Bonum Certa Men Certa

Cablegate: US Embassy Changes Saudi Laws and Practices for Microsoft, Helps Shut Down Saudi Stores

Cablegate



Summary: A demonstration of how -- with help from the US government -- Microsoft was able to influence affairs overseas and also raid shops that spread Microsoft products

THIS morning we showed a few cables from Saudi Arabia. Microsoft was trying to change laws and practices there, in order of course to better accommodate Microsoft's profit model, not to help Saudi citizens. Well, this leaning on the government -- helped by US officials -- seems to have paid off. We've just found another Cablegate cable from exactly 2 years ago. It shows the role of the BSA behind the scenes too:










VZCZCXRO5063 PP RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHDIR DE RUEHRH #1202/01 2571429 ZNR UUUUU ZZH P 141429Z SEP 09 FM AMEMBASSY RIYADH TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1567 INFO RUEHZM/GCC COLLECTIVE PRIORITY UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 RIYADH 001202

SIPDIS SENSITIVE

STATE FOR NEA/ARP (HARRIS, BERNDT) AND EEB/TPP/IPE DEPT PLEASE PASS TO USTR (BUNTIN)

E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON, ETRD, KIPR, SA SUBJECT: Microsoft and Saudi leaders cite progress on IPR

Ref: Jeddah 297

1. (SBU) Summary: The Saudi Ministry of Culture continues to make progress working through a backlog of cases of suspected copyright violators. The Ministry reports it has closed several stores for brief periods until they resolve copyright violations. It plans for the first time to refer a repeat offender to the Board of Grievances. The Ministry supports greater public relations efforts to increase awareness of IPR issues, and it is willing to work with industry on training and awareness campaigns. Meanwhile, local Microsoft representatives tell us they have seen the Saudi government show improvement in both attitude and enforcement, and they confirmed to us that one computer store has been closed for IPR violations. The company remains willing to work with Saudi ministries to provide training and increase awareness, although they still say enforcement could be stronger, including within the SAG. End summary.

Microsoft exec: Saudi record on IPR has improved... --------------------------------------------- -------

2. (SBU) On September 8, Fernando De Sousa, Microsoft's chief operating officer in Saudi Arabia, paid a farewell call on Charge Ambassador Erdman, thanking him for the Embassy's strong support on IPR issues. The Ambassador briefed De Sousa on his recent conversations with Minister of Commerce and Industry Abdullah Zainal Alireza (reftel), in which the Minister reiterated Saudi Arabia's commitment to fulfill all of its WTO commitments to protect intellectual property. The Minister had said he welcomed the interest of companies like Microsoft in supporting SAG enforcement efforts, including through training. Econ Counselor also briefed the Microsoft team on recent conversations with Assistant Deputy Culture Minister for Internal Information Abdulrahman Al-Hazzaa, who also welcomed cooperation with Microsoft and other companies on training and public awareness campaigns.

3. (SBU) Hazzaa reported that the Ministry of Culture and Information is processing the backlog of IPR enforcement cases that had been awaiting review by the violations review committee, finishing an average of 7 a week, and on track to finish reviewing all old cases by the end of September (the committee was meeting in the adjoining room while Econoffs called on Hazzaa). Hazzaa said that this will allow the committee to focus on bringing new cases from inspectors, which will help improve awareness of enforcement efforts. Hazzaa reported that, as a result of the committee's reviews, several shops have been closed with the posting of large public notices explaining why until the owners come and settle their fines with the Ministry. The point, according to Hazzaa, is to impress upon store owners that they cannot sell pirated goods with impunity. (Microsoft reps separately confirmed they are aware of one computer store having been closed down and said that closures may help stores selling legitimate software compete if enforcement is seen as more pervasive.) Hazzaa also reported that increased Ministry inspections and enforcement efforts have disrupted the ability of black market vendors to sell a range of pirated products. Econoffs have observed a reduction in the public sale of pirated software and other items, like movies, over the last year. Microsoft representatives agree that there has been some reduction in street-level sales, although they believe stores in malls continue to sell pirated software.

4. (SBU) Hazzaa also reported that the committee had found one commercial entity had engaged in so many violations that the committee has recommended, for the first time, that the case be sent to the Board of Grievances with a recommended fine of SR 100,000. He explained that the Minister of Culture and Information will have to approve this referral, and he promised to push hard for this approval, noting that this will send an important message to the Saudi public and business owners that the Ministry is serious about enforcing copyright laws.

