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Is the BSA "Grace Period" a Scam?
An anonymous reader asks: "I work at a small non-profit that has 18 employees plus a 13 seat computer lab. We received a form letter from the Business Software Alliance (BSA) telling us to do a self audit and if we find any unlicensed software to report it during our 'Grace Period' because 'if you organization's software is not licensed, it could become to focus of a BSA investigation'. Now this is obviously a method to scare up some business for the BSA members. If we ignore this, how likely is it that we will be 'investigated'. I know that I cannot produce the original CD's and/or documentation for some of the software that we HAVE paid for."
This is America! Your innocent until proven guilty! Hey Wait......
Support Objectivism and the United States,
Ayn Rand
If you stole from them, and you admit it in the near future, they promise not to sue you. Yep, sounds like a scam to me.
Step 1: Promise not to sue people
Step 2: ????
Step 3: Profit!!!
from http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/9921.html:
:
CAAST -- a nonprofit industry alliance group that counts among its members Adobe Systems, Apple Canada, Microsoft Canada, and Symantec -- said that one in every three business software applications in the country was pirated in 2000.
On a positive note, the report showed a four-year decline in the software piracy rate, dipping to 38 percent last year from 41 percent in 1999 and 40 percent in 1998.
"Although the piracy rate has decreased, software piracy continues to signify lost jobs, wages and tax revenues in Canada," said CAAST president Allan Steel. "Organizations need to realize the importance of implementing policies and procedures in order to achieve and maintain compliance."
The rest of the world, on the other hand, is not quite as obedient
The BSA and CAAST studies, which were conducted by the independent International Planning & Research Corporation (IPR), also found that for the first time in six years, the world piracy rate increased, edging up to 37 percent in 2000.
If this is the case I don't think there's a whole lot you can do... Get ready to negotiate! :-)
Why do you not have the original licensing documentation for your lab? This is the most important thing for a computer lab administrator to take care of. If something goes wrong with one computer, do you have documentation that shows that you are legally permitted to transfer the software from one computer to another? If not, then you're asking for trouble.
Let this be a lesson to you. Get a box that holds all your licenses. It's really that easy.
I have been pwned because my
A Google new search reveals all sorts of interesting articles, including some cases where people were busted.
And this little gem:
y'know, if you're trying to keep your warez on the down low, its not a good idea to post a slashdot story about it.
Perhaps some pertinent questions:
Supposing the BSA does perform an investigation, I'm wondering what the actual legal procedures are.
Are you required to maintain documentation of every last opened piece of software? I know at the CIT department I worked in for school, we had Windows 95 manuals stacked up in storerooms, even though there was a school wide license. I don't know if this is required though.
Furthermore, what happens if they find you're missing a couple documents, and decide to take you to court. Is any jury going to decide, based on either a "preponderance of the evidence" or "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard that this software was obtained and/or used illegally?
Any legal experts out there?
If it's somewhere in a license they can show we bought, that we have to allow access to the installed software, then for every license they can show, I can provide an adequate installation.
I checked their About page and found the following statement:
Promoting a safe and legal online world
The Business Software Alliance (BSA) is the foremost organization dedicated to promoting a safe and legal online world.
We are the voice of the world's software, hardware and Internet sectors before governments and with consumers in the international marketplace. BSA members represent the fastest growing industries in the world.
BSA educates computer users on software copyrights and cyber security; advocates public policy that fosters innovation and expands trade opportunities; and fights software piracy.
Nothing in there suggests any legal authority. They are advocates not enforcers. Those letters strike me as very misleading. Anyone want to post a copy?
We got one of these...
They called a 'truce' in our town of 500. We are a 2 employee show, run from a basement.
We bought a bunch of stuff, but never sent in the registration cards. We registered some stuff back in '97-'98 probably, and nothing since. We haven't gone out of business, so they figure we're probably pirating something. We are not, but since we haven't registered anything in a while (Microsoft Tech support is sooo valuable!), and are continually considering the move to Linux (just a matter of time...) we come up in their database as a possible pirate. Oh the miracles of databases!
All we did was make a file of receipts and certificates, and they can wade through it if they come a knockin. We're sure it's all there, and we can hopefully sue if they end up siezing a computer, especially since we are legal.
We had to look real hard for the licenses, but we found them. The certificates are useless without a receipt.
I work in an enterprise environment. Last year, I registered for one of those free magazine subs and a few weeks later... viola, a letter from the BSA using the same name/address pair.
The BSA must be getting names from those lousy online surveys (company size, whats your position, how much software will you be buying in 6,12,24 months).
Sounds more like SPAM to me !
"Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech."--Benjamin Franklin
I got the same form letter about a week ago. I'm just a student so I'm not really sure why I got sent one. I do have all the receits for the software I use. After reading it several times, I'm just assuming it's a scare tactic to drum up sales.
...
I think the only question that went through my head was what if any legal power would the BSA actually have if they did decide to audit me. Seeing as I don't own a company
Isn't that what the "grace period" is all about?
Isn't it so you can rush out and buy licenses?
--
the strongest word is still the word "free"
Some one wrote this the last time the BSA came up on Slashdot- sorry, I saved the quote but not the poster. The conventional wisdom thus far from other posters seems to be 'ignore it,' but if it goes further, consider this:
I know someone that was audited by the BSA and decided to fight it. Basically they countered by stating they wanted full disclosure of who reported them so as to determine the validity of the claim prior to wasting internal resources and dollars. They also argued that the reporting tools are a violation of privacy. Yes, they expected them to place some software on their network which scans their entire network not to mention each machine's registry. Third, they also argued that even if they were in violation of license, the license is between them and the vendor (after all, the license does not allow for the BSA as having legal proxy interests) and unless the vendor in questions decides that they'd like to personally persue the issue, the BSA does not have legal authority or the legal grounds to persue the action. Furthermore, they argued that even if something odd was discovered and they lost, only the government has the right to impose fines on legal matters as such and they would be within their legal rights to simply purchase any outstanding licenses or settle directly with the vendor in question and completely dismiss the BSA altogether thereby eliminating the need to pay any fines or added fees.
Last I heard, even though two ex-employees had turned them in, the BSA simply walked from the issue as, from what I gathered, they really don't have a legal leg to stand on.
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms should be the name of a store, not a government agency.
A scam, probably not. Is it smart, also probably not. Im in the chicagoland area and have been hearing the commercials for BSA on the radio everywhere across the dial. What they are aiming for is to get people turned in by relying on an unhappy employee to rat them out.
That being said, keep in mind that the BSA is just an organization set up to find pirated software and collect fees. Fees that they no doubt get a cut of. They seem to have no problem using peoples fear and turning it into the driving force of their biz.
You are under NO obligation to report anything to them, unless they hand you a court order. They are an independent entity and have no more ability to legally inspect your systems than I would. so it would be in their best interest to make it seem that they do have that ability
This seems to be a page right out of the RIAA playbook, pretend something is true and youll fool at least some of the people
You can fool some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, but never all of the people all of the time
I got confused when I read about the BSA and software. I was wondering what the Boy Scouts of America had to do with is. My best advice: Be Prepared.
I think you are correct in that they just get a bunch a mail lists and start firing off the letters. We started getting these letters when my wife passed the bar.
--Mike--
Who's there?
BSA: (mumbles)
Who?
BSA: Unicef.
Oh! Why didn't you say that before?
BSA-landshark attacks pirate who opens the door.
When we get the same letter (each and every year) we promptly throw it out. The first time we got one we asked our corporate lawyer what rights they have. If they do decide to come to your door, simply kindly turn them away. They can only "audit" your premisis with the help of a warrant from the US Marshals. Note that if you do turn them away, they very well might come back with said warrant. YMMV.
-- Cameron
It seems to me that the big winners, once again, are the lawyers that represent the small companies and non-profits alike. Even if a company does disregard the letter, it would seem a prudent move to investigate the matter more closely by bringing such material to your company's lawyer.
While the BSA does not directly say that you will be sued, you *could* be sued by the company whose software they are looking for. IANAL, but to say that the BSA is going to sue you is a threat that is illegal in the US if the entity does not have legal grounds on which to sue - in your company's sake, proof of no licenses. Entities, whether corporate or personal, can not go around saying they're going to sue and not sue, either; that's a method of blackmail, I would think.
I think that the BSA just tries to use FUD to make money. They scare some company into letting them in their doors and then its game-time! They've got you.
Keep them outdoors and tell them to pack sand - or toss the letter out.
In the mean time, I'd do some damage control and find those licenses, just in case.
