Russia considers legalizing software piracy

After Western countries have enacted numerous impactful economic sanctions on Russia for its unprovoked invasion of the Ukraine, many heavyweights of the tech industry have also followed suit and either suspended or significantly limited their business endeavors in the world’s largest country by area. In response to these actions, the Russian government is apparently ready to initiate a noteworthy countermeasure.

According to a report by TorrentFreak, Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development has drafted a new law which would eliminate any kind of liability for the use of unlicensed software. In simpler terms, this means that Russians could legally use pirated software and games whose copyrights are held by companies which are based in a country that supports the aforementioned sanctions against Russia.

This would obviously include the United States, which for example is the home country of the most valuable software company in the world, Microsoft. As a consequence, Russians could legally use pirated versions of Microsoft products like Windows 11 and MS Office. Additionally, the legalization would also affect an abundance of games which are published by American companies like EA, Activision Blizzard and Take-Two Interactive. However, it remains to be seen if Russia will truly enact this new software piracy law, and if it can really reduce the impact of the tough sanctions on the Russian economy.

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