... and the issue now is sustainment ------------------------------------

5. (SBU) De Sousa told the Ambassador that there has been improvement in IPR copyright protection in the last several years, although he said the issue now is to make this improvement sustainable. He also stressed Microsoft's willingness to support efforts by the Ministries of Culture and Commerce to publicize enforcement efforts and assist public campaigns to raise awareness of IPR issues.

6. (SBU) Despite the improvement in the overall climate, De Souza noted that problems remain. He noted that Microsoft has discovered a software activation key licensed to the Ministry of Interior has been used in Pakistan and other south Asian countries to attempt to register product upgrades. The Ambassador suggested that Microsoft work with the Business Software Alliance and other companies to come up with a white paper listing specific problems on which it would be

RIYADH 00001202 002 OF 002

useful to have greater cooperation with the SAG, including the Ministry of Interior.

7. (SBU) Comment: The Embassy will continue to work with the Ministries of Culture and Commerce and with industry representatives to foster agreement on a public relations campaign to increase awareness about IPR issues. We will also continue to support industry offers to provide training to SAG inspectors, and efforts to achieve SAG support to allow an audit of its own software to ensure it does not exceed its existing license requirements. End comment.

MUENCH







As one of our readers put it earlier today, "More and more, governments act as butlers for big companies."

Recent Techrights' Posts

Misinformation is Not Intelligence
It's low-grade plagiarism and it fails to show any signs of intelligence
'Tech' Gimmicks Are for Advertising, Not for Usability
In the case of Microsoft, they latched onto slop
BetaNews Sacked Brian Fagioli and Deleted His Comments, But He Still Tries to Use the "BetaNews" Brand for Self-Affirmation
Fagioli takes the work of other people
[Meme] Hard to Be a Better Person?
Sooner or later they'll realise that for each pound I spend they need to spend about 1,000 times more
New US Editor for The Register is a Microsoft Booster
"Avram Piltch has served as US editor for The Register since July 2025."
Reda Demanded That FSF Removes Its Founder, Now Reda Works Directly for Microsoft
A sellout and a traitor, first working for GAFAM, now Microsoft
PCLinuxOS is Raising Money to Support Development After Fire Incident at the Host
PCLinuxOS has not had announcements lately
Over 3 Months Later Brett Wilson LLP Still Unable to Recruit a Media Lawyer?
"Immediate start", but not found... still unfilled
 