... disregarding the obvious problems I have with the BSA which other are sure to point out (and that I have ranted about before) legality, authority and such. It seems very odd to me that anyone should have to PROVE they bought something. CompUSA pulls the same shit when your walking out of the store, I get pretty irate and being stopped and having my purchases searched at the door, especially when I took only TEN STEPS from the register. But that's a little more understandable than the BSA's tactics, after all if I'm in the store with no receipt it's more likely that I didn't just lose it (though it is possible). When you buy site licenses I can imagine you have to show that you have a valid license, as far as proving you didn't buy it after the letter was sent, they can fuck off. If your legal now there's nothing they can do. But what about off the shelf purchases? What about backup copies (allowed by law) that were kept in a firesafe when the originals were destroyed. Like someone commented earlier, you are innocent until proven guilty, the burden of proof is on the prosecution. Hell I'd demand a jury of my peers.
I'm the big fish in the big pond bitch.
...This is the BSA, in the UK, right?
So how exactly do they propose to check up on me anyway? On what legal basis can they force me to let them into my business to perform an "audit" to their satisfaction? Who the hell do these people think they are anyway?
This is just the usual scare-mongering. It's about time someone stood up to people like this and made them produce some evidence and go to court. Better yet, let them go after a legit company, and sue them for some form of defamation afterwards.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
How clever is that??? Send out threatening letters to all of the fresh law graduates! What's one market in the US that you don't want upset with you? Lawyers you say? Duh.
Actually, this campaign was going on two years ago. In the fall, I think. Same scam.
Quote from an interview with Bruce Perens by Joe Barr:
"What is happening is that through various legal "gotcha's" that are incorporated in the EULA, or in things that are deceptively sent to companies, [the BSA] are getting a company to waive a legal right: the right to privacy.
"They send you a postcard and ask you if you want to know about licensing. If anyone in your company signs it and returns it, it actually gives them authority to come in and audit your company. I don't have direct experience with it, and if you go look into the press on BSA you will find out about this one. They target low-level employees in your company, and it sounds on the postcard like it's a seminar on software licensing. But if someone checks "Yes, I'm interested", then somewhere in the fine print it's actually an invitation to come and audit the software licensing for the company."
http://www.linuxworld.com/2003/0117.barr.html
Would be nice to crucify the BSA with the RICO Act under the "conduct or participate, directly or indirectly, in the conduct of such enterprise's affairs, through a patter of racketeering activity" section, for misrepresenting the legal system for the express purpose of intimidation.
Nailing them for mail fraud would be nice too, if you can find them deliberately transmitting false statements.
They are scum only out to extort a buck.
Well first off we received a phone call from them after we first ignored the three letters they sent us. Then we basicaly said okay sure sure sure to them on the phone, have a nice day- Click. Then we ignored them some more, and that was 2 years ago and we have not heard back from them.
Of course you should be paying for the software, and if you do not have the licenses I suggest you get this resolved. A receipt should be sufficient enough to track down when/where the software was bought. You have 20 computers, and a receipt for 20 copies of MS-Office..well guess what, no lawyer in their right mind would go to a judge with this. Do not tell me you have no receipts for the software,, what kind of mickey mouse outfit are you working for? The IRS is going to be your next problem!
So in the long run I would just ignore them. Go ahead and do an internal audit of which you lose the documentation, then I would start buying software in a one and two a month type scenario. Nothing to break the bank.
In any case DO NOT LET THEM COME DO AN AUDIT! They have no right to enter your buisness, and they will not do this without a court order. And if they have a court order your lawyers can fight this easily. It is impossible for them to prove they have a shread of proof, and anything that an disgruntal ex-employee has said is hearsay.
We think the reason they contacted us is because an ex-employee wanted a raise since he just graduated a CCNA course and was Cisco certified (I find this amuzing since he took a class for 2 years on the CCNA test which has a book of less then 500 pages), problem is that it was not his job to work with Cisco equipment and we have no positions available for him. Since he was an asshole and demanded a raise we fired him, so we think he called the BSA and said we were illegal for Adobe software because the software cabinet the IT department has only has 2 copies of the Adobe Acrobat software, what the moron does not know is that we have 15 copies of it in different departments maintained by that department since it is specialized software and only a few people get (The IT department maintains a copy of the license and screen prints, also copies of the receipts are filed in the IT office which he would not know about since he was a tech, and shitty one at that!). It is installed currently on about 10 peoples computers.
The odds?
0.
Literally.
0.
If they had any intention of "auditing" people (which, btw, is illegal in and of itself! It violates property laws, search & seizure laws, as well as laws against extortion, to name a few) they would have just gone ahead and done so already. Instead, they've put millions into cranking out form letters to people as scare tactics, since they know they're effectively powerless.
If auditing companies produced any meaningful monetary award, they would already be doing so...which they aren't. And even if they did, they sure as hell wouldn't tell you or I about it in advance.
Logic prevails.
Bowie J. Poag
...actually installed illegally pirated software, though. Show me a case where a group with genuinely bought software but a couple of misplaced certificates was successfully sued?
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
I've seen these letter before from clients. If they do not specifically charge you with piracy, stealing or whatever, throw it out and don't bother downloading their spyware.
You have the same rights you always had. They have to have probable cause to get a warrant, and they have to have a warrant before they can come into your office forcibly. A warrantless vampire cannot come in unless you invite them in.
IANAL, but I believe that as long as you have practiced due diligence and can show that you took reasonable steps to not break the law, then no judge with an actual brain would rule against you.
That being said, the BSA is looking for those who buy one copy and load it all across the office. I know of a company that did that, got ratted on by a disgruntled employee. Bottom line: they paid big. These are the fish they want to fry, and there are plenty of them out there.
Now, if you've been pirating software, and get a letter, and throw it out, and they still come after you, you won't get any sympathy from me!
-- I am. Therefore, I think!
Step 1: Promise not to sue people Step 2: ???? Step 3: Profit!!!
"Grace period" means they won't sue you if you come forward. It doesn't mean they'll let you continue to use pirated software; they just expect you to buy legitimate copies at this point. It's the same thing that the IRS does every few years. If you come forward they won't penalize you for not having filed your tax returns, but that doesn't mean you don't have to pay any back taxes.
A friend of mine owns a very small niche vertical intergration software company. He has a canned response for all threats of lawsuits, BSA investigation, etc. The only people he doesn't use this on is the government, since they don't need any help getting any more fucked up.
"Can I please have your lawyers contact number, I have a fax machine, and will send all information I have to your lawyer." He then sends one piece of information (a page, one liscence, etc) at a time, every hour on the hour, to said lawyer, to cause their clients legal bills to explode. Considering that he logs everything he does and has backups dating back for the last 15 years, he has a lot of information that he can send. Legal bills are quick ways to empty someone's pockets.
Here is the letter we got, mispellings are mine, formatting isn't perfect:
BSA, 1150 18th Street NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20036
Is your business using unlicensed software? If so, the Business Software Alliance is offering a one-month opportunity to get licensed. Your BSD Grace Period Participation ########
January 22, 2002
MY ADDRESS
Dear FOO,
You may have heard that the Business Software Alliance is investigating ANYTOWN area organizations that use unlicensed software. If your organization's software is not licensed, it could become the focus of a BSA investigation. So, audit your software now. Unauthorized copying is the same as stealing. The penalties for copyright infringement are serious - sometimes totaling hundres of thousands of dollars - and in this economy, can your business affort that risk?
BSA is an association representing the leading software companies: Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, Avid, Bently Systems, Borland, CNC Software/Mastercam, FileMaker, Internet Security Systems, Macromedia, Microsoft, Network Associates and Symatec. Together with our memebers, we educate the public about software compliance and protect intellectual property rights.
Would you be able to tell if an employee had installed an unlicensed software program? Your business has until February 28 to get licensed.
BSA recognizes that, for whatever reason, your company may not have managed its software assets properly. That's why from February 1-28, BSA is offering a Software Grace Period to business like yours in ANYTOWN. Please take this time to review your software installations and usage and, if necessary, acquire the licenses your business needs. If, after you have participated in the Grace Period, your organization becomes the focus of a BSA investigation, BSA will not seek to impose penalties for any unauthorized copying that occurred before February 28, (unless your organization has already been informed that it is under investigation). If BSA contacts you, just show your Grace Period Participation Nuber and the software purchase receipts. [Please see the reverse for terms.]
Not sure if your organization is fully licensed? BSA can help you find out.
Visit our Web site at www.bsagrace.com for more information and to download the free Software Audit Tool, or call our special Grace hotline at 1-877-536-4BSA (1-877-536-4272). If you find that your business isn't 100% licensed, contact your software vendor immediately and buy the software licenses you need before the Grace Period ends on February 28.
Sincerely,
Bob Kruger, Vice President, Business Software Alliance
Grace Period Participation Terms
Bsd is offering a one-month Grace Period between February 1-28, 2003.
