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SCO Caught Copying
linuxwrangler writes "While accusing everyone else of copying "their" code, SCO has meanwhile been caught copying documentation. In fact they copied several chapters of the Book of Webmin directly into their online documentation. While the book is available online, it is not licensed for redistribution. Details are sparse but it appears that SCO had to pay the publisher for using the material."
Things are awfully silent around SCO lately...Cat got Darl's tongue?
Hate me!
They only paid after they were caught.
They paid after the fact to settle the copyright violation. Same as you paying for a speeding ticket because you did bad.
Help Brendan pay off his student loans
Yea right. I would expect that if you are going to try to destroy companies and extort money as such SCO has you would be cleaner than St. Peter. But nothing surprises me.
So if they paid the publisher for the documentation, why is this even a story?
Because the were stealing, and like... not respecting the inviolable rights of someone else to not have their stuff pinched. They're terrorists like Linux Torvols.
They didn't pay for it until someone noticed. Very underhanded.
Because, if you RTFA you will notice the words "copyright infringement settlement." In other words, they took without authorization first, got caught, then paid.
While accusing everyone else of copying "their" code, SCO has meanwhile been caught copying documentation
Hypocrits? ONLINE? My gosh... what is this world coming to?
<insert witty linux comment here>
The irony here is palpable. Not that we expected anything more. Aren't there suspicions that their "Linux Kernel Personality" is a direct Linux ripoff as well?
Error 404 - Sig Not Found
Because they didn't pay for the rights to use the works and then use them. They just copied the works, got caught infringing on the copyrights, and settled with the publisher by paying them off -- as to avoid a lawsuit.
http://www.archive.org/details/ThePowerOfNightmares
Bad Darl, bad, go to your office with no stock options...
This is not the sig line you are looking for... -- Old Jedi Sig Line Trick
I know I speak for many on /. when I say:
BWAAAAA HAAAAA HAAAA HAAAA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
thanks, I feel better now.
i'm going issue SCO an invoice for $699.
i know what you're thinking. well it doesn't matter that i don't hold the copyright, isn't that right SCO?
Marge, get me your address book, 4 beers, and my conversation hat.
its not that uncommon for a slimeball to go around and accuse others of doing what they themselves are doing. Thats the first sign of a cheating husband, he starts accusing his wife of running around.
Are we really shocked that SCO was stealing someone elses IP?
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
Umm cause THEY VIOLATED COPYRIGHT. Pointing fingers at the linux community while they are guilty of doing the same type of crime.
.. the linux community isnt guilty ..whereas THEY are.
And, of course the major difference
Well at least SCO will attempt to make there money back by finding a Red Hat Linux disc in the publishers IT Room and sue for millions! :rollseyes:
So if they paid the publisher for the documentation, why is this even a story?
/. summary.
Because the were stealing, and like... not respecting the inviolable rights of someone else to not have their stuff pinched.
If they paid, then in exchange for the money they got a non-public license to redistribute the content.
If they didn't pay and get a proper deal, then they stole.
That's a huge difference that isn't clear in the
Copyrighs on books published on the web is unconstitutional
- We are the slashdot. Resistance is futile. Prepare to be moderated -
SCO spokesperson Blake Stowell could not be reached for comment.
What was that phrase again "people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones"? This story may not be news, but it's important to note how SCO is no better than everyone else next time Darl gets on his soapbox.
I think it is saying that was their punishment.
I almost forgot for a sec that this is slashdot and that no one reads the articles.
Ha ha!
is there anyone out there to whom sco does not seem like a big joke?
if there was one smart person left in that company, they will remain quit, stop their court activities and die a peacefull death. i do not care about the harm sco may do to the gnu and linux community (because they do no harm), but i care about the harm they do to computer business in general. it is hard enough to raise vc nowadays, don't destroy the image of software companies any longer.
beer as in "free beer"
Does this mean that the authors of the Book of Webmin now own the SCO documentation? Cool!
Quite interesting.
You know, I swear that posts are going up faster and faster. I clicked, wrote a quick reply, and when I check, there are 6 other posts saying exactly the same thing as mine.
That'll teach me to be baited in such a blatant way by a question that is so clearly not intended to be replied to.
Just so that I don't come off sounding rediculous or offtopic, let me say something that is original.
SCO as an organization didn't do this. One lazy person or group which was supposed to write documentation decided not to write their own. It may be that we can take this as a compliment to the Book of Webmin. It was so well written that SCO couldn't even improve upon it... wait... is that a compliment?
But SCO did put their money where their mouth is. They copied text, waited for someone to notice, then paid up without a court order. That's pretty much the way most businesses work.
Post: Sigged, for your pleasure.
