German Klimenko, Russian president’s counselor on internet, does not believe that data, containing in 2017 Special 301 Report and describing the level of piracy in Russia, are correct. The finding that piracy in Russia has increased on 300% does not reflect reality.
“From my point of view and from industry’s point of view, the process of legalizing is going on, perhaps not so fast, as it would be like. But we know for sure that consuming of legal content increases despite the crisis. To pay for content is becoming usual for people,” – said Klimenko.
Klimenko believes the USTR data should not be taken seriously. Because it is unknown how they have been counted. “If they had disclosed the methodology of counting, it would be clear what it is about,” – he explained. “It is sinful to blame a people for populism, if you don’t know them, but somewhere they have made mistakes in computation. Maybe, for example, they confused Russia with Romania,” – he added.