Piracy Setup Discovered in WV Capitol Building

arakis writes "Someone in West Virginia has apparently spent tens of thousands in state funds to acquire computers and video gear to copy movies and music. From the article: 'Ferguson confirmed Tuesday that his staff found the makeshift audio-video studio amid his widening probe into spending and other abuses at the state General Services Division.' Looks like some employees are getting the axe for everything from purchasing abuse to time fraud."

Comments

"Studio"? I think not.

[Kayamon]

Pff... That's not a audio/video studio... that's just a guy downloading and burning some DivX movies.

I think "tens of thousands in state funds" is possibly a bit of an exaggeration.

Fired for overtime!

[LiquidCoooled]

Ferguson recently fired two division staffers, Gary McClanahan and Gary Bryant, after they claimed they had worked 18-hour days 119 times over the course of 2 1/2 years. Ferguson said a $466, 24-inch flat-screen computer monitor was found in Bryant's office but that no evidence suggests either man orchestrated the computer purchases.

Sometimes, an 18hour work day is exactly that.
Some places allow practically all the overtime you can log - simply because its cheaper to let you work greater hours than to hire/train somebody up to your role.

Firing them because they were hard workers is wrong.
Firing them because they made fraudulant claims is right.

(they do sound like the BOFH and PFY though don't they)

Gotta love that headline.

[plasmacutter]

Are we back into the days of yellow journalism here?

tens of thousands in "piracy equipment"? "computers and video gear"?!

last time i checked my 3 towers and 9 hard disks didn't cost tens of thousands (and two of them are macs!)

piracy setup? come on now! a tower with dvd decryptor and a couple hundred gigs of avis and mp3's is now a vast piracy setup. that's funny. If this is the headline for such a pitifully small collection, i wander if the headline for the arrest of someone on my res hall would read "international organized piracy syndicate taken down".

Re:I seriously doubt it

[SatanicPuppy]

Carrot and the Stick.

RIAA: "See the nice juicy carrot, you know you want the carrot"
Congress: "Mmmmmm, carrot"
RIAA: "Now we want you to pass a law making it legal for our representatives to hunt iPod users, because piracy supports terrorism, and all iPod users are pirates."
Congress: "Welll, I don't know...there are a lot of iPods out there..."
RIAA: "This is a stick. This is what you get when you don't get the carrot. Wouldn't you rather have the carrot?"
Congress: "Well, yea, but we can't just..."
RIAA: "BAD CONGRESS! *WHACK* *WHACK* *WHACK* BAD LEGISLATORS MAKE THE BABY JESUS CRY! *WHACK* *WHACK*"
Congress: "Owwwww...okay, okay"