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BSA Accuses OpenOffice Mirrors
sqrt529 writes "A German university was accused by the BSA of pirating MS Office, because they mirrored OpenOffice.org. The scripts from the BSA only check for "Office" in the filename and then automatically send out notices to the ftp admins. Did any of you get similar notices from the BSA?"
I know that some search sites "spider" ftp sites, but couldn't ftp site owners change the license agreements for their sites to disallow the spidering of their site for the explicit purpose of trying to find specific files. In this way the search spiders can still work, but a spider "looking" for anything specifically would not be allowed? I don't know if this type of thing is common in other contexts that may negatively be impacted by such a change though?
From the letter:
BSA represents that the information in this notification is accurate and states, under penalty of perjury, that it is authorized to act in this matter on behalf of the copyright owners listed above.
So the BSA has perjured itself; now what is the penalty?
Filename:
The above computer program(s) is/are being made available for copying, through downloading, at the above location without authorization from the copyright owner(s).
It seems almost astonishing that even the BSA can be as utterly incompetent as this (does BSA stand for Bloody Stupid Alliance?). Unless you go for the conspiracy theory that they're deliberately hassling their clients rivals...
From the BSA letter in the article:
>> FTP Login Name: anonymous
>> FTP Login Password: guest@nowhere.com
Hmm. Using a spoofed (or at least, invalid) e-mail address?
As most FTP servers allow anonymous access if you "Please provide e-mail address as password", I'd call that gaining access under false pretences. Is the BSA representing those same companies that get so pissy when people (for privacy reasons) use spoofed details on web "please register" forms?
If they can do it, so can we. I won't feel so guilty - not that I did anyway - next time I install software and register it to "nobody@mindyourownbusiness.com"..
I think that the practice of letting computers/searches/scripts do all of the work without applying any human intelligence to the process has become more and more common. Yes, it's worse in my mind when the BSA does it because I'm biased against them in the first place, but to be fair it's spread to just about everybody in my recent experience. I just moved, and when my wife and I changed our driver's licenses over she got a semi-threatening letter because she didn't also change over her car registration (our only car is registered in my name for no reason I can think of). I recently had my account put on hold by PayPal and then restored, but in the interim I sent a question to their help staff regarding something else entirely. Someone (apparently a bot?) from PP replied to me and said, basically "we can't restore your account until you do X, Y , and Z. Please contact us if you have any further questions. Thank you!" I don't think it's a good thing that organizations have become this brain-dead, but the BSA certainly can't patent a method for making themselves look like idiots by letting a search tool plow blindly through a set of data for them. Plenty of prior art there...
"Linux doesn't exist. Everyone knows Linux is an unlicensed version of Unix"- Kieren O'Shaughnessy
If you check the BSA e-mail, they logged into the anonymous FTP resource with the address "guest@nowhere.com", which is obviously fake.
... they have lied when asked for their e-mail address!
In the UK this could be construed as attempting to access a system un-lawfully
It's clear the much feared BSA has made a mistake.
However, since their actions in the past have caused untold scrambling to find licenses on the part of many law-abiding but sloppy businesses, I think it is only fair that BSA likewise be caused to scramble. Because the BSA, likewise, has now been sloppy.
The university should have lawyer draft up some pompous letter indicating that
[I know, it will be only a paper tiger and never stand up. But I'm sure I'm not the only one that fantasizes about seeing the BSA have to eat their own dogfood for a change.]
"Provided by the management for your protection."
As it happens, I'm due to meet with the chairman of the BSA in the UK, a fortnight from now, to grill him about issues like this. What would you put to him, in that position?
Sue them for diffamation. In some moment they should learn that accussing someone for things nobody did have a cost (at least a generous salary for the one that had to check their affirmation, administrative costs, etc).
Terrorists don't have to send bombs around to spread terror and cause economic chaos... just mail in the name of BSA letters to all companies that inform that illegal software was detected in their systems and next week will go a team to check licenses, and billons of dollars will be lost.
In fact, I think BSA is fitting very well in the "terrorist" definition, could US army invade them to avoid further damage?
OpenOffice should sue for "unlauterer Wettbewerb". A competitor of theirs is using scare tactics to dissuade people from distributing OpenOffice. It's as if Burger King employees disguised as FDA inspectors raided a Mac Donald, showed phony badges, and told all customers standing in line that the hamburgers were infested with salmonella...
I note that the BSA email includes the details of how they accessed the "violating" software. This includes the anonymous ftp login using
login: anonymous
password: guest@nowhere.com
I doubt that the address guest@nowhere.com connects to the person that runs the script for the BSA. If servers had the policy requirement that all anonymous access required a valid email address as the anonymous login password the letter from the BSA would provide a valid point to charge the BSA with illegal access to a system.
Also if the BSA does not represent the copyright/left holders for OpenOffice then the BSA is open for a claim of false representation.
