Russia Codifies 'Draconian' Changes to Copyright Law

RUSSIA—Russia ranks high on the list of the world's worst copyright offenders, which may be one reason why the government is so intent on cracking down on infringers and infringing websites, even if the methods employed wind up being some of the world's most severe. Last year, AVN reported on the progress of legislation called "Russia's SOPA," a reference to the doomed Stop Online Piracy Act. "Starting next May," reported The Moscow Times, "websites guilty of more than one copyright violation will be permanently blocked in the country. The move comes as part of a new anti-piracy bill signed into law by President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, ramping up what many critics see as an already draconian set of copyright protection rules." Even worse (for impacted sites), "Once a website is blocked by a court decision, it cannot be unblocked, according to the bill." The state also wants website operators to be more transparent. The Times adds, "The amendments also oblige website owners to disclose their real names, postal addresses and e-mail addresses on the site." If followed, that solution right there may have a positive impact on overt piracy, but not everyone thinks these latest changes to the law will be any more effective that earlier ones. The Moscow Times quotes Artyom Kozlyuk, the head of independent online freedom watchdog Rublacklist.net, as opining that the expanded version will fare as poorly as the original bill, which he says did little to curb online piracy in Russia. At least 100,000 fellow citizens agree with Kozlyuk, and signed a petition asking the government to review its decision, but the petition was ignored. As well, "Both versions of the bill were blasted by the IT industry and activists, including representatives of search engine Yandex and the Russian Wikipedia." It appears that within its borders as well as outside them, Russia under Putin is determined to employ the most fractious solutions to its problems.