular cassettes. But the total theft began later.

Products from abroad were presented as "evil from there" for which it is necessary to plant. Some forbidden fruit. Anyone who listened to “The Beatles” or read books from there - felt like certain revolutionaries, rebels from the world of culture. From the world of rebellious youth. People doing something forbidden. What kind of purchase from the authors, in the official order, could there be, if all this was 100% contraband?

The period came when information technology swallows began to appear on the markets. PC. Software. Games. From there began to arrive not only the elements of life, cigarettes and chewing gum, but knowledge. An all-consuming passion to consume new and new information over and over again led us to these markets in search of something interesting. Dozens and hundreds of games, software products were bought up. And who was thinking about copyright? God be with you. Same thing from there. You can't buy it for normal money in the store, just with it. What if by law?

Some people say that all that we have now is a consequence of global and hopeless “theft” then. And they are right. We all know about this, but prefer to participate in the "witch hunt." Now. Now talking about copyright, a civilized approach, private property, forgetting about "then", the "then" that has not yet had time to go out the door of modern history. Is it too fast that we became a civilized country respecting copyright? Is it with such amount of unpaid debts?

We, with all our desire, are not able to pay for all the software applications that we used. Books that have been read. Movies that are viewed. The music you listened to. It's impossible. All that we can now - to return these debts. Those who helped us then. But it is not a question of the letter of the law. You can not plant for it the whole country. It is not the country that is responsible for the created information climate (or rather, its absence). This is a matter of decency. Honesty Responsibility. Each. And everyone will answer this question himself.

I answer myself briefly. Without the "then" there would be no "now." And this is a fact. In addition to the brilliant clothes and other rubbish that the West brought to our “Indian civilization”, knowledge also came to us. Samples of someone else's knowledge, culture, which is difficult to underestimate. It is thanks to this knowledge - we have become what we are now. IT industry for sure.

Were there any alternatives? It didn't hurt, I saw them. After a couple of years of studying PC, I knew more about it than the “computer science teachers” of that time could give me (they just hated me and I can understand them ... is it nice to hear information exceeding my own knowledge from the milker?). In fact, of course, my merit is not, and could not be. My father taught me everything he knew, and more often he shoved books under his nose. So I learned programming. True, not much succeeded in this, being a warehouse in kind creative, and not accurate. Everything humanitarian was given orders of magnitude easier than exact sciences. So I started to become an artist. Tyka mouse in the old 16-color editors.

If you analyze the past, then my teachers were hackers who broke the software and fartschiki who sold it on the market. Because thanks to these pirates, the country received foreign information - books, software and games. The state and enterprising people of the 90s at this moment were stealing trains, plundering factories and enterprises. Where were they in this process before licensed Windows or Microsoft Word? The scale of the profits was not the same. As a result, there was no government control over the black markets, where it was possible to purchase a bag of CDs in one go. As a result, pirated products began to be sold openly on the streets of the city, in stalls and in subways. Unprecedented scope violated copyright.

Is it possible to assume that this is not deposited in the national consciousness? Is it possible to talk about the culture of compliance with copyright in a country where they traded software at subway stations 5-7 years ago? Is it possible to talk about respect for private property in a country where at any moment you can be deprived of it for not quite legal grounds? Iron, as a means of argumentation and persuasion, remained in the 90s, but the means of communication with commercial structures remain the same. Gangster. Just a few years ago, I became a witness and an unwitting participant in a situation I don’t want to recall. But the door, which flew off its hinges under the blow of an extremely persistent visitor’s foot, ran into the memory too clearly. Law? Copyright? Copyright? In the words of Lord Cutler Beckett, "Everything immaterial became suddenly irrelevant . "

"... the spirit of piracy is in your blood, nothing can be done about it." Jack Sparrow

Have everyone already forgotten the wars of local localizers? Already worn out from memory pirate labels "The Seventh Wolf"? "Fargus"? Then look back at the bookshelf. They are all there. Or maybe here? In your pc? In the form of ISO-images of the “same game”, or perhaps “of the best translation”? You, I suppose, have already forgotten how the regions of product sales shared, how did the management of one of the developers' offices set on management the others of the same offices of “masked people” who broke into the offices and took away all the computers? About how to go outside to smoke, you met your smiling comrade from another office, who instead of working walked around the city, enjoying an extra day off. How, a day or two later, all computers, as if nothing had happened, came back and the work continued? How did it become clear that there was no fight against piracy, except for a showdown between competing factions from above — no?