>> Based upon BSA's representation of the copyright owners in anti-piracy
>> matters, we have a good faith belief that none of the materials or
>> activities listed above have been authorized by the rightholders, their
>> agents, or the law. BSA represents that the information in this
>> notification is accurate and states, under penalty of perjury, that it is
>> authorized to act in this matter on behalf of the copyright owners listed
>> above.
not for defamation, for perjury:
:
from the mail
BSA represents that the information in this
notification is accurate and states, under penalty of perjury, that it is
authorized to act in this matter on behalf of the copyright owners listed
above.
they (BSA) obviously played it very softly(apologies and thanks), cause they feel a little weak on this one.
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act
The BSA is certainly morally corrupt but I must admit I don't understand what the parent poster was trying to say by suggesting they should fall under RICO.
-j
Public FTP servers usually have the restriction that the user enter a valid email address, which the BSA's spidering/searching software faked in order to gain access.
Hell, isn't that illegal under the DMCA? They're circumventing a protection measure to gain access to digitally protected work. Heh. That'd be awesome, if someone would sue the BSA for breaching the DMCA...
Also, here in the US, it's very common to be charged a flat fee for internet service, such that one would pay (say) $400 a month for a guaranteed pipeline of 3Mbits (numbers are made up, but you get the idea.) Whereas, in other parts of the world, billing is much more commonly based on the amount of data transferred. Which means that if I host a server here, I pay for the line to it - no matter if the machine is accessed once or two million times in a month, whereas in other countries (especially Europe, including Germany), the difference between once and two million accesses is quite large, and may result in higher bills due to more data transfer.
My point is that the BSA wasted bandwidth, needlessly scared a sysadmin at a German university, and may have even violated the DMCA in doing so. Again... Wow, that was stupid of them.
Many of the tactics that BSA employs would actually be illegal if the law was applied in an even-handed approach. BSA operates be threats and false premises. The problem is that they have the backing of our current admin (Clinton's admin was not much better). If they treaten you and you do not comply, they get a warrent and come back with Ashcroft's FBI, who then take ALL of your computers for the next year. I have been told by somebody that they can hold the equipment up to 5 years. We used to get upset when these kind of actions were done in Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, and a number of third world dictatoships. Now, it is all in the name of security.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Subj: MIT's policies regarding copyrights
---------------
In recent weeks, many members of our Community have received a letter from BSA (Business Software Alliance; www.bsa.org) and/or heard BSA sponsored advertisements regarding software licensing compliance.
At this time, I write to remind people of the Institute's copyright policy (see: for a complete statement of the policy):
At this time, MIT is not aware that the BSA has been granted authority to enforce the copyrights of its members. If the BSA contacts you regarding an alleged infringement, MIT's standard practices should be followed. The BSA should be directed to Stop-it, the MIT unit with responsibility for following-up on copyright infringement complaints resulting from network-based activities. Stop-it is found at stopit@mit.edu or at .
Without specific written authority from a copyright holder or other valid legal authority, the BSA has no right to inspect MIT computers for illegal copies of software. MIT most likely will have licenses covering the software in question. Those licenses often spell out the audit rights of the vendor as well as the rights MIT has to make copies of the software. Anyone approached by the BSA with a complaint of software piracy should confirm the license status before proceeding further. In the event appropriate licensed use cannot be confirmed, James D Bruce, VP for Information Systems, should be contacted for appropriate follow-up with BSA representatives.
For further advice on matters concerning BSA inquiries or copyright infringement in general, please contact the Office of Intellectual Property Counsel at (XXX) YYY-YYYY, the Office for the VP for Information Systems at (YYY) XXX-XXXX or Stopit (stopit@mit.edu).
In California, it's probably extortion, too. "Extortion: To unlawfully obtain money, property, or any other thing of value, either tangible or intangible, through the use or threat of force, misuse of authority, threat of criminal prosecution, threat of destruction of reputation or social standing, or through other coercive means." That's a felony. Because there was an illegal predicate act, the "unlawfully" element of extortion is satisfied.
Some legal action is definitely indicated.
To get raided by the FBI a warrent needed to be issued. For a warrent to be issued evidence needed to be presented. If the BSA fabricated evidence they're liable for all the damages caused by the raid + punative damages.
The BSA is effective because many companies are rather cavalier in terms of piracy to the point that executives have moved right into the criminal violations catagory. Faced with a choice between paying the BSA's fine and actually having a law enforcement agency invistigate they go for the fine. I've seen far more piracy in corporations than I have BSA abuse. Managers that would never think of allowing (or sometimes even ordering) employees to steal physical goods have no problems ordering them to do the same with electronic property.
What was located as infringing content: /mandrake_current/SRPMS/OpenOffice.org-1.0.1-9mdk. src.rpm
(199,643kb)
Filename:
Filename: /mandrake_current/i586/Mandrake/RPMS/OpenOffice.or g-libs-1.0.1-9mdk.i586.rpm
(35,444kb)
Notice the line:
Filename: /mandrake_current/i586/Mandrake/RPMS/OpenOffice.or g-libs-1.0.1-9mdk.i586.rpm
(35,444kb)
The bolded text is what the script must have caught! how hilarious! it searches for *MS*OFFICE* LOL What a lame script! whoever wrote that script needs to be shot!