14 DAY TRIAL // Kaspersky, the world renowned security solutions provider, decided to break the partnership it had with Business Software Alliance (BSA) after the latter indicated its support for the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).
According to TorrentFreak, BSA showed some concerns regarding SOPA, but that might only help maintain good relations with other members since for Kaspersky, which believes that the legislation will only cause damage, it’s too late.
“Kaspersky has not participated in drafting the bill, nor participated in the debate on SOPA, and does not support this initiative,” the company states.
The Russian security company revealed that starting with the first day of 2012, it will withdraw its membership to make sure everyone knows that they don’t support SOPA in any way.
Many believe that one of the reasons why Kaspersky is against the piracy bill is due to the fact that Russia’s most popular social networking websites, VKontakte, is on the blacklist of domains considered by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) as being copyright violators.
Even though the site’s owners claim they settled things straight with copyright holders, the latest version of MPAA’s list still contains VKontakte.
BSA is in a delicate situation since many of its partners are probably taking a side when it comes to the controversial bill. Microsoft, Intel, Apple, Dell, McAfee and Adobe are among the big players that are listed as members of group and they all have to be satisfied with the decisions BSA makes.
“The idea behind SOPA, as Chairman Smith explained at last week’s hearing, is to remove pirates’ ability to profit from their theft. We think that is the right approach as long as it is done with a fine touch,” said BSA President and CEO Robert Holleyman.
“Valid and important questions have been raised about the bill. It is intended to get at the worst of the worst offenders. As it now stands, however, it could sweep in more than just truly egregious actors.”