Guys, let's not be a hypocrite. This reality is not exactly the recent past. This is the reality of today. And how can we talk about a civilized solution of issues related to the observance of copyright, copyright in the context of all this? When a country resembles a card, where the Euro-country smiles loudly from above, and the same joker of Russian reality smiles, winking, smiling from below?

Who was better as a result? Rogue hackers and fartsovschiki that brought us information, albeit with violations of other people's copyrights? Or a state that has cut off the ability of its citizens to learn and improve? Which clamped everyone in the grip of the “information curtain” without providing alternatives? Perhaps, I would like to say thanks to “Lenin and the Party” for something worthwhile, but I cannot. I would like to be proud of my country, but I cannot with regard to information technology. I can not still. And gratitude for my development I have to bring to unknown hackers of those years. As it is not sad. It happened. So it happened. And this is also a story. You can not erase it. You can not cover it by replacing it with something more convenient or patriotic. Or is the patriot of today the one who strikes the scaffolds like himself? A man who does not know kinship? Who does not remember his story?

Why is this happening? How is this even possible in a civilized country? So let's see, finally, are we civilized or not? Are we on the way to civilization, or remain the notorious hypocritical joker? And who follows the path of civilization? Frightened citizens threatened with prison or punishment? What is the percentage of those intimidated? What is the percentage of those who deliberately do so, guided by ethical norms? What is the percentage of those who can afford to be decent with the current level of wages, while providing a family of two or three mouths? Are there no such IT-sci? What percentage of the country's population goes ahead, which stands on the spot, and which moves back into the vague past?

Get in your pocket. Not this one. In another. Where is your cell. Are you sure this is a licensed product? What is this not a pirate fake? So what if you bought it at the store? So what if there is a warranty card. Not knowing about the fact of purchase and use of pirated products is not yet an excuse. I remind you that even 5-7 years ago in any store under the guise of a license it was possible to buy a pirated disc. Why are you sure that why you are calling is not another pirate? The product collected in Malaya Arnautskaya?

Edit of 05/26/2013 Paragraphs dedicated to a specific design software and its use in universities, according to the results of comments and information provided by readers were deemed untrue. They will be edited and will be returned to the publication so as not to break the context of the narration, or they will be permanently deleted.

“The fate of the one who does not know the wondrous delicate bouquet of life on Tortuga is sad.” Jack Sparrow

Hand in hand, one must admit the fact that even now, for non-licensed programs, one can be imprisoned or attract half, if not more, of our entire immense country. Starting from almost any office and ending with social networks, where films, music and games are still being actively and unabashedly stolen. It also turns out that there is a choice - to live honestly and in poverty (which is a credo for every citizen from time immemorial, when the “reform” was carried out to dekulakize wealthy peasants), or to live in sin. Because the purchase of licensed software will take any undertaking into the hole. Or beggar. So my mother taught me, “In this country you need to be a beggar so that nothing happens to you, and even in this case, having already a beggar’s beggar’s bag, you cannot repudiate the prison.”

Can we fight it? Can we talk about respecting copyright with honest people and righteous anger against us like that? Yes, of course, with the advent of a number of services, the country was more civilized. Now on our computers are licensed games. Many people buy licensed music. Many buy good and tested games. Many people buy good and tested music. But is it all over? Do we all use free or alternative programs? Do we all pay for any consumer goods that we are sniffed without trying it before?