1. For your organization to qualify for the Grace Period campaign:
2. If, after you have participated in the Grace Period, your organization becomes the focus of a BSA investigation, BSA will not seek to impose penalties for any unauthorized copying that occurred prior to February 28, 2002 (unless your organization has already been informed that it is under investigation). If the BSA should contact you, just show your Software Grace Period Participation Number and software purchase receipts.
3. For the purpose of the Grace Period, BSD members are: Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, Avid, Bently Systems, Borland, CNC Software/Mastercam, FileMaker, Internet Security Systems, Macromedia, Microsoft, Network Associates and Symatec.
I'm a student and I've recieved three of their letters. The last one I recieved was about 2 months ago. I drafted a letter and mailed it to them saying:
All the software used on my computer is Open Source. You're very welcome to come audit me, but I dont keep my licenses on hand. You can find my licenses and user agreements online, at nearly any computer software oriented site. Perhaps you are familiar with my software license's, it's called the GNU GPL. Good Day Gentlemen.
Funny thing is, they havent replied yet to that letter...I wonder why?
Choose wisely you must...
Original at http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,19093,00.asp
... That was a fishing expedition."
July 30, 2001
Truce or Dare
By Michael R. Zimmerman
If you're a small or medium-size company, there's a good chance you've heard from the Business Software Alliance about getting your software compliant with its licenses. If not, you probably will. The group is well into a nationwide letter and radio campaign to do just that.
But what you probably don't know is that, like so many of the companies that stuff your mailboxes with junk mail, the BSA, which represents such software giants as Microsoft Corp., Adobe Systems Inc. and Apple Computer Inc., has no intention of following up on its letters--regardless of how threatening and personal they may seem. It won't phone. And it won't pop in for a surprise audit.
Instead, an eWeek investigation reveals, the BSA's campaign is primarily a marketing effort essentially designed to scare people into buying more software. But for many enterprise customers who are quickly becoming fed up with the group's hardball tactics, the campaign is having the reverse effect: compliance, then departure to alternative products, like open source.
The reason the BSA Truce Campaign is more bark than bite is simple: As part of each Truce Campaign, the group sends out hundreds of thousands of letters at a time to businesses in a handful of cities. For the month of July, for example, it mailed 700,000 letters to businesses in five cities between New York and Portland, Ore. As such, it would be virtually impossible to contact even a sample of those companies to check up on their progress or lack of progress.
Indeed, one of the only ways the BSA is gauging the success of the Truce Campaign is by the size of the spike in software sales for various cities as the BSA passes through, which so far total 19.
"Everywhere we've run the Truce Campaign, we're seeing dramatic increases in sales," said Bob Kruger, vice president of enforcement for the BSA, in Washington. "So it's being successful."
But a deeper look into the Truce Campaign, as well as an ongoing and almost identical anti-piracy campaign by Microsoft, a founding member of the BSA, reveals something more complex: the possible beginning of an entirely new business model built around anti-piracy and fear. The bottom line: There's money in anti-piracy, and plenty to go around.
To be sure, piracy results in major losses of revenue for the software industry. According to the BSA, $2.94 billion was lost to piracy in North America alone last year, while $11.75 billion was lost to it globally for the same period. But so far this year, those figures have declined.
Since the launch of its enforcement campaign in North America in 1993, however, the BSA has brought in about $70 million in settlements, a mere drop in the bucket compared with the overall total. Now it seems the industry, with the help of the BSA, is taking a new tack, with its focus on generating revenue the old-fashioned way.
Consider the following: Microsoft has been busy constructing a network of support services through distributor and licensing partners to assist customers in assessing and auditing their software to comply with their licenses.
One Microsoft partner, License Online Inc., of Bellevue, Wash., tracks where the BSA is headed and rounds up as many of its 36,000 registered channel partners as it can for those cities to swoop in and sell licenses.
"When we know what area the BSA is going into, we're going in scrambling to piggyback on their marketing efforts," said Sharon Erdman, vice president of marketing for License Online.
License Online offers its partners across the United States a 12 percent commission on any licenses they sell through License Online. To get the contractors rolling, the company supplies them with a list of companies Microsoft has sent its anti-piracy letters to. In addition to commissions, the contractors are told the companies contacted have the potential to become "long-term" customers.
"Microsoft has absolutely partnered with businesses who can address the concerns," according to Devin Driggs, a Microsoft spokeswoman in Lake Oswego, Ore. "It feels a responsibility to its customers to address any issues with compliance they may be experiencing."
As far as the anti-piracy fight becoming a business unto itself, Driggs said Microsoft views the subject as an industry issue.
Kruger acknowledged that the BSA's letter campaign is a direct marketing campaign designed to encourage users to get in compliance and not directed at any company in particular. The group uses common mailing list companies such as Dun & Bradstreet Inc. to generate the lists.
Microsoft's campaign is more deliberate, company officials said.
"I don't think we're doing anything that's random," said Nancy Anderson, associate general counsel for the company, in Redmond, Wash. As part of Microsoft's licensing agreements for its products, Anderson said, "the customer agrees to assure us they are current. The obligation is on them to assure them and to undertake an audit if requested by Microsoft."
Not surprisingly, however, the hardball tactics are having a negative effect on customers.
"We were nailed for tens of thousands of dollars," said Cary White, an IT manager at a financial services company in San Diego who acted on a letter from Microsoft. "We received a letter addressed to our CEO that they received a tip we were not compliant with Windows, Word and Excel.
"My company is to completely go away from Microsoft," White said. "We're not going to buy any more Microsoft products. It's my decision. They're alienating their customers. I don't trust them."
The fear factor
For the BSA and Microsoft campaigns to work, the fear factor is essential, according to letter recipients contacted by eWeek.
"[Fear] is the first emotion when you get the letter. It's like, 'Oh my God, the Gestapo's coming,'" said Robert Fuller, president and chief operating officer of R.E. Fuller Engineering Consulting, a one-man company in Camas, Wash.
The BSA has struck fear in customers' minds through carefully worded, but threatening letters and an accompanying radio ad blitz warning businesses to beware of disgruntled employees dropping dimes on them.
According to the BSA's Kruger, the Truce Campaign is merely a 30-day grace period companies can use to get their software in compliance. If a company does use the time to get in compliance, it will avoid any potential future BSA investigation that may spring up as a result of its radio ad blitz.
But that doesn't explain the BSA's use of what many are calling threatening language. What's troubling to businesses, besides not being informed on how they were selected for the mailing list, is the letter's accusatory tone. For example, one line reads: "If you're caught [with unlicensed software], your organization could face penalties totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars."
And while Kruger insists the Truce Campaign is not a vehicle for generating leads or tips, that contradicts the thrust of the BSA's radio spots.
For example, at one point, the announcer in a radio spot for the Truce Campaign currently running in New York asks Kruger how the BSA receives most of its leads. Kruger responds: "Most of the calls come from current or former employees. I would say to businesses that, unless you have no current or former unhappy employees, you are only one phone call away from becoming the target of a BSA investigation."
"My management's concern was that there was almost a bit of paranoia about [the Truce Campaign]," said Peter Rassmussen, a technology manager at a Midwest retailer. "There were radio ads going on at the same time that sounded like Joe Stalin encouraging you to turn in your parents."
As for Microsoft, Anderson said, it's not in the company's interest to frighten customers. "We don't want to create anxiety," she said. "It's not our interest."
Misleading the pack
Exacerbating the anxieties for companies contacted by eWeek that have received Truce Campaign letters was the seemingly intentional vagueness of the letters, vagueness that is compounded by misleading information.
For example, though the Truce letter establishes a 30-day deadline for software reviews and includes a line that states, "If the BSA contacts you, just show your Truce Participation Number and software purchase receipts to take advantage of the Truce," the BSA has no intention of contacting any letter recipient.
But at least one radio spot, the one currently playing in New York, implores letter recipients to "review your software installations and acquire the licenses you need before the Business Software Alliance returns to New York City!"
Still, Kruger insists: "We don't visit any of these companies. The ones getting the letters are not under investigation."
When asked if these discrepancies were misleading or at least confusing, Kruger said any letter recipient who is confused can go to the BSA Web site or call the Truce hot line for information.
Also at issue is ironing out exactly what authority the BSA has to present deadlines, request software reviews or even conduct audits. According to Kruger, the only authority the BSA has, as power of attorney for its members, is to seek court orders on behalf of its members to conduct software audits on businesses suspected of using pirated or unlicensed software. But even then, the BSA does not seek such court orders frivolously.
"We only proceed on the basis of reliable information," Kruger said. "We take pretty good pains here to make sure our cases are based on solid information before going forward."
Indeed. Despite the tone in the Truce Campaign letters and radio ads to the contrary, the task of proving guilt lies with the BSA.
