Ending Harassment from Microsoft and the BSA?

Big_Joe asks: "Lately Microsoft has put a satellite office in the Grand Rapids, MI area. Because of this I, an end user working for a large contractual company, have been getting harassment mail from Microsoft and the BSA. The information they are using to contact me is information from Chicago's Comdex 3 years ago. Since then I have switch my career direction from Windows to Linux. I would like to get my name removed from any association with Microsoft products. The only systems I use with any Microsoft software installed are owned and maintained by my employer. An earlier story here said not to reply because it is more of a headache. So how do I get them to quit bugging me? Is there any legal action I can take for harassment? How do I tell them that I am no longer a customer and that they have no further right to pester me?" Hmmm... smells like more spam. How should one handle any corporation that does crap like this, especially one that makes backhanded threats toward your workplace?

Comments

M$ and the BSA

[Anonymous Coward]

Simple, tell them you're too busy to reply 'cos you're working out what's involved in migrating every department of your new company to Linux

I don't even have a company, and I get this shit.

[Wakko Warner]

About a month ago, I got a really nice looking form letter from the BSA (bad software authorities?) telling me I'd better make sure my company was using all licensed software. I checked. My Linux desktop and server were both happily running Debian 2.2. My Sun Ultra 30 was running a free-to-use copy of Solaris 8. My SHN fileserver was running FreeBSD 4.5-STABLE. I laughed and spent a while figuring out interesting ways of igniting the letter.

Two weeks later, I get another mail addressed to me (misspelled last name and all) from Microsoft themselves. The same basic form letter, warning me of the dire, scary consequences if I don't license all my illegal pirated Linux warez. I don't even bother burning this one; I just toss it.

I'm now waiting for the Software Police to show up with a battering ram and a bullhorn, waking me up at 4:15 AM on a Saturday morning and demanding to see every little piece of documentation in my house proving that I didn't steal that copy of Microsoft Bob back in 1994 or give my aunt a computer with a burned copy of Win98 installed on it.

They won't get too far up the stairs, because I have a particularly vicious dog, but it'll be fun to watch, anyway.

- A.P.