Belarus Follows Russia’s Lead & Creates Unfriendly Countries List For Legalized Piracy

Roughly a year ago, we discussed Russia's response to some of the sanctions the West was placing upon it, including its plan to simply legalize copyright infringement, so as to keep the country running despite the crippling sanctions. That blanket legalization plan morphed somewhat months later, when Russia instead pivoted to a plan to create a unfriendly countries" list for which all kinds of copyright infringement would be legalized. Not surprisingly, that list of unfriendlies mostly amounted to any country that had sanctioned or criticized Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. While these laws have yet to be implemented, none of the announcements by Russia created even the mildest surprise to the West.

Nor, likely, will Belarus' recent announcement that it was following Russia down this path.

The country of Belarus recently passed a law that allows the use of intellectual property without the consent of copyright holders from so-called unfriendly" foreign nations. This includes all copyrighted materials such as books, music, movies, TV shows, and computer software.

The law was signed by president Alexander Lukashenko earlier this month, making it legal in Belarus to access pirated materials if the rights holders are from unfriendly nations," meaning foreign states that commit unfriendly actions against Belarusian legal entities and (or) individuals."

If you were to want to make your own list, but one that ranks the closest allies of the Russian regime, that list, without a doubt, would have Belarus near the very top. Belarus is currently conducting military training exercises" with Russia right on Ukraine's border, leading Ukraine to believe another major and violent assault is coming shortly. Belarus also allowed Russia to route through its territory during the early days of the invasion, back when Putin thought he could take the entire country, including Kiev.

All of that is to say: it's no surprise that Belarus is adopting Russia's proposed stance like this and, frankly, it may simply be following Moscow's orders in doing so. Perhaps even as a guinea pig, to see how the West responds before Russia goes down this path itself.

Belarus is a signatory to several treaties regarding intellectual property rights as part of the World Intellectual Property Organization, and the new law would violate its obligations under those treaties. In turn, this will likely isolate Belarus economically and prevent any investment in the country's local creative industries. It may also influence Russia, which has also been considering laws intended to legalize use of unlicensed copyrighted content from some western countries.

My only quibble is with that last sentence, because I believe the way it begins likely has things exactly backwards. Russia is almost certainly influencing Belarus to take this step, not the other way around.

So what will this all do? Further isolate Belarus and, should Russia follow suit, Russia as well. It also serves as a nice demonstration for how futile it is for Western nations to spend so much time and capital advocating for stricter copyright enforcement throughout the world, given that other nations are happy to simply change course when it suts them.