"The burden's on the BSA to prove itself to the court," said Peter Baruk, director of anti-piracy at Network Associates Inc., in Santa Clara, Calif., and former vice president of piracy for The Software & Information Industry Association, another software advocacy group in Washington that conducts piracy investigations. "If you're contacted by the BSA and doing the right thing, you have nothing to worry about. So, why respond? You can and be a good corporate citizen. [But] there's no reason why you'd have to react to a letter like this."
As someone who provided the BSA with information that lead to legal action and a $250,000 settlement against a former employer, I can tell you first hand that it is not something to be taken lightly. They do periodically run these "grace periods" to give companies a chance to police themselves. But if you get a letter addressed to your company specifically that doesn't refer to a grace period, chances are they have inside information about your licensing situation. The BSA does enforce copyright law for software companies and maintains an army of lawyers to investigate and litigate allegations of software piracy.
It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority. By definition, there are already enough people to do th
I worked at a small, poorly-run brokerage firm this summer, and witnessed the stupefying power of the BSA first-hand. They drummed up a lot of publicity by having the local papers run several stories about regional busts they had made (both of which were the result of disgruntled ex-employees turning in their former employees), and buying some ad space on local radio stations. Then the letter came, and my boss, not knowing much about the ways of legality and whatnot, promptly allocated over $15k for systematic re-purchase of all software currently installed on the computers. Most of the progs were fairly up-to-date, and many (but not all of them) were properly licensed. Moral of the story; this is a scam, albeit a very effective one, as it is supported by legitimate businesses engaged in an underhanded approach to bolster their own sales, and I have a feeling that many more bosses than just my own went out and needlessly spent large sums of money in fear of being found "not in compliance".
IANAL
." An "enterprise" is defined to include "any individual, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal entity, and any union or group of individuals associated in fact although not a legal entity; . . ."
Just doing a quick lookup on racketeering and RICO I came across this definition.
The statute's definition of "racketeering activity" includes "any act or threat involving murder, kidnapping, gambling, arson, robbery, bribery, extortion, dealing in obscene matter, . . . which is chargeable under State law and punishable by imprisonment for more than one year . .
Since the BSA is sending letters threatening an investigation in an attempt to scare you into buying more software, it sounds like extortion.
Maybe you could turn in the BSA (or Microsoft for that matter) and get all their assets siezed!!!
We've had dealings with these guys before. On talking to our lawyer, apparently the BSA (at least here in Australia) can obtain the equivalent of a search-warrant. They need to have reasonable proof to get one - hence the ex-employee-ratting-out tatic. They require an insider that has a reasonable chance of having knowledge of the target-companies systems. Once they get the court-order, they are allowed to tell everyone at the business to shut down all computers until they are cleared with the BSA. So while the letters are designed to scare businesses into admitting their culpability, your chances of actually being audited are pretty small.
FIRST, I MUST SOLICIT YOUR STRICTEST CONFIDENCE IN THIS TRANSACTION. THIS IS BY VIRTUE OF ITS NATURE AS BEING UTTERLY CONFIDENTIAL AND 'TOP SECRET'.
WE ARE TOP OFFICIAL OF THE GOVERNMENT REVIEW PANEL ("BSA") WHO ARE INTERESTED IN PIRATED SOFTWARE INTO OUR COUNTRY. IN ORDER TO BECOME COMPLIANT WE SOLICIT YOUR ASSISTANCE TO ENABLE US TO AUDIT YOU.
HOWEVER, BY VIRTUE OF OUR POSITION AS BSA COMMITTE MEMERS, WE CANNOT ACQUIRE THIS SOFTWARE IN OUR NAMES. I HAVE THEREFORE, BEEN DELEGATED AS A MATTER OF TRUST BY MY COLLEAGUES OF THE BSA TO LOOK FOR AN UNDERLICENSED PARTNER WHO WE CAN AUDIT. HENCE WE ARE WRITING YOU THIS LETTER. WE HAVE AGREED TO SHARE THE MONEY THUS; 1. 20% FOR THE BSA 2. 80% FOR THE UNLICENSED SOFTWARE VENDOR 3. 2 - 5 YEARS FOR YOURSELF.
PLEASE,NOTE THAT THIS TRANSACTION IS 100% SAFE AND WE HOPE TO COMMENCE THE AUDIT LATEST SEVEN (7) BANKING DAYS FROM THE DATE OF THE RECEIPT OF THE FOLLOWING INFORMATIOM BY TEL/FAX; 234-1-7740449, YOUR COMPANY'S SIGNED, AND STAMPED LETTERHEAD PAPER THE ABOVE INFORMATION WILL ENABLE US WRITE LETTERS OF THREAT. THIS WAY WE WILL USE YOUR COMPANY'S NAME TO INTIMIDATE YOU WITH QUASI-LEGAL LETTERS.
WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO DOING THIS BUSINESS WITH YOU AND SOLICIT YOUR CONFIDENTIALITY IN THIS TRANSATION. PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE THE RECEIPT OF THIS LETTER USING THE ABOVE TEL/FAX NUMBERS. I WILL SEND YOU DETAILED INFORMATION OF THIS PENDING PROJECT WHEN I HAVE HEARD FROM YOU.
YOURS FAITHFULLY,
DR CLEMENT OKON
Read reviews of shopping cart software
BSA targets particular cities and/or business types and sends out blanket letters to companies that meet the requirements. You can get a list of targeted cities on BSA's web site:
http://www.bsa.org/usa/events/
Any sales increase in the city immediately after mailing of the letters gets BSA money. Now the letters don't really have an affect if they can't show they sometimes follow through.
The BSA will then go after certain targets either ones they think are particularly egriegous or they have pretty good proof of violations (the BSA has registration/purchase info from their member organizations plus any public informaion about companies so they can see a company with 1000 employees appears to only own 100 copies of Office -- this may be legit).
So, the BSA will ask for proof of purchase for software from their member organizations (their ability to do this given in the license agreement for most software). Note SERIAL NUMBERS AND CD'S ARE NOT PROOF OF PURCHASE. You MUST HAVE RECEIPTS!
If you refuse they can file an civil copyright infringement lawsuit against you and can ask the court to impound the computers as evidence. They can also ask the prosecuting attny's to bring criminal actions against you.
Details of why the BSA has the law on their side:
http://www.bsa.org/usa/antipiracy/law/
I'd say for a small organization you're probably safe -- unless you had somebody get pissed off at you and reported you to the BSA and raised their awareness of your company from mailing address to red light.
Under current US law the BSA acts legally. If you disagree with this you can choose software that has no such problems (i.e. open source, free software) or you can work to change the law while obeying it or you can start some kind of civil disobedience (just remember -- if you break the law you still have to pay the price for breaking it, even for good intentions. many civil rights fighters ended up in jail to prove their point, if you can't afford the price don't use this method).
I prefer a mix of 1 and 2. I don't think the right to copy other people's software is worth jail time to go the disobedence route.
a few years ago. We went through the process of using their "self-audit tool" (Gasp I think?). As the "new" IT person I got the (nasty) responsibility for assessing the situation and bringing us into compliance. The problem we found wasn't with "commercial" software such as Microsoft, etc.; what we did find was shareware being used/abused. We ended up purchasing licenses for several products (Winzip, CuteFTP, etc) that people "needed" but never bothered to put a requisition in for. Additionally we ended up rolling out Win2k and instituted some control over who could/couldn't install software etc. It was a time consuming process analyzing the data and such as the program listed *EVERYTHING* including all of the standard windows utilities such as the calculator and such. Bottom line was that the odds were probably better that I'd get by lightning than for them to have came in; but it needed to be done and the letter made it a priority with our owners so I can't fault the process.
Personally, I refuse to play. I will not purchase any software from any company that employs the services of collection agencies such as the BSA. Furthermore, I will do everything in my power to dissuade my clients from purchasing software from these companies.
Need a Linux consultant in New Orleans?
We had the BSA sicced on us by a disgruntled ex-employee. We didn't receive one of those mass mailed letters, we received a bona-fide messenger delivered packet from the BSA, naming specific software titles. Also in the letter was their "gracious" offer to do a self-audit and orders to report the results of the audit to them. Failure to comply with their demands would result in the BSA taking us to court, getting a court order to come in and conduct an audit themselves, with their software and people,and under the eyes of either the State Troopers or US Marshals to make sure that we didn't interfere.
So we did an audit and found out that we were only one copy of a certain software title out of compliance. We sent back the results of our audit, along with copies of our licenses to the BSA, along with an offer to buy the extra license at full retail price. They replied that our licenses and audit results were not good enough, that they also wanted us to produce the receipts for the software.
The receipts. Apparently, having the licenses are not good enough. Or maybe the BSA figured they could strongarm some money out of us, so they leaned a little harder. I had heard that before the BSA sends out these demands, they research the company to see if they have enough cash to make their efforts worthwhile. Having recently completed a series of capital funding, I suppose we looked mighty tempting.