And what to do with the whole generations who grew up to “I have the Internet - it means that I have everything”? Countless myriads of people who believe that the Internet is a piggy bank of free knowledge and entertainment? What to do with the presence in the country of social networks that daily demonstrate the stolen content? What to do with terabytes of music, which revolves daily in the audio devices of our vast country? These are all very large, global problems, and they are not decided by us. We may have something to increase from year to year, mythical percentages of which can grow hot or cold. We occupy some places in some ratings. But essentially it does not change. You cannot teach citizens respect for private property, respect for copyright and copyrights on one side of the street and encourage complete mess on the other. At all times, it was called hypocrisy.
And just as it often happens with us - this is a mechanism of pressure from the authorities. For power, we are more likely cash cows, a parallel world filled with strange creatures that can be planted in the case of "escaping from the herd" - "If there was a man, there would be an article." The eerie ghost of the past living among us today. It is not known to whom this saying really belongs. It is attributed to many people who were then in power. The slogan is relevant now. For any of us. For anyone who raises his head too high and does not play by the general rules. After all, we all know how this happens, what really hide. We know the rules of the game.

All of the above, in my understanding, makes the country pirated. Makes any of us a potential target. As soon as the target becomes noticeable and presents a threat, it is eliminated. Are you ready for liquidation? Personally, I - no. What remains? To be a beggar? Quiet? Invisible? Or all of this, but immediately a lot? Until what time, sorry?

Apparently until at least the illusion of a civilized country appears. Until the state support program for software developers appears. Until tenders for participation in the development of technological innovations will not cease to be programs for the development of budgets and money laundering. Until a free software product development program is introduced until the product is profitable. There are already such precedents (already ceased to be them) in the IT sphere. Enough to get acquainted with the history of game engines. Until then, until it is possible to buy any version of the line of software products, and not just the latest at fabulous prices. The industry needs to be helped. Just as the branches of education, medicine and art need it.
You can now abandon the future, abandon any hope to develop software products and raise the IT-sphere in Russia, if we are talking about fair development and entrust it to children. Or survive in these conditions. This is what an overwhelming number of developers do.

Do not just put on the mask of civilization. We want her. The civilizations of this. But we do not have it in full. Just trying to match her. And even if a million, two million or three million conscious citizens live as civilized people are supposed to live, this does not make such a country as a whole. Aspiration is commendable, but it does not determine the overall result. And it should not allow us to talk about a Latvian teacher who posted a textbook on his website, as a criminal who must be punished for not warning someone about his act, which someone did not understand, and who did not play to the rules. Not from the good life it was done, but from the hopelessness. By purchasing this textbook for students, the teacher might have done better, but he would have condemned his family to hunger.

Better, I think - it will be best - let us, but ourselves, call us civilized people.

It seems to me that all this is a national, if not global, problem. The problem is deeply rooted in the past, has raised more than one generation of crumpled people. Starting from the ordinary citizen and ending with the state, its prominent representatives. New history can not be measured from some point announcing that we are now civilized in matters of copyright and copyright. This is not a point on a piece of paper, not a marker on someone's plan, bypassing which the notorious “good” law and order begins. First of all, this is the problem of educating generations. Educational problem. The problem of mentality. And it can not be solved not by prisons, nor by executions. This needs to be taught. And in this problem - there should be no double standards. There should not be those who are above and below, on one side of the street and on the other. This should be equivalent for everyone, and not just for those who have little money.

PS
Maybe this is a stupid ascertaining post on "many letters" and jogging over the weed of a fat "rabbit," as they say in the network. Or maybe it is an internal pain. There may be fear for yourself, your loved ones and the future. It did not hurt. Lives with many of us. With me. A long time ago and it starts to seem to me that it will live for a long time. When I was completely yellow-headed, and I didn’t read very well in my faces, I remembered one of my father’s crooked smiles. - , - , .
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