But we might still be outraged and boycott their products, all right?
Kapersky is one of Russia's top cybersecurity research institutions by default because of the products they sell and the stuff they need to do to make those products. Cooperation with Russian intelligence isn't really optional for them. If they didn't want to cooperate they'd either be infiltrated making it a non-issue or they'd be "convinced".
This is no different than Russia not wanting to use Win10 because they assume that the NSA put in feature requests (or created the features themselves without telling anyone at MSFT).
But that does in no way make it allright - from a consumer perspective. Am I missing something?
In the worst case scenario, if the government wanted them to, they would have to hand over anything they work on to continue operating.
But that's not what I said at all. I also condemn all of these agency ties, no matter the country affected.
Yes, you have a point. From a consumer's perspective, who may be using their software without realizing it is Russian or has direct ties to Russian state, there should be education and discussion of this fact. Good thing Bloomberg has a broader audience than HN.