This meant many days of going through three years of financial records. Eventually, we found most of our reciepts and purchase orders, except for a few things from the very beginnings of the company when the records weren't really kept. But we did have the licenses. Of course, the BSA, now really smelling blood, came down with an arbitrary amount to fine us along with a statement that if we did not pay this (ridiculous) sum for basically being one copy out of compliance, they would take us to court and demand far more.
I was never told how much exactly we had to pay the BSA, but I heard it was "not insignificant". It was somewhere in the 5-figure range. All for one copy of Visio, and some tossed receipts from three years ago.
I always argued that the BSA had no right to demand our receipts and financial records since we were able to produce the software licenses. It's a bunch of crap. I can't see how the BSA can legally operate in this country. There is another organization that operates in a similar fashion- it's called the Mafia. Bastards.
The BSA is a trade organization much like the MPAA, RIAA, IDSA, and former SPA (which is called something like the SIIA now or something, I've forgotten). They possess no legal power whatsoever, but they are watchdogs and they do cause a lot of trouble for both big-time pirates (they brought down #warez4cable and were involved in the PWA [pirates with attitude] case). The most they can do is threaten you and rat you out to the real authorities.
A word of advice, though. Regardless of being able to produce the original CDs, the FBI will almost certainly not persue anyone who's done less than $5000 USD worth of damage to a company in estimated loss sales (the FBI simply doesn't have the resources) - they DEFINATLY wont go after a small non-profit that lost a few CDs. Irregardless of that, unlike the BSA, the government actually has to produce enough evidence to convince a judge to grant a search warrent. So don't worry, you can safely ignore any messages from the BSA.
A landlord has the power to enter your "home," and is specifically granted this power under some state laws. At least in my state, they must have a reasonable justification, AND give advance notice; they can't just barge in willy-nilly (IANAL).
Still, even if you rent rather than own, even your local police department needs a search warrant to enter your apartment. Also, if a person legally consents to a search, that consent can be withdrawn at any time. At that point, a search warrant is required. How is some kind of private "trade group" going to bypass that little requirement? Even if you clicked some EULA, I don't see how you can give up your Fourth Amendment rights with the click of a mouse. The police have much more power than some trade group, and if they need a warrant, how can some trade group skate by without one? Any lawyers want to comment?
I'd like to see these guys try it, quite honestly... just like that rental car company that was levying fines based on their GPS spy-unit speed measurements... they were denied. Private organizations/businesses don't have the power to levy a fine; that power belongs to the State.
If they were bold enough barge into your home unannounced, with no legal authority to do so, it would be at least Breaking and Entering, or even Burglary (if you were home at the time). If they threatened you in the process, it would be Aggravated Burglary, and you might even be justified in some self-defense. Somehow, I suspect a bunch of software-licence-hunting bean counters are not up for that kind of action.
Even if they do have some sort of "compliance inspection" in their EULA, it's just begging for a court challenge if they force the issue.
If you click a button saying "it's OK to shoot me," don't doubt for one minute that somebody would go to prison for a very long time if they actually pulled the trigger.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
Remove "Grace Period" from the question.
Then the answer is a resounding "yes".
-Rob
one of my client did return the audit form with a letter saying that the only license they got is GPL and a copy was attached for their reference.
Then Microsoft sales came the other week and offered an attractive 'switch' packages. How Microsoft knew he need a switch is a mistery.
so they "pirated" software. here is the result:
one, it doesn't cost the software companies a thing. you steal a car, it takes steel, rubber, plastic from somewhere. you make a DIGITAL copy, it costs software co. nothing. and many of the "pirates" wouldn't have bought the software.
two, the people using the software are not using a cheaper alternative. why would you use OO.org, when ms office is "free". so, piracy destroys competition. i remember there used to be at least three major office suites. corel, lotus, and office. in fact, office 97 offered wordperfect and lotus 123 keystrokes, BECAUSE THEY HAD TO. but "piracy" reduced the market share of the other two to nil
three, "piracy" promtes sales. as one program and one format becomes the "standard", especially if it is closed, peopole eventually all have to get on board. and not everyone or every business can "pirate".
i am as big a free market economy guy as you can get. i am as low tax and low regulation as you can get. but this whole piracy thing is bullshit. and they know it.
My problem? I was perfectly gruntled, until some numbnuts came by and dissed me.
You're a -small businessman-. You're trying to -make a small profit- and -stay afloat-.
... although if you -do- try this, you might want to try -real hard- to find those CDs.
You -pay taxes-.
It's his job to shoo away criminals. Get an appointment and explain how these clowns are keeping you from doing things that make money, and which law lets them get away with that trash.
I dunno if this is a good idea, but ask HIM if HE can tell you where all his software licenses are. Would HE like to be audited? Have his computers impounded?
Tell him you expect him to keep it from happening. Express disappointment in his votes for those laws. Praise his negative votes.
Yahoo! Pipes are awesome. How awesome? http://pipes.yahoo.com/jesdynf/slashdot
Is the BSA almost single-handedly making the case for the adoption of open-source in non-profit orgs?
Steve Magruder, Metro Foodist
before you mod me down, really read this post because it fits a theme I've been noticing lately.
Ever notice how everyone tries to be the enforcer? Corperations, media mogules, senators and even your local legislators? It seems these days people want to be in charge, or the authority trying for a power grab they can't achieve and throwing in some new speak to throw off the commoner who isn't educated enough to know the difference between REAL authority and a scam or fake.
The BSA is just another example to me.
Dunno, just my 0.02c. Mod away
Dear BSA, following your letter suggesting a self audit of our compagny, I am glad to inform you that we did indeed complete the required process.
As you suspected, it was impossible for us to account for every software package and updates/sidegrades we acquired over the last 10 years.
We carefully considered the cost of a complete research of archives and archeological search at the municipal dump, as well as the cost of re-acquiring the missing licences.
We therefore advise you that your audit letter prompted us to move to a mostly open source and free software environement. We thank you for being the catalyst in that switch, the proverbial "last straw".
The few worksations still running software from BSA members are fully licenced and these licences are available for your viewing pleasure if you so desire.
Yours trully,
me
Unfortunately, since this would not be a criminal case but rather a civil case, you might be up the creek and have to defend yourself.
And on what grounds would they file this case? Because they accused you of stealing and you told them to get lost?
Sorry, but filing a civil case still requires some sort of evidence. Even if filed, what are they going to use in court?
Burden of proof *still* lies with the accusor. I can't just go around suing people, and having the court order that people prove their innocence by bringing in evidence -- and neither can the Bullshit^wBusiness Software Alliance.
NGWave - Fast Sound Editor for Windows
You haven't agreed to a single legally binding thing. In no way does signing (let alone just reading and clicking OK) ANY sheet of paper (outside of a confession of treason) cause you to give up any of your legal rights. Such a contract is completely unenforceable and would be thrown out the second it enters court.
They can put in a clause to allow agents to crash at my house on the weekends and eat my dorritos but it doesn't mean it's in any way enforceable. Talk to an attorney. No matter how hard you try you can't sign your rights away. When it comes down to it most EULA's are slightly more valuable than toilet paper due to this fact. Hell, check your state laws. Many states have clauses in their local civil or criminal codes that basically say something to the effect that "contracts that are partially in violation of any participants rights are wholely illegal"
Do your research. Especially when it comes to your local right to privacy and to unsolicited mailings, phone calls, etc. Has it occured to anyone that "shotgun" tactics might in fact be considered SPAM. Let's get some anti-spam lawyers after their ass. Under my own state and city laws, unless I decide to bend over and say "oh yes please come in and dont' use lube" they can piss and moan all they want and that's about the limit to their "legal" recourse.
Find out about my new childrens book: SS Death Camp Criminal Batallion Go To Monte Carlo For The Massacre
Oh, and if any idiot from the BSA has a problem with what I'm saying, my name is Robert Q. Campo, and my address is 881 West Harrisville Lane, Cleveland, OH 64113. Come and get me, asshole.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Anyway, here's what happened:
We are about 1,800 employees big. We go the BSA letters about a year ago. Our legal people consulted with outside legal specialists regarding this. The result was that we caught up on licensing real fast, and we produced documentation to the BSA that proved we were legal and that was the end of the legal hassle. Of course this took about 9 months :-)
Several comments:
1) We were big enough to atract attention, and we are profitable, so we were the perfect "target."
2) No one in our company considers this a "scam." We willingly decided on our own to use commercial software and we intended to pay for it (honestly!). We did find inaccuracies on our purchasing: We had too much of some stuff, too little of other stuff. We purchased what we needed to.
3) In response to some dumb comments on here: The BSA deals with the software of its vendor members, not ALL software vendors. We were sent a list of the software producers whose products were in question.