Links 24/07/2025: Convicted Felon Quits UNESCO, "Vibe Coding Goes Wrong", and Signalgate Gets Worse
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/07/2025: Forgejo Woes and Smolnet Directory Week
Links for the day
Links 24/07/2025: Storage Tapes Still Kicking, Windows TCO 'on Steroids' (Microsoft-Induced Catastrophes)
Links for the day
Bobby Borisov (LinuxIac) Has Apparently Begun Experimenting With LLM Slop, So We Cannot Trust LinuxIac Anymore
So did LinuxIac become a slopfarm? Maybe not yet, but it's getting there
Informa TechTarget's ITProToday is Becoming a Slopfarm Generated by Microsoft Chatbots
Busted.
The LLM Con Artists Are Highly Destructive
Who will ever be held accountable for this scam?
Too Bribed by Microsoft to Move to Free Software?
Microsoft lies and Microsoft bribery (in politics)
Microsoft Hiring European Politicians is Another Form of Bribery; There Should be a European Investigation
When Microsoft bribed people in Europe for OOXML (there's no denying this!) a European government delegate said that Microsoft operated like a cult
Speed of the Site Should be Better Now
The "bot attacks" impact the speed of the sister site too
Getting More From AnalogNowhere
Recently we used many images from AnalogNowhere
Microsoft, Microsofters and 'Secure' Boot Shills Already Storming the LWN Report About Expiring Certificate, Shooting the Messenger
LWN has clearly stuck a nerve
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 23, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, July 23, 2025
Disable "Secure" Boot Today (the Only Better Time to Do So Was Yesterday)
Don't trust anything Red Hat tells you about security
Links 23/07/2025: Windows Killed Company After 150+ Years, US Government Mimics Russia's Attacks on the Media
Links for the day
Freedom Generally Wins at the End, History Shows (But It's Constantly Attacked, Too)
At the moment people realise "Linux" (e.g. Android) isn't enough to guarantee any freedoms
“Inhumane” and “Disgusting” Mass Layoff Execution, According to Microsoft Staff
The workers are looking for other places to work
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has a New Slogan for Its 40th Anniversary
The freedoms are what's most important
Microsoft is Trying to "Pull a Nokia" on GNU/Linux as Desktop/Laptop Platform
We all remember that rather well, don't we?
LLM Slopfarms gbhackers.com, "Cyber Press" and CyberSecurityNews Are Drowning Google News (and Shame on Google for Feeding and Facilitating Them)
All are run by the same people
Links 23/07/2025: Droplets GUI Patent Monopoly Challenge, Nokia Leverages Illegal Patent Court Against Rivals
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/07/2025: Community in Geminispace and Challenges With Old Computers
Links for the day
Links 23/07/2025: Slop Patents Tackled, Slop Copyright Misuses Tackled by Politicians
Links for the day
Our Three Lawsuits Against Microsofters Are About to Become a Lot More Relevant to GNU/Linux
The Master will easily understand why Garrett has been attacking me since 2012
Links 23/07/2025: Retreating From Transparency on Jeffrey Epstein, We No Longer Have Press Freedom
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/07/2025: Piano and Food
Links for the day
New and Old
On Ageism in Tech
Slop Is Not Intelligence and It Does Not Enhance Productivity
Like voice dictation, which cannot tell the difference between "sheet" and "shit"
EPO Crimes Are Spreading to the British Court System
Society is now paying the price for failing to tackle crimes at the EPO
It's Time to Dump SharePoint and Here's What to Use Instead
Nextcloud, ownCloud, Bookstack, MediaWiki, and MediaGoblin
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, July 22, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, July 22, 2025
Brett Wilson LLP Has Gone Silent
Sometimes silence says more than nothing at all
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, Planet Ubuntu, and LinuxTechLab
some slopfarms show no remorse and they don't value their reputation at all
Links 23/07/2025: Book Bans, Storms, and Kangaroo Court for Patents Commits More Unlawful Acts of Overreach
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/07/2025: Thinkpad and Pinephone
Links for the day
Links 22/07/2025: "Blog Restart" and Microsoft Clobbered by “ToolShell"
Links for the day
Global Warming and Global GAFAM Energy-Wasting
Burn more money (borrowed, loans), then hope the waste will somehow translate into profit?
No Compliance With the European Patent Convention (EPC) at the European Patent Office (EPO)
It's about preventing competition against this autocracy
Blue-Collar Trolls vs White-Collar Trolls
Examples of white-collar trolls
Apple Vision Pro Failed So Badly That Its Sales Are About 2,000 Times Smaller Than iPhone Sales
What's left for Apple to offer other than hype?
To Millions of People "Year of the Linux Desktop" Was Some Time in the 1990s (Bootable GNU/Linux as a Complete Operating System is Over 33 in Age)
In some sense, "year of the Linux desktop" was 33 years ago
Make No Assumptions (or Demands) About the Screen Resolution Used by Other People
There are usability aspects, aside from accessibility aspects
Why Wayland (and XWayland) Won't Solve the Key Problem It Proclaims to be Tackling (the Same Is True for Rust)
The problem isn't Wayland per se but the false promises and efforts to force everybody to move to it whilst insulting or demonising everyone who won't play along
They Don't Tell Us that 'Digitalisation' (Now Sold as "Hey Hi") Just Means Customers Become Unpaid Staff and Are Made Accountable
People are being conditioned to associate technology with something undesirable, at times even unbearable
Diplomatic Immunity Should Not Exist for Anybody
The EPO in its current form gradually 'normalises' the end of European democracy
Brett Wilson LLP Stopped Sending Me Papers When I Showed It had Sent Me Over 5 Kilograms of Legal Papers
A week ago we lodged our third lawsuit
Microsoft Mass Layoffs and Shutdowns Became the New Normal at Microsoft
Microsoft mass layoffs became a topic of everyday media coverage since May
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Has Layoffs and Microsoft Gaming/Entertainment Division Has an Uncertain Future
it's good to see all those horrible things crashing and burning
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 21, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, July 21, 2025
FSF "Raised Almost $139,000 During This Summer Campaign"
"Thank you for making a stand against dystopia!"
Gemini Links 22/07/2025: VPS Exploited and Fear of View
Links for the day