Russia considers legalizing software piracy, although it does not have to affect video games

The Moscow government would thus seek to combat some of the sanctions and marches of large technology companies.

The war in Ukraine waged by the Russian Federation it seems far from over, and with it the sanctions and marches of large Western companies are expected to continue for quite some time. It is perhaps for this reason that from Moscow they are studying ways of minimizing the impact of external pressure, presenting a project where the decriminalization of the use of pirated software of “hostile countries” to the Kremlin.

In other words, the Russian population would be protected by law to download certain programs that are not officially available in the country.

It would affect programs whose owners were from countries ‘hostile’ to the KremlinThrough point 6.7.3 of the Priority action plan to ensure the development of the Russian economy in conditions of pressure from external sanctionsthe officials of the Ministry of Economic Development address the inconveniences caused by the departure of large companies in the sector such as Apple, Adobe, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and a long etcetera, proposing a mechanism to cancel liability for the use of unlicensed software in the Russian Federation, owned by a copyright holder from countries that have supported sanctions.

As indicated in TorrentFreak, it is not entirely clear how the implementation of this measure could be, especially considering how many of these services require access to the cloud for their use. From PC Gamer they expose that the measure seems more aimed at programs of use necessary for the correct functioning of the economy and management of the country, for which the download of video games could continue to be punished. We will have to wait for new events.

They want to unblock a torrent portal

On the other hand, a deputy of the Duma (the Russian lower house of parliament) suggested a few days ago to unlock access to RuTracker, one of the largest torrent portals in that territory, to allow the Russian public to see Hollywood premieres.

What is clear is the almost general abandonment, for one reason or another, of the entertainment software industry to Russia and, to a lesser extent, Belarus. In this way, the sale of PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo consoles has been paralyzed, while digital stores such as the Epic Games Store and GOG have closed there.

More about: Russia and Piracy.