Bill Gates has been asked by former Soviet Premiere Gorbachev to show "mercy" in the case of a Russian teacher accused of software piracy. Gorbachev's open letter to Gates is available on the website of the former Premiere's charitable foundation. According to CNN, in the letter Gorbachev calls accused pirate Alexander Ponosov, "A teacher, who has dedicated his life to the education of children and who receives a modest salary that does not bear comparison with the salaries of even regular staff in your company." He warns Gates that Ponosov faces, "detention in Siberian prison camps," if convicted. As part of Russia's entry into the World Trade Organization the country has undertaken a massive crackdown on piracy. Russia often appears on the world's top-list of intellectual property gray areas for reasons including but not limited to its mostly hands-off handling of illegal MP3 download site AllofMp3.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-06-2007 @ 5:49PM
Alex M said...
You know, allofmp3 has a BIG section on the legality of their site. I guess it could all be a pile of bull since I don't know legalese, but check it out: http://music.allofmp3.com/help/help.shtml?prm=legal
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2-06-2007 @ 5:51PM
Grant Robertson said...
Trust me, it's a pile of bull. I've been covering digital music related topics for quite some time, the evidence against AllofMp3 is overwhelming and the points in AllofMp3's favor are only touted by AllofMp3. I'm all for innovative ways to kill DRM but, AllofMp3 is clearly operating outside the law.
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