4) Some people here have said that EULAs are invalid: Bullshit. There have been court decisions going BOTH ways, but the more recent antecedents have all been in favor of EULA validity. It can't get much clearer: If you agree to the EULA terms, you are bound by them.
5) The old "prove it" reprise: Someone here said to just ask the BSA to prove that you stole software. This is inaccurate/misleading. If you say to the BSA "prove it," then the BSA IMMEDIATELY will subpoena your receipts for your purchases (Which, they will successfully argue in court, they need to "prove it"). They CAN do this, and they DO do this. If you get to be too much of an asshole about this, they can get the court marshal to seize your computers. It has happened before...
6) There are federal statutory guidelines that indicate collectible damages. If you are an asshole to the BSA (or a software producer), they can be assholes back: I believe it was Snapple that got fined a couple million bucks because they were assholes to the BSA... Technically it is a copyright violation every time you load an unlicensed program into RAM (every time you run it). Normally this would fall under the "reasonable uses" clause thing, but since the copyright is being violated, there is no "reasonable use" to it... Therefore every time you run the program you incurr the federally-mandated minimum fine... In case you feel like bitching about this, you should know this case went to court, and was not settled out of court, as far as I know it was not successfully appealed either.
7) Does the BSA have the right to send these letters? OF COURSE! What are you going to say, "No! I want to hear these threats from Adobe!" Just get it over with... It's easier to deal with one entity, you will get it over with quicker. Ovbiously, the BSA members give the BSA authority to sue on their behalf! The EULA has nothing to do with this.
8) Lastly: If you use commercial software, it is understood by definition that you must pay for it. What the hell is the problem with that? No one held a gun to your head to force you to use AutoCAD!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
IANAL, but something down the line that we reserve the right to make backup copies, reverse the code if necessary to obtain interoperability with our system, and any fees or charges due us if their software fails to perform as advertised.
Then, if they pull that EULA "agree" button crap, we can just pull our our purchase requisiton, which they accepted by shipping product and accepting payment.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
When the BSA does decide to do an audit (as opposed to a mass mailing), it's because they already have some evidence of illegal software use. Most of the time, this is from a former employee, disgruntled employee, or the like (i.e. a contractor you pissed off, former customer, etc.).
If you don't let them in, then they go before a judge and get a warrant, and then US Marshals come in, and you won't refuse the marshals entry (for very long).
I know because a friend of mine got raided. The "tip" came from a business rival. The Marshals found everything was in order and the tipster got billed for the cost of the raid.
If, on the other hand, you have gone out and negotiated and signed a legal agreement with a BSA member, then what a BSA member can do to/around your premises is limited by the terms of the written agreement. A written agreement is far more binding than any click-through agreement might be.
OS Software is like love: The best way to make it grow is to give it away.
Does BSAA raid premises?
A.Yes, the BSAA can be granted an Anton Piller order which is similar to a search and seizure warrant. If a Vendor has reasonable grounds for believing that illegal software copying is occurring within an organisation and that evidence may be destroyed if notice is given, then the Vendor may apply to the Court for an Anton Piller Order. This is an order which requires persons in charge of the premises to allow the Vendor and representatives of the Vendor to enter company property for the purpose of searching for and seizing illegal copies of software, manuals and other documents which indicate that software theft has occurred.
For obvious reasons, no advance notice is given of when the Vendor's representatives and solicitors arrive at the premises for the purpose of carrying out the search.
Material seized on the search is used as evidence in the proceedings for infringement of copyright.
So it can be perfectly legal when they break down the door. Generally they will have some police with them I believe.
I think Anton Piller was a ship that had stuff on it that was going to flee to avoid civil action and the Court Order to keep it here was used as a basis for actions like the BSAA raids.
You've just given OSS another spiffy, shiny selling feature. By going OSS, you no longer have to waste much (if any) company time, resources, effort, or money on software compliance issues. Now, it's our duty as good little employees to make the technologically-challenged managers understand this wonderful money saving aspect of OSS.
A friend of mine got his notice to come down for a physical during the Vietnam War. He threw the letter away.
A month later he got a call from the Draft Board. 'Why didn't you come down for your phyiscal?'
'I never got the letter,' he replied.
They sent him another letter. He threw it away.
(insert your favorite programming language DO LOOP here)
He did this for the entire Vietnam War and never got busted.
True.
She told them to phuck off as she gets these kinds of sales techniques all the time.
The very next day a Mocrosoft rep called out of the blue. Our MS licences werent up for renewal and we never bought anything from them recently. Coincidence?
The BSA, AFAIK, is NOT a goverment-sponsered law enforcement agency. I see 'bsa.ORG' not 'bsa.gov' or 'bsa.fbi.gov' The BSA is a trade organization, a bunch of lawyers most likely.
...tho I did find this quote from one of the BSA VPs last year:
Therefore, they have NO right to go searching through any of my stuff or your stuff. "EULA says they can" my ass.
I'm having a hard time find any case law regarding the BSA (if you find some, post it, I'd be interested)
"...the raids would have an immediate effect on the roughly $12 billion in lost revenue from which the Alliance claims its members suffer each year."
So they're LOSING that much, which means that to actually be staying in buisness at that rate, how much MORE do they actually have to be making? I'm not advocating piracy, but suppose they're losing 30% to piracy. That means that they are MAKING 40 BILLION dollars a year in revenue.
There is very little future in being right when your boss is wrong.
>They came back in an hour with US Marshalls and
>a warrant.
SO the Marshalls can come in and do whatever the Judge said they can do. The BSA folks still have to wait in the car. At the moment they turned the case over to the State, they are no longer involved, and you don't have to let them in your building or speak to them ever again until you're in a court room.
These people do you a favor when they pull the pin on the legal hand grenade, because from that moment, your rights and responsibilities are very clear. Nothing else happens without a hearing.
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
WISCONSIN COMPANY PAYS SOFTWARE WATCHDOG $150,000
We shall need a nice BMW with a minority driver, innocent of any crime or criminal intent, who happens to draw attention by cruising through, say, a predominantly white upper middle class neighborhood or, alternatively, a predominantly non-white underclass neighborhood. As TV teaches us, he must be up to something.
Said driver has a malfunctioning tail light (grounds for the stop). Said driver is heard to say "Shit" in angry exasperation as the white cop, just like the last white cop before him, approaches the car (grounds for the "reasonable suspicion" of personal or public danger). Thus the cop, now fearful, orders driver out of car and tells him to submit to a frisk. Driver protests, "Hey! Why are you picking on me?" This triggers heightened suspicion in cop who, later, will state in court that the defendant resisted -- grounds for use of physical force in effecting the frisk and arrest, and subsequently for a search incident to arrest that allows the cop to dig widely through concealed areas and containers in the car. Thus far, we have an arrest, a lot of searching, and probable cause hasn't even entered into it. We're getting by quite nicely on the very flexible "reasonable suspicion" standard without any of the bothersome probable cause tests or a search warrant.
Now the the car's impounded, and what happens? The trunk is opened. It's the precinct's policy to inventory everything. And that search -- again, warrantless and without probable cause -- is constitutionally permissible because the cops aren't specifically looking for criminal evidence; oh, no, they're merely impounding and inventorying the vehicle. Bad luck for our driver if he actually had anything illegal in there...
Within recent memory the U.S. enjoyed a brief period of rich protection under the Fourth Amendment, chiefly due to the wisdom of the Warren Court, between the 1960s and early 1980s. Since that time the Rehnquist Court and other conservative benches have seen to it that the police are able to conduct warrantless searches with wider and wider authority, holding variously that the public interest is served by abrogating personal privacy and increasing investigatory protections and abilities. That has been the theory, anyway; the Drug War has been its practice. Today, your actual freedom against unreasonable search and seizure is a function of many factors, not limited to the exception-riddled case law, your skin color, the attitude of the cop who stops you, your ability to afford effective counsel, and the temper of the court.
There is basicly 3 roads out of this BSA:
* if you have paid for your software, just show them the proof of purcage.
* if you have paid but can't find the documentation, then you can hope that BSA will belive you. You will naturally increase your changes by showing doucmnetaion for all your other software, and telling them freely about your problem.
* if you have stolen the software: dont do the crime, if you can't take the time...
I'm sure your company just decided to pay something like a quarter of what it had already spent in man-hours to make the slimeballs go away, but asking for receipts is really just a bluff.
If you didn't have licenses, a civil court could reasonably decide that the preponderance of the
evidence shows you liable for damages. But to say you have licenses and obtained them illegally is a charge of grand theft, a criminal charge. They would have to prove this in criminal court, beyond the shadow of a doubt. No way they'd waste the money on that. IANAL, BIPOOTV.
-Ryan C.
-Ryan C.
Who checks that BSA licenses are in order?
