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Kaspersky leaves BSA over US piracy bill

Russian security company Kaspersky is to quit the Business Software Alliance over the group's support of a contentious US anti-piracy bill.Kaspersky will leave the pro-copyright group on January 1 2012, due to Business Software Alliance (BSA) involvement in the US Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa), the company said in a statement on Monday.
Written by Tom Espiner, Contributor

Russian security company Kaspersky is to quit the Business Software Alliance over the group's support of a contentious US anti-piracy bill.

Kaspersky will leave the pro-copyright group on January 1 2012, due to Business Software Alliance (BSA) involvement in the US Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa), the company said in a statement on Monday.

Kaspersky said it does not support Sopa, which could force internet service providers to use highly intrusive technology to monitor customers' web traffic.

"Kaspersky would like to clarify that the company did not participate in [BSA] elaboration or discussion of the Sopa initiative and does not support it," the firm said. "Moreover, the company believes that the Sopa initiative might actually be counter-productive for the public interest, and decided to discontinue its membership in the BSA as of January 1, 2012."

Sopa, which started as the Protect IP Act, could require ISPs to use deep packet inspection to monitor customer traffic, and to block access to websites suspected of copyright infringement.

The BSA was initially in favour of Sopa, but in November moderated its stance, saying the bill "could sweep in more than just truly egregious actors" and threaten innovation, due process, free speech, and privacy.

BSA had not responded to a request for comment at the time of writing.

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