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Man Gets 6 Years for Software Piracy
smooth wombat writes "In what prosecutors are calling 'the ultimate case', a Florida man has been sentenced to six years in prison for selling illegal copies of computer programs. From the article: 'Danny Ferrer, of Lakeland, Fla., pleaded guilty in June to conspiracy and copyright infringement charges after an FBI investigation of his Web site, BuysUSA.com. Ferrer also was ordered to pay more than $4.1 million in restitution to software makers Adobe Systems Inc., Autodesk, and Macromedia Inc.' The judge ordered that items he bought with the money, including airplanes, a Lamborghini and other cars, be sold off to pay for the restitution."
He should've just wiped his hard drive, and presto! no evidence. Oh, wait...
I can understand the steep financial penalty, but 6 years seems awfully harsh for a crime where no one was physically harmed.
It's one thing downloading software illegally online, but charging others for it brings things down to a whole new level, whether it be Office or the NES famiclone knockoffs.
He was charging suckers for this pirate software and not even providing the courtesy of an nfo.
Good riddance.
Does this mean I'm getting less spam from him? I'm still getting a lot which offer s1gnificant disc0unts on s0ftware
Bugs me it took long enough to take this guy out for him to buy all that stuff. Clearly the BSA or whatever industry watchdog isn't terribly vigilant, unless it comes to a knock on your company door, wishing to audit all your software licences and installations, while this potlicker was operating within the USA long enough to amass a fortune.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Once again, not really news. This doesn't change anything, selling bootlegs, pirate copies etc has always been a criminal act, and even if restrictions on downloading or trading with friends are legislated, selling someone elses work will still be punished.
Food not Bombs is a nice platitude but it breaks down when you notice that the Bombees are usually well fed
Why couldn't he just operate his business outside the country? If he was making millions, he could have easily ran his business from any corner of the planet.
If i wanted to hear bullshit, i'd go to church.
"Ferrer bought numerous airplanes, a fighter-jet simulator, a Lamborghini, a Hummer and other luxury vehicles with his profits." At least he didn't waste the money....I think my lottery shopping list is similar.
What has this got to do with my rights online? This doofus was obviously a blatant criminal, and I'm happy he has to pay back the money he earned. A "feeding tube for his sick wife"? Give me a fucking break. The guy bought a Lamborghini and a fighter jet-simulator. Somehow I think "a certain amount of greed" is bit of an understatement.
What could there possibly be to discuss about a case like this? Move along everybody.
This is the kind of thing that we should be cracking down on, the commercial pirates, not teenagers and old ladies who download a song or two.
This guy is driving exotic cars and ripping off people at both sides, the companies who actually create the stuff, and the unsuspecting comsumer (read: idiot) who paid for this stuff thinking he was getting a good deal, and winds up getting screwed (not that you can really sympathize with anyone dumb enough to fall for this, but I guess greed overcomes common sense).
GCC is free software right?
So are the hundreds of other tools?
Skippy.
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
Six years is a long time. I read about real criminals--wife beaters, sex offenders, recidivist criminals who have committed multiple crimes--getting comparable time. Don't get me wrong, this guy is a criminal but six years for a nonviolent crime? That seems like a zealous prosecutor who knew this would get a lot of press.
Looks like he should of HELD UP a BANK instead, and gotten off with 5-10, and better status in the joint -- Hey, buddy, what you in for? Uh, copyright infraction. Why you little (bang!, pow!, #($*%$Y&*#)
Now there's one business model that certainly could have benefited from picking FOSS.
Hey, here's an idea: maybe we should push this as counter-FUD:
Man sentenced to six years for picking proprietary software
Intrinsic risks of "poison pill" licenses overlooked by many
It's just a thought.
--MarkusQ
I can understand the steep financial penalty, but 6 years seems awfully harsh for a crime where no one was physically harmed.
By that definition, the Enron board, the WorldCom board and all others who cause purely financial damages should be given light sentences.
Noble ideals aside, in a monetized society, money does become essential: Without it, you don't get to eat, don't get health insurance, lose your home, etc.
This guy made enough he could buy sportscars, planes, the works. Even if you just look at the $4.1m restitution, that's a lot of salaries Adobe, Macromedia and Autodesk could have paid. It's easy to dismiss it as "Oh well, they're big companies, no harm, no foul." but it becomes much more of an issue when they cut the job of a guy whose health insurance got his daughter treatment for cancer.
So, yes, there's no easy direct link to physical harm caused. But the trickle down effect, just like the Enron and Worldcom guys wiping out people's retirements, may well be far more dramatic overall than a single assault. Given that you can't track down every indirect result, all you can do is look at the quantity of money, get a feel for the effects the fraudulent reappropriation of that likely had, and then accept that increasing dollar amounts can be translated in to just as increasing "likelihood" of physical harm.