:-)
Tell them to fsck off via a lawyers letter. Report them to the local BBB.
Write a memo to management explaining the savings they would make by moving to Linux+OpenOffice, copy to Microsoft
IANAL. That said, there is a generally accepted legal theory that two parties cannot enter into a binding agreement if one of them could not be expected to understand that agreement, is not properly represented when entering into that agreement, or the agreement contains "fine print" conditions which defy common sense or expectation, or which are intended to deceive. There are other exceptions as well, but these are the important ones for the moment.
I say all this because the shrink wrap license ("EULA") - through which the BSA claims to derive its authority - is thus on extremely thin legal ice. In fact, I am on a neverending quest to find reference to any (any) case where any of the more onerous terms of a shrinkwrap license have prevailed in court. (UCITA, of course, changes everything - but that's a subject for another post.)
Almost all users of computers never properly understand the "contract" they have supposedly "agreed to" by using their software. They are ignorant of the need to keep and maintain records (as if their word processor was a firearm or motor vehicle), and the idea of granting some organization permission to enter their premises and inspect, demand documentation, and otherwise claim supra-police-like powers just to "insure" that they're not violating their "agreement" must profoundly, breathtakingly, and absolutely fail the test of "reasonable expectation."
In the case of copyright violations, there are criminal and civil penalties. You can sue me for stealing your software. You can also call the police on me, who may choose to arrest me and try me for said same. But enter my place of business uninvited to "inspect" or "audit" on the basis of a shrink wrap license? I don't think it flies.
Let's sum up.
The BSA claims a variety of privileges (from the EULA) which it doesn't really have. It threatens you with actions which are almost certainly illegal. Software users are unaware of their "obligations" under their "licenses" even if you consider them binding (which is asinine), and even when they attempt to follow the rules, there are many cases where it will not be possible to provide documentation "to the satisfaction of the auditor" - whose standard is arbitrary, and purposefully engineered to make it unlikely you can meet it. You are frequently given a very short time in which to reply to the ultimatum - purposefully short, to insure you will not have time to properly inspect your facilities before making a decision. Then there is the oft-cited case of schools and charities which use donated equipment for which the paperwork is not, and probably can never be, in order.
The cost of self-defense is borne by the defender in civil court. Knowing one is on the receiving end of a legally specious and improper legal challenge is one thing. Being able to afford your defense against some of the world's richer companies is quite another.
Most victims who receive this have done everything right, but have not retained all their receipts, and/or cannot afford the considerable manpower and expertise it will take to insure "not one single unlicensed copy of anything" exists on any of the machines in their organization. Consider... will even one violation, even when made by an employee in violation of a company policy, result in punitive damages?
Generally the BSA gets what it wants: a "settlement" in which they are paid not to "report" to federal authorities and/or file a questionable lawsuit. The victim pays again (perhaps many times again) for what they already own.
We have come a long way from the simple world of Best Buy which you describe.
The fact that no one understood their options or the consequences of their choices is the very thing at issue here. Extortion, coercion, and foul play describe these practices perfectly.
Groups like the BSA are not a "price to pay for preventing theft." Their tactics are both immoral and unnecessary. They have no place in the enforcement of copyright. The police are the ones whose job it is to handle software thieves. But then there'd be no money in it for anyone, eh?
Want to Know How to Cheat the GPL? Read On!
It is not necessary to produce "Original Certificates" nor "Original CDs". In most cases some sort of proof of payment is all that is necessary.
Under British style common law, a contract is a contract whether verbal or written. There are very few specific examples of contracts that must be evidenced in writing. This does not necessarily mean it has to be in writing, just that there is some documentation (like real estate or mine claim transactions).
If there is any sort of record keeping then your organisation should have cheque stubs, Credit Card statements, etc. If items such as these are good enough for your taxes, they should stand up in any civil action (and hopefully stop it getting that far). However, if you've paid in cash you could be in trouble without receipts.
However, I am not a lawyer, you are probably subject to US law, not British style common law (however similar). I could have missed the point, and this is slashdot.
Q:I was listening to a CD in Grip and it sounded horrible! What's up? A:Perhaps you are listening to country music
A brief note about economics is probably in order. The cost of making a physical CD is not what you are paying for when you buy a CD. You are paying for the cost of developing, testing, marketing, researching both that program and future programs.
That means that pirating software costs the developer the chance to recover the costs of making that software in the first place.
And before anyone mods this Flamebait, give a moment's thought to what this means for the (non-BSA member) Linux companies out there: companies with (as a rule) very good chances of going out of business each year. They spend time researching, fixing, improving the OSS software that you use regularly... but since most people download this without actually paying a penny for it, they have to find alternative routes to make money.
Now I think that there are lots of arguments for OSS, but it does make the economics much more complicated for all involved.
The facts are this:
- the BSA has no statutory powers to investigate or so on, but as a representative of various organisations, they can pursue civil action on behalf of their members: there's nothing wrong with this in theory.
- these tactics they are using are a little heavy handed, not dissimiliar to the TV licensing authority approach in the united kingdom, personally I don't like it, and the ethics are questionable, it is a form of heavy handedness.
- you say ' I know that I cannot produce the original CD's and/or documentation for some of the software that we HAVE paid for.' - well, that's your fault really, you should keep better records - try speaking to an accountant about the need to keep records for purchase of assets. No one excuses you for failing to keep proper business records of ownership (why don't you throw away the deeds to your house/property?).
- if you are eventually shown to be in violation of licensing terms, then punitive damages could actually be higher because you've already received a notification about the fact that you may be in violation - you can't claim to have been unknowledgeable.
- software costs money to produce - you might not entirely agree with the licensing terms, but how can you disagree with the need for organisations to try and enforce the terms of their agreements. personally, my life wouldn't have been so good if I had not developed commercial software for which companies were able to license/sell.
The BSA seems like one of the flagships of globalisation, since it does the very same here, in Hungary.However not the BSA itself does this "investigation", but the police, usually with an "expert", who is of course trained and tought by the BSA.
:))
Unfortunately it does not receive enough publicity that it uses our tax and the police to enforce their member software firms' will on the public.
Dictatorship is not your privilege anymore, my American fellows!
Free your mind!
They employed him.
If he then performed duties that were not his the company made a mistake and have to pay to have the mistakes taken care of.
I'm pretty sure that the company didn't have a lot of computers sitting there with no OS doing nothing and now have a lot of computers with an unlicensed OS installed sitting there doing nothing.
Seeing as you are now in the responsible position it is your duty to uninstall those OS's.
It's pretty simple really.
And it is the law not the "rules", there is no hesitation.
Still, if you install Windows what do you expect. It's when not if that day will come thay the decision will bite you in the ass.
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
And remember, the next time MS gives you that TCO crap, that this hassle, and its attendant expenses, are part of the TCO of using software that falls under the aegis of the BSA.
Just say no.
KFG
When they did this at my former employer, my response was pretty swift - I sent them a bill and a form to ask if they approved the hours I spend to catalog all the machines (about 1600).
I never got a response back so far.
but these letters are NOT sent to only suspicious companies.. these letters are MASS MAILED to entire zipcodes. My company having 3 offices got 3 letters from them with 3 different addresses in 3 different months.
It is a scam, just like all the other BSA practices. they are scumbags and need to be ignored and fought hard when they try to use their organized crime tactics
In fact, here it is!
2 k. gif
http://m.doubleclick.net/viewad/821789/3ways2_1
Come to the University of Mars! Classes starting soon!
There are other forms of proof of purchase. Check with your accounting department. They should still have invoices for anything you purchased in the last 5-7 years.
Most of the BSA's power comes from EULAs which basically legalize compulsory amputation for copyright violation. In the case of an organization running all OSS software, no EULA's have been signed. No contracts have been signed and no agreements with BSA members have been made.
Such a company has vastly more legal options than a typical company that is Microsoft/Adobe all the way. Let's see:
1. Libel/Slander law. After all they have to have probable cause from someone to make that raid.
2. Laws regarding harassment. Their standard techniques are certainly harrassment if you are contractually obligated to permit it.
3. Their audits basically shut you down while they take your machines apart. There's a basis for a monstrous civil suit.
4. A really good lawyer could probably think up some criminal charges to go along with the civil charges you're going to nail them with. Get the local DA involved as well. Some people have mentioned RICO. A case could be made for it by an all OSS company.
With some perserverence their typical scenario could be turned back around on them. Settle with US and we won't break you over a wheel. The non-legal threat of extremely bad publicity for the member company they're acting on behalf of should generate some nice pressure as well. Actually, all of the above also applies to the members who think they're going to get a win for.
I say go for it.
in which he explains that all your software is legally licensed and if the BSA had any evidence against this, they shall sue you. If not, they shall cease sending you letters like this, unless they want to be sued for threatening you.
http://www.bsa.org/usa/report/offices.phtml
Paste in here:
http://www.bsa.org/usa/report/report.php
Hours of fun, I promise you!