As to this infringement, I demand RIAA-style copyright sentencing. For each possible infringement SCO should have to pay the maximum fine, multiplied by the total possible number of people who had access to the material. Given that it's posted online on a public site, and not in a limited user base network (ala p2p) this means the entire world population had access and SCO should be fined roughly the total value of all money produced in the world from 1972 to present.
If our justice system is going to let all these companies warp the law as they do it seems only fair they should fall prey to their own tactics.
-- I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist. It's not my fault that life sucks so much. --
How many times do we have to tell you people - copyright infringement ISN'T STEALING no matter who does it.
I hear SCO can license the Book of Webmin for the low, low price of $699 per document they want to use it in...
"let he who is without sin cast the first lawsuit"
True, however here it did not sound like there was a question of who owned the infringed upon text, it was a clear-cut case of copyright infringement, SCO realized that and paid up.
In the SCO vs World case, the ownership issue is still one that will need to be settled before most of the cases can go anywhere. Expect that if the courts rule that SCO does in fact own the code that they claim to, that plenty of companies with little prompting will pay up.
Help Brendan pay off his student loans
Comment removed based on user account deletion
After all, if SCO does it, gets sued, and settles, it's funny and bad and an illustration of how evil SCO is.
But when a pirate does it, gets sued, and settles, somehow it's evil that the RIAA sued in the first place and the pirate is the good guy martyr.
How else would a customer know that their business wasn't using some illegal components that they couldn't depend on in the future because their vendor might have to remove them.
Just think if SCO or some other OS you might be using might be dependant on an illegally-copied component. Your business would be SOL if they had to remove it and couldn't find a replacement. Yipes. I think we should be insisting on audits of the commmercial packages we buy.
SCUM announced today the latest version of their Lawsuit Generator Wizard package. The updated version now has a web enabled user interface. "Using our patented lawsuit generator, companies can quickly and efficiently file numerous complaints without leaving their computer." said Blame Snowell. "People can now generate lawsuits from anywhere that has Internet access", said Darn McNugget, "even from non extradition treaty countries."
The new version has a simpler user interface than previous versions. The user answers a series of simple questions. Many questions are multiple choice.
For instance: "Do you want to sue a [x] current or [_] former [x] customer or [_] business partner? Do you have an existing contract to use against them?
You can specify a defendant, or the software can randomly assign a defendant. Administrivia such as filing the documents with the court, sending copies to the defendant's lawyers, and generating the certificate of service is handled automatically. The Professional Edition will generate motions and memorandums in support of those motions.
New modules in the updated package include the Affirmative Defense generator which automatically answers each of the defendant's counterclaims. For particularly unfavorable counterclaims, a motion to dismiss is automatically generated. In the Professional Edition, a new Case Law History module has been added. This module can find marginally relevant case law and then selectively quote favorable sounding portions using the selective quoting tool.
Industry rumors have been circulating that a new add on module is in the works and was expected to be released last quarter. Lack of this module has apparently been a significant setback to the company. Company officials have been unusually quiet about this. Sources suggest that the rumored package is a Lie Management add on, which can also run stand alone. It has been rumored that the core engine was licensed from Microshaft. Company officials declined to comment.
Anonymous sources told us on condition of remaining unprosecuted, that the Lie Management module can manage competing bundles of lies that are told to multiple parties. The lie consistency checker helps keep stories straight, preventing a runaway lie cascade of escalating magnitude. A bit of truth, from a large predefined gallery, can be mixed in to give documents a professional sense of credibility.
"This is a perfect example of how corporations can benefit from proprietary software over open source software" said analyst Lorra DiDdlings.
Also updated is the Case Scheduling module which generates motions to unnecessarily delay the case. If multiple cases are concurrently in progress, the software is now able to coordinate the motions into a deadlock such that each case depends upon the outcome of the other cases.
Company officials confirmed the development of a companion product, the SEC Filing wizard. This separate package will fully integrate with the Lawsuit Ganerator if both are installed together. Pricing and the expected release date were not available.
Analyst Robber Pretenderle said "I give SCUM a 99% chance of winning their lawsuits based on their statements alone." The company's stock rose quickly on the news. (symbol: SCUM)
About SCUM.
SCUM, the owner of all software operating systems, is the leading provider of business lawsuits worldwide. Suing and threatening customers and business partners in over 86 countries, SCUM provides a full range of litigation fiascos. The recognized leader worldwide in providing lawsuit protection licenses, SCUM has been in business for over 25 years.
SCUM, Lie, and Lawsuit are trademarks of The SCUM Grope. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
This story contains forward looking statements. Investors are advised that some forward looking statements may look further out than the expected life of the company.
Any similarity to the truth is unintentional and purely coincidental.
