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The Internet Politics

Kaspersky Quits BSA Over SOPA Support 140

First time accepted submitter Cmdrm writes with an article about Kaspersky Lab quitting the BSA over their (now lukewarm) support of SOPA. From the press release: "Kaspersky Lab would like to clarify that the company did not participate in the elaboration or discussion of the SOPA initiative and does not support it. Moreover, the company believes that the SOPA initiative might actually be counter-productive for the public interest, and decided to discontinue its membership in the BSA as of January 1, 2012.'"
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Kaspersky Quits BSA Over SOPA Support

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  • Wow (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 06, 2011 @04:13AM (#38277340)

    Didn't know The Boy Scouts of America had a dog in this fight.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      And what about the Scouts Of Parental Age?!

    • Re:Wow (Score:5, Funny)

      by jd ( 1658 ) <imipak@yahoGINSBERGo.com minus poet> on Tuesday December 06, 2011 @05:40AM (#38277670) Homepage Journal

      Well, now they're banned from going into the woods with strange men, ship-to-ship combat with pirates is their one hope of getting a decent badge. Just don't tell them that these aren't the pirates with ships, you'd break their hearts.

      • by msauve ( 701917 )
        "Well, now they're banned from going into the woods with strange men, ship-to-ship combat with pirates is their one hope of getting a decent badge."

        How can you have pirates without ninjas?
  • -1 for the BSA (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 06, 2011 @04:34AM (#38277426)

    Kaspersky, not fanatic/evil enough to fit in the BSA.

  • "might?" (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mellon ( 7048 ) on Tuesday December 06, 2011 @04:35AM (#38277434) Homepage

    Might be counterproductive to the public interest? Wow, way to soft-peddle it.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      Meh, they withdrew support from the dont-copy-that-floppy group... I think their response was stern enough.

    • Re:"might?" (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 06, 2011 @05:33AM (#38277638)

      Soft-peddle? Who cares. They QUIT the BSA because of it. It's better than saying:

        "Ohh, we don't like that they do this but we're still willing to pay our $$$$$/year to remain a member....but we really don't like what you're doing and we almost, kinda, sorta mean it!"

      • by mellon ( 7048 )

        No argument. I'm glad they did it. I just wish they'd worded their statement a bit more strongly.

    • Re:"might?" (Score:4, Interesting)

      by muon-catalyzed ( 2483394 ) on Tuesday December 06, 2011 @06:07AM (#38277762)
      Might translation: we fear that SOPA might actually hit our bottom line.

      Kaspersky Lab makes big $$$ over "checking" the pirated/counterfeit content to be virus free, so hardly any surprise here.
  • Bravo (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 06, 2011 @04:37AM (#38277438)

    Kudos to Kaspersky for having a spine. SOPA is a sick, twisted power grab by big media, and their quitting the Business Software Alliance over it is a good thing IMO.

  • Fuck the BSA (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 06, 2011 @04:39AM (#38277444)

    Posted anonymously because I don't want the BSA on me. The BSA is a pack of lawyers who exploit vague legal definitions to extort people out of money. They destroy small businesses reguardless of weather or not they actually bough the software and they run some of the dirtiest campaigns I've ever seen. Just look up "BSA Rat out your boss"... Seriously? Anybody who destroys some company because they have a chip on their shoulder and are greedy should be blacklisted - if you don't like where you work you should quit not destroy someones dream and leave all your coworkers jobless.

    Fuck the BSA and anyone who ever took their side, Kapersky included.

    • Re:Fuck the BSA (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Kjella ( 173770 ) on Tuesday December 06, 2011 @05:56AM (#38277716) Homepage

      Just look up "BSA Rat out your boss"... Seriously? Anybody who destroys some company because they have a chip on their shoulder and are greedy should be blacklisted

      Considering how it seems US companies treat their workers, I'd say calling the BSA is many steps below going postal. I wouldn't be surprised if many of the same companies that do gross, systematic piracy are also equally willing to screw over their employees over pay and benefits. I figure the BSA are looking for disgruntled ex-workers with opinions ranging from "couldn't happen to a nicer company" to "f*ck you too". Besides while the BSA are a nasty bunch, having piracy-using companies undercut other companies ruins it for everybody else. I have a lot less sympathy for commercial users who use it to widen their profit margin...

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Why are you all so frightful in the USA?
      Don't just say you have balls! Have some balls!

      They are the Mafia. Yes, they are dangerous fucked-up criminals. But the more you are frightened, and the more you give in, the more they grab power and take.
      In essence, if hitting you makes you obey, they know (and we know too) they can get away with hitting you again!

      That whole shit only started because people let themselves treat that way, or just were passive about the whole thing, in the first place! Which is exactly

      • God, yes. They are very much the mafia, but instead of thugs and guns, they have lawyers wielding pens.

        Now what boggles my mind is if a BSA employee shows up at your front desk, can you legally throw them out for trespassing or something ? They're not from the government, so in my mind they should not have any right to invade your space and rifle through your files, digital or paper. Or did some goddamned senile senator pass a bill granting them super powers ?