"If you create user accounts, by default, they will have an account type of Administrator with no password." KB Q293834
A friend of mine received a similar letter when he was working for a company in the UK. It was relativiely small (less than 30 people), and they weren't sure what to do, until one of the IT guys who had previously worked for Oracle in the US made a suggestion... lie.
They sent a very legal-looking response to the BSA that stated (paraphrasing here) that they had no pirated software on site and that they were a contractor to the Israeli Security Agency (they weren't of course) and that if the BSA wished to have access to the facility they would need to get joint clearance from Britain's MI5 (the British security service) and the Israeli government before they would be allowed to enter the facility. They even gave the contact information for both agencies. The BSA was never heard from again.
A man I know as a regular in my local pub owns a chain of estate agents. They have 4 branches and they own about 40 PCs and a server or two. The only BSA related software the agency uses is the Windoze OS and a few copies of MS Office which are only used by secretary's (all 100% legit). The main software used for running the agency is actually a bespoke application, developed locally by a small software house.
He got the letter from the BSA mentioning the grace period, thretening a surprise audit etc. He reponded by informing the BSA if they made any attempt to enter any of his premises he would treat the matter as aggravated tresspass and use whatever means necesary to te remove them. The was followed up with a "We are sorry you are taking this attitude, but we have a right blah, blah" letter, but after that he heard nothing.
The BSA may have a (questionable) contractual right to audit your software, what they don't have is the right to enter buildings and act like they have legal backing. I know someone who was at the sharp end of such and audit and aparently it is not very pleasant. The BSA folks do act as if they are policemen and they are very upfront.
The BSA is just a trade body, the software equivalent of the Taxidermists Association of Scotland or the Charterd Institute of Accountants. They exist only to represnt the interests of MS, Adobe etc. They have no legal powers whatsoever. Their powers of enforcement as an organisation are exactly the same as mine as an individual. If they hassle you, ignore them and tell them to sue you or go away, simple as that.
Whatever your moral stance, legally speaking software piracy is wrong. However there are existing mechanisms in place to deal with piracy. The BSA approach seems to be to squeeze the biggest amount of cash out of the existing customers of its members. What about the many SME's that have never, ever bought legit software? How does the BSA deal with these types, given that the BSA probably doesn't even know they exist? I know of several businesses who don't have one single piece of legit software, the BSA doesn't even know they exist. BTW I won't snitch on these businesses, I live in Northern Ireland and I like having knee caps.
The BSA duses extortion to make money for its members. Its picks on those who are largely 100% legit, but may have made mistakes, these are easy targets. It would seem to ignore those who are serial pirates, those who do not intend to now or ever buy software. This approach is easy for the BSA, they really should sort their priorities out.
Thats one reason I dont register.. and *never* purchase under a MOLP type agreement plan..
Its retail white boxes all the way, or OSS packages.
They dont need to know who i am, what im using, or tell me that my software has expired..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
The only thing they're chasing is the guy with the money.
Can I bum a sig? I left mine at the office.
Yes and no. A few years back, the IRS used to audit people and make it a horrible experience. The few neighbors you had that got an audit made it so sooooo bad, people stopped cheating. Then 60 Minutes did a feature on this lady dying of a heart attack in an IRS office (all she had was a W-2and a 1040A) and then people going into mental hospitals. Some people went to prison. Prison?
BSA does audit, and they get you all upset because a few businesses got hammered in the local paper. Then they buy these big clean mailing lists of businesses and send out the letter. And people pay them.
If you have any "former" friends, they can trigger an audit and then it's skid row. AND they are ruthless. Unyielding and mean. The legal fees can put a business out of business.
Some guys have started a reform movement both in Europe and here. They say if this isn't tyranny, then what is?
Have you bought or sold software on eBay? Think about it.
Zap your hard drives and use free software. Their audit software picks up data even if you uninstalled it and reformatted your drive.
No, it's not a scam and for those of us who've lived through it, you either pay the price or spend two years in a BSA hell. I fought it (legal background).
The way to beat this is: do not download their stinking audit software. Do not respond to their letters. That will make any drop-by visits an invasion of privacy.
Next, wipe your every hard drive and use a Microwave to melt their CD roms. (Dangerous unless you've made coasters before.) Get a big fence cutter and break any floppies you have.
Get rid of everything.
I was arrogant. I gave away my rights agreeing to their amnesty.
I let them do an audit on us because we didn't have any M$ stuff. Woooops. A secretary had Windows 98 running. We paid for and produced receipts for all the software, but got hung up on an upgrade. We got something bundled with a piece of hardware, long since broke and gone. That software bundle costs thousands.
Now, we knew the piece of hardware, we knew the box, the packing slip, had the receipt and the packing materials. But, noooooooooo, we were criminals.
Use the grace period (hehe) and get rid of your stuff.But don't agree to or sign anything. And don't imagine your lawyer knows as much as the Boy Scouts of America (BSA - right?)
Will they audit you? Will the IRS?
Probably not. But do't think beause they have bigger fish to fry that they won't show up.
You might get 5 out of 6 on your lottery ticket. Or 6 out of 7. If you get 7 out of 7 look out.
Oh and if you do get a good lottery ticket, tell all your friends and they will buy thousands of lotto's. Heck, just get on stage on TV and thank everyone for contributing to you and lotto sales go through the roof.
That's the BSA's theory.
They're making big money!You think that $43 Billion Macrosoft has in the bank came from innovation? Innovation in the field of legal tyrany.
BTW, you won't find any on my Post. I go around and Zap the drives of anyone in my company that uses the stuff.
It's time for your Senator and Congressman to come to the aide of our Country and reform the damn copyright and patent laws.
Jeeze.
- Dal
Second, if you want them to give you a shitload of freebies, tell them that you're half-way through switching over to linux. Watch how fast a rep comes over and offers you the "latest and greatest".
Third, their "auditing software" only works under Windows. And, of course, if you're stupid enough to allow them access to your machines in the first place, you deserve what you get.
Fourth, insist that, before they connect your computer to your network, tell them that you have to do a virus scan on their machines first. Stick in a linux boot disk, boot off it, the:
- mount their hard drive (the whole thing, not just a partition)
dd if=(whatever garbage you want to write, preferably a BIG file) of=
/dev/mnt/(their partition)
Smile while they try unsuccessfully to rebootLast, but not least, any computers that are owned by employees should be clearly marked as "property of Joe Blow". When the BSA shows up, tell them you don't own any computers, they're all the property of the individual employees, and kindly fuck off, thank you very much.
Remember, you are not required to be polite to anyone attempting to extort money from you. Hell, you're not even required to be polite to the police when they execute a search.
After consulting with his lawyer, he sent a reply to Microsoft along the following lines: "We would be very happy to assist you in this matter, but since your request would take up a considerable amount of time of our employees, we will have to charge you accordingly."
Microsoft's reply to this was: "Oh, well, never mind..."
Does anybody have similar experiences? It seems perfectly legitimate to charge for any such burden imposed by another company. I wonder if there's a profound legal basis, however.
This BSA business has been going on for awhile now, and is apparently proving very profitable to the BSA's member's. Here's a article from eWeek article that explains the tactics in a bit more detail.
Possibly the most misleading and offensive part of this whole mess is the active solicitation by the BSA of "disgruntled" employees willing to rat out their employers. What is hardly mentioned is that, should the BSA claim to have evidence provided by such a source, they must first prove the validity of that source before any legal warrant can be issued. No law enforcement agency will raid a business, big or small, on the uncorroborated word of a suspect source (although, with Ashcroft, you never know). As a few of the posts above have noted, there have already been instances where companies have ratted out rivals in an apparent attempt to gain an business edge from the disruption (Sometimes, you have just gotta love capitalism). If this is in fact happening, I imagine the risks of retaliatory lawsuits by the victimized is sky high, and I'll be willing to bet the dollar amounts awarded to folks unjustly accused will far outweigh any gains the BSA would have made on a few unlicensed copies of Win98.
Then, there's the extra expense of litigation. Whether necessary or not, businesses forced to litigate against the BSA will have no choice but to raise prices to cover the costs of both the case itself an the inevitable increase in insurance rates. Members of the BSA will also be faced with increases in legal spending, and this in turn will only serve to raise prices for their products. How can this be good for anyone?
The thing that really burns me is that, by operating on the assumption that the mere threat of an audit is often enough to make smaller companies roll over on command, the BSA membership demonstrates a callous disregard for their customer base, and an apparent gleeful willingness to offend just about anyone as long as they get the cash. If this is their idea of an acceptable new business model, we are in deep trouble in the days/years to come - UCITA or not.
I'm not tense. I'm just terribly, terribly, alert.