The price of freedom is eternal litigation.
It's not "information," it's unique creative works that are protected. If you want to protect your "information," you keep it secret as best you can. If you want to share your "information," you copyright your work and begin publishing it. People can use your "information" but cannot copy you verbatim.
Who do you get to be an expert to tell you something's not obvious? The least insightful person you can find? -J Roberts
The book of Webmin is a great reference for a great tool. I've used both to take the initial fear of Linux out of newbie admins. Once I show them how frigging easy even SENDMAIL config is under webmin, they jump right in.
You are not the customer.
The world does not need convincing, the courts do. Popular opinion is not what sways a judge, facts do.
Help Brendan pay off his student loans
"Details are sparse..."
This should prefix ALL slashdot stories.
14:24 < chmeee> I'll say this about SCO: they have great documentation
Darl, it looks like you're in control of two things right now: Jack and Shit. And Jack just left town...
... there must be a "Darl Strangelove" joke in here somewhere...
on hindsight of cease and desist letters:
"Based on the findings of the report, my conclusion was that this idea was not a practical deterrent for reasons which at this moment must be all too obvious. "
on Free information:
"Of course, the whole point of a Doomsday Machine is lost if you keep it a secret! Why didn't you tell the world?"
-- @rjamestaylor on Ello
Two more points down, and SCOX will be back where it was before all the lawsuits, down around 3. That level looks likely within a month.
Another interesting resource, the new Yahoeuvre megachart. Plots shareprice vs events (and more).
Not Webmin. The Book of Webmin by Joe Cooper. The linked article says that it's owned by No Starch Press. That doesn't mean I don't hate SCO either. *grin*
-- Friends don't let friends buy Nokia.
"pimenta no cu do outros é refresco" (red peper in somebody else's arse is refreshment)
What ? Me, worry ?
This post is a troll. Check his link for "GPL." (Not safe for work). I thought it was odd that it went to about.com, instead of something more obvious like the Free Software Foundation's site. He's using about.com to redirect to a disgusting picture of what appears to be feces on a woman's face. Check his posting history, lots of trolling.
I know a lot of people feel that there is some sort of hypocracy from Slashdot because some people are pro-GPL while some (not necessarily the same) people are anti-RIAA, but actually check that you're not being trolled before you up-mod it!
Search 2010 Gen Con events
The real important thing is that the stocks are going down, the money flies away and that sco closes down and we never hear about them ever. I think I dream of that very often...
This is totally insecure, but very convenient.
People don't blindly follow laws just because it's the law. I follow the law when I think it's fair, reasonable, and justified. The GPL is very fair and very reasonable, and is designed to give users as much freedom and empowerment over their system as possible. The RIAA want's to do exactly the opposite.
When I can respect where something is coming from like the GPL, I'm more inclined to comply with it. I can't say the same for the RIAA's stuff.
FYI... There is a new article at groklaw describing a ruling in the Canopy vs. Novell case.
For those who don't know, this is yet another case where Canopy (parent company of SCO) says that what is written in the contract isn't as important as the oral agreements they made, and that what the parties agreed to is the opposite of what the written contract says they agreed to.
The price of freedom is eternal litigation.
Yep. In fact, I think the second meaning listed -- "Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs" -- is actually the original one, and the linguistic usage of "irony" is a later construction.
Alanis Morisette's stupid song has created a generation of wannabe language Nazis who jump on any perceived misuse of the word, and often embarrass themselves in the process. They're not language Nazis at all; they're not competent enough to be Nazis. They're language Italian Fascists!
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
It's not *exactly* the same. You can't pay royalties to the State Patrol and get authorization to speed, for example.
Oh? What about law? Precedents? Politics? Personal beliefs?
@HbFyo0$k8 tH!$
It was a crime before the DMCA, see 17 U.S.C. 506. (a).
I do not have a signature
Yes, SCO was caught violating copyright. Is there any company in the world that doesn't do this, on occasion, by accident, or because some employee pretends he wrote something he didn't? I doubt it.
The test of respecting the copyright, however, isn't *never* violating one, but fixing it when you realize you have. SCO did exactly what it should have, here, and both parties are perfectly satisfied with the result, I should think. SCO's quick action shows that they are eager to demonstrate how much they respect copyrights of others.
Does any of this mean SCO's suit is more or less merited? No, of course not. Does this infringement make them hypocrites? Not unless those filing the lawsuits sanctioned this infringment.
Now, the one point that someone made which has some validity is that SCO is hypcritical to suggest that Linux's review process is tainted, when they themselves are unable to review sufficiently to avoid infringement. SCO has no business complaining about the review process of any software if they cannot guarantee their products are 100% clean (and no one can, of course). SCO has made that argument to make Linux sound out of control and "scary," but it is not really a legal argument, just a tactic.
