Microsoft offers 500,000 free licenses in anti-oppression drive
Microsoft has announced it will be giving free software licenses to campaign groups in a dozen countries. It’s designed to prevent the problem of governments using alleged copyright infringements as an excuse to raid political opponents.
The move follows reports last month that officials in Russia had been seizing computers from such groups on the pretext that they contained illegal copies of Microsoft software, with suggestions that some law enforcement units were even writing up the infringements before carrying out the raid. In some cases this was done on the basis of “evidence” from people falsely claiming to be Microsoft software.
Microsoft has now introduced a “unilateral software license” for non-governmental organizations. Rather than the organization having to apply to Microsoft to get a new license (or clarify that existing software is legitimate), the unilateral license means the organization is automatically covered. Microsoft says that when questioned by police considering a raid, an organization will be able to show this license and thus prove “there is no basis for any claim of copyright infringement in the matter.”
The program will initially be available in nine former Soviet republics (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) plus China, Malaysia and Vietnam. Though Microsoft didn’t specify the grounds for choosing these countries, it appears to be locations with a combination of genuine piracy being an issue and governments taking an aggressive stance on political opposition.
The licenses in the countries will be available to non-profit groups that are designed to benefit the local community, plus independent and other small media organizations. There’ll also be country-specific eligibility requirements.
Once granted, the license will be eligible until the end of 2011, which is designed for the organizations to switch over to the standard Microsoft scheme for donating software to such groups.
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