        • Re:Fuck the BSA (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Lumpy ( 12016 ) on Tuesday December 06, 2011 @09:07AM (#38278578) Homepage

          Anyone smart will throw out ANYONE demanding anything if they dont have a warrant in hand. Most of the time the BSA shows up with rented local police so they look more official.

          If they do not have a warrant, throw them out, and instantly call the lawyers.

          • by Vektuz ( 886618 )
            Yeah, this is a way to 'legally' do it but the BSA is more of a racket than that. You see, they don't just apply legal pressure. Their contracts make others in the same alliance refuse to deal with those that won't work with the BSA. So for example, Microsoft / Sony / etc will stop validating your hardware or software and Apple will blacklist your keys and so on. If the BSA was standing only on legal footing that would be one thing but right now these large corps are using it as leverage to get smaller
    • Re: (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      This.

      The BSA is effectively a group of organized white-collar criminals who coopt or misrepresent law enforcement officials in order to extort cash from any and all companies that happen to blip on their radar.

      If the BSA shows up at your door with a "search warrant", call the cops. If the police are their with them, call the chief of police. If the chief of police is there with them, shoot the whole lot dead. The BSA is not a government-sanctioned entity nor are they sanctioned by one, they have no right

    • Posted anonymously because I don't want the BSA on me. The BSA is a pack of lawyers who exploit vague legal definitions to extort people out of money. They destroy small businesses reguardless of weather or not they actually bough the software and they run some of the dirtiest campaigns I've ever seen. Just look up "BSA Rat out your boss"... Seriously? Anybody who destroys some company because they have a chip on their shoulder and are greedy should be blacklisted - if you don't like where you work you should quit not destroy someones dream and leave all your coworkers jobless.

      Fuck the BSA and anyone who ever took their side, Kapersky included.

      Wow. How many extra copies of Office did you install?

      • by Lumpy ( 12016 )

        He is running an office of 300 on a single copy of Server 2010 small business edition and no extra CAL's.

    • by Lumpy ( 12016 )

      You boss deserves it if the asshole wont pay for the software.

      If your scumbag boss cant afford Windows Server and Exchange, he can install linux for free. There is ZERO excuse for piracy in business other than being incredibly lazy or just lecherous.

      There is a free and open source application for EVERY PART of business. just because the business owner is too lazy to learn new software does not give them the right to steal it instead.

    • by devent ( 1627873 )

      Solution is easy: just don't use any software from the BSA members.
      The Open Source alternatives are quite strong, you would be surprised.

  • SOPA censorship is a fascist attack, and internet damage. It won't be too long before most of the world simply routes around the USA as an irreparably damaged internet zone in a "Running Man" type police state. Kaspersky Lab is just being an attention ho' for free advertising, belatedly distancing itself from the obvious mafiaa types.
    • SOPA censorship is a fascist attack, and internet damage. It won't be too long before most of the world simply routes around the USA as an irreparably damaged internet zone in a "Running Man" type police state.

      I'm not sure it's going to come to that; the US economy is a house of cards now, and before turning into a police state, I think it'll probably break apart into separate countries, much like what happened to the Roman Empire or the Soviet Union.

      • I am not an american, but I don't think there is enough regional identity for this to happen.
        I guess there is still a north/south and a little east/west division, but not enough to split into separate countries.

        What I see happening is that over the next 15 years, things will get worse, until when oil prices skyrocket agin, the economy will collapse. Because people are restless now when things aren't too bad, they will actually revolt and riot then. That's when the government will use the powers they have be

        • You must have missed all the secession talk by various states like Texas, Arizona, etc., and states suing the Federal government and vice versa. Plus, the entire Southeast region attempted to secede 160 years and failed, but the people in that region still have negative feelings towards the rest of the country. Heck, the entire Republican party was basically banned in the South up until the mid-to-late 1970s because of the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln. (It wasn't "banned" per se, but it was absolutely i

          • I also forgot to mention, there's already been a bunch of mini-revolts by various states over various issues. You talk about the government using powers they've been building up. One thing they tried to do recently was pass a "RealID" act, requiring all citizens to have Federal identification (state-issued, but meeting Federal standards). A bunch of states passed laws forbidding those states to follow the Federal law. In what other country do you have a situation where the regional governments pass laws

  • Pun time! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Shadyman ( 939863 ) on Tuesday December 06, 2011 @05:16AM (#38277562) Homepage
    So would that make this a Sopa-Opera?
  • PR stunt (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Looks like a PR stunt. They'll probably soon be back in.

    • by cheros ( 223479 )

      I don't think so. There is consistency in what they say and do. They don't do BS, and it's not like the company needs the publicity.

  • shut down the real antivirus companys? sue users who end up with the fake software? sue people who do a charge back after buying it?
    use the DMCA to stop the real antivirus apps? Use the DMCA / SOPA to shut down sites telling you how to remove them?

  • Try, "absolutely fucking beyond a hint of a shadow of a doubt WILL actually be counter-productive for the public interest".

Solutions are obvious if one only has the optical power to observe them over the horizon. -- K.A. Arsdall

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