Like SCO's documentation, Linux is open for review at any time by anyone. Like SCO's documentation, if something infringing is in Linux, it is likely to be noticed by the copyright holder. SCO is saying that they have noticed such a thing, but unfortunately isn't able to point it out. That is what makes this documentation case so cut-and-dry, and the Linux one so out of control.
Personally, I think SCO should put up or shut up...but the fact that they were caught infringing, and made amends doesn't do anything to the validity of their suit. From their point of view (assuming they actually believe there is infringement), they are just asking for the same treatment they offered here.
-Dan
It goes like this.
Good person:
1) Pay for content
2) Get content.
Bad person:
1) Get content.
2) if (Gets_Caught())
Pay_For_Content();
else
Never_Pay();
The point is, they likely wouldn't have paid if they didn't get caught, and they still broke the law. Do you say everything's ok and you're just like a normal, honest citizen after you've served your 4 years in jail for auto theft, or do you have a GTA record?
Support my political activism on Patreon.
Was that SCO, like the RIAA, is further evidence that you can tell alot about the misdeeds of an organization based on the wild accusations that they make against everybody in the world.
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
OK, but how would you fix this? OK, some dipshit is a troll... I don't think it's fair to expect mods to examine his history and make a judgement call on every poster they look at.
The mods messed up, other mods caught it... check and balances and all that shit.
Now, there is something to be said for checking a poster's history before responding (to avoid said trolls), but even that it tough to trust, given that any number of valid opinions (against the quasi-groupthink around here) can get you moderated troll...
"Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel." - A.B.
The reason SCO acted so quickly wasn't because they respect other peoples copyrights, since they obviously didn't check before ripping this material off.
It's simply that to do otherwise given their current legal shenanigans would have been foolish.
There's no honour involved, just cold calculation of the lawyer variety.
oh brave new world, that has such people in it!
Webmin should have sued SCO without mentioning any details that would allow correcting the problem. :>
I think he means notorious warez mastermind Linux The Vole. He didn't actually *write* Windows, he just stole it and incorporated it into his own operating system, SuxOS
They copied text, waited for someone to notice, then paid up without a court order.
I love that logic. It's okay for SCO to knowingly infringe on others' IP as long as they pony up when they get caught.
That's pretty much the way most businesses work.
What company do you work for? The company I work for would be very upset about unknowingly infringing someone's copyright. If it wasn't an accident, the person responsible would be fired -- well, as long as it wasn't one of the CxOs, of course (then they'd find ten real workers to blame and fire).
I never short stocks. Bought stocks can go to zero and all you loose is the entire principal. If on a fluke you shorted SCO and by another fluke they won in court, you can loose many times your investment. You could owe your entire future. The sky is the limit on your potential losses. I'd rather diversify than have the potential for unlimited losses. The potential of unlimited growth is why I'm in the market. The thought of unlimited loss is pretty scarry.
This is standard anti-shorting FUD. You can (and should) just as easily limit/hedge loss on a short position as on a long, and even if you don't no broker will let you go infinitely negative on any position, so your losses are limited to what you choose to risk.
That said, one of the biggest problems with the market today is not enough people take short positions on the questionable stocks. This creates a bias in the market because everyone wants "the market" to go up--meaning they want bad stocks rise in value along with good stocks. But that's just another way of saying "bubble" which is bad for everyone but the few crooks who get away with the goods without getting caught.
If you want a healthy market, learn how to short stocks, look for idiots trying to scam the system, and nail them for a tiddy profit. It's fun, it's helps the good guys and hurts the bad, and if you do your homework (you should always do your homework) it's an easier and safer way to make a profit than buying into the FUD and going long across the board.
-- MarkusQ
I've got nothing against Microsoft Users... it's just their Overlord I can't stand.
= 9J =
I just went there and kinda appreciated their way to wave good bye. Apparently being fired gave some of the crew the freedom to finally say what they think about their ex-boss.
Go look yourself:
http://www.sco.pl/
605413? Yes, it's a prime.
I know most of you prefer nothing more than foaming at the mouth, and checking facts isn't needed, but here are some:
www.webmin.com/partners.html
www.webmin.com/theage.html
www.webmin.com/intro.html
www.webmin.com/trans.html
So are you sure the book didn't copy the Webmin online doc, that Caldera made a significant contribution to. Who needs facts?
"Do you say everything's ok and you're just like a normal, honest citizen after you've served your 4 years in jail for auto theft, or do you have a GTA record?"
Is that like owning a vinyl copy of Cutting Crew's Died In Your Arms Tonight? If so, its a pretty harsh sentence.
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"