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Old 17th September 2010
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TerryP TerryP is offline
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Join Date: May 2008
Location: USofA
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I'm sorry, but you're wrong lol. It doesn't matter if you use something like Windows (legally or pirated) or an open source system. All the authorities need is an excuse to come in and take it. A piracy raid is good enough an excuse in that kind of situation, even if they ran an open source system.


If they have the authority to waltz in and cart out the computers, it doesn't matter what's on it, they can still rip them out to "Verify" that they are running legal MS Windows systems, even outlaw open source if desired. To make matters worse the Russian Federation (ditto, respectively for the PRC) could always insert sufficient means of control into prominent Russian language Linux distributions without it being known. Either the easy way (do it or be thrown into the modern version of the gulag) or the hard way (secretly). If they took steps even further than The Great Fire Wall, they could do much more dastardly things.

Best way around it, don't base any such operations in Russia... and instead worry about how to stay in secure touch across the border. Dang, I sound like I'm talking about cold war era espionage! I also don't want to think about the odds of the NSA reading my mail :-o.
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