Is say physical assualt bad? Absolutely. And whilst worse for one person, I'm not convinced the overall suffering is actually worse than say ten guys facing the gnawing fear of layoffs, ten wives dealing with losing their homes they poured their souls in to, ten kids having to deal with daddy suddenly being unemployed and having to move away from friends and ten families living with the risk of no medical insurance.
This is fitting for the guy selling. As opposed to "casual" software piracy of the type that just about everybody does at some point.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
This absolutely put an end to what I call the good old days of computing for me. You know those days when you where on IRC trying to find the latest build of Windows 98. Those were the days...
So the guy was selling commercial software without a license, obviously doing so for profit, obviously none of the money went to the creators of the software.
I think he got what he deserved, he was clearly stealing.
You can't handle the truth.
If you call (863)534-5888, or email them, the Polk County (Lakeland, FL) Supervisor of Elections clerk will tell you that Danny Ferrer, of XXXX Moore Rd in Lakeland, has been a registered Republican since 1994, right before the Republicans took over Congress. I wonder if Danny works with Hank Asher the other Republican Florida software bigshot?
BTW, please don't call and/or hassle the clerk. She's very nice, the info is public, but why slashdot her right before she takes the weekend off?
--
make install -not war
Macromedia? Hmm, no such company exists so it might be hard to give them money.
Man thrown into prison for breaking the law. Stay tuned for more developments.
"You will pay for your lack of vision..." - Emperor Palpatine to Ray Charles
Its one thing to download software and use it yourself,but to try to profit off of it is more then just wrong.I'm glad he is doin time.
Apart from all the things that might be said about this, look at it this way: the entire story is mostly about bunches of electrons moving this way and that. Programmer puts bytes in a certain order on a disk; cracker takes them off of it and tweaks some; they scoot over the backbone to the server; browsers suck them out, organizing hard drive space in interesting ways, and some more electrons move, but these are now money going from one account to the other. No physical things get disturbed in any way.
And then out of the aether come all those planes and go-fast cars.
I can assure you, the best way to get rid of dragons is to have one of your own.
Is a computer software maker selling your copyrighted software (GPL) without the making the source vailable? If so, they could face six years in jail! Let's lock SCO's management up now since they are attempting to sell "IP Licenses For Linux" which go against the GPL.
I wonder how many adobe acrobat software packages you have to sell to pay for a Lamborghini? I mean seriously, this guy was making piles of money:
Ferrer's Web site began selling software in 2002 and was shut down by the FBI in October 2005, authorities said. Prosecutors said the illegal sales cost the software companies as much as $20 million, but industry officials say the amount could be higher.
How exactly were these numbers computed?? This is all going back to the dead horse "but people wouldn't have bought the package if it was too expensive" argument; figuring the losses as each unit sold being a loss is absurd.
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
"This is the kind of thing that we should be cracking down on, the commercial pirates, not teenagers and old ladies who download a song or two. "
Rather than debate your silly argument, I'll just recommed you read this.
Judging by the amount he got from this, he was not exactly small fry. Who knows what lengths he went to protecting an illicit business of that size ..
From this list: numerous airplanes, a fighter-jet simulator, a Lamborghini, a Hummer and other luxury vehicles he was clearly not a stealthy individual. That's a pretty ostentatious list of items and I would be inclined to think the US Treasury Department would have noticed this first. Florida officials may have had him confused with a drug lord or professional athelete with such conspicous consumption.
Spending money like you hit the Powerball Jackpot often garners attention at some point.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
I fail to see how 6yrs and $4.1Mill in fines to Adobe, Macromedia, and Autodesk serves the public trust. Yes, he was doing a disservice to corporations, however you don't know how many legitimate users were spawned from his acts. I know, I know, its not about possibilities, only certainties when it comes to the law, right?
/disgusted with the whole system
6 yrs for Copyright Infringement? I imagine if you do a comparison of what other crimes will get you six years or less, you'd be baffled at this judgement (I'm lazy, you look it up). Especially when this is more of a CIVIL issue rather than criminal, IMO. Sorry, but corporations DO NOT EQUATE AS PEOPLE when it comes to the law( you can thank Congress 70-some years ago for making that mistake). The sum of the parts does not equal one part. Corporations are made of people, and do not thus constitute a person itself as a whole.
Distrubuting Corp. A's product is denying THEM and ONLY THEM possible income. Yes you could argue you are also denying the Gov't possible tax revenue, but that would lead me to argue about current tax spending methodology and how big a cluster-fark that is. Do you really want to go that route???
As for $4.1Mill to the Corp's. I don't really have a problem with that as they seem to be taking personal assetts, made from his Infringement activities. If that 4.1M is met with all his personal assetts, even if its a majority of it, then the 6 yrs is the debt he must pay to the public and government, for his disservice to it. That is what I have a problem with.
This whole case is about money, possible deprivation of money, and our technological freedom at present.
So, 6 yrs at what, a cost of $20-30+K per year to incarcerate him??? $120-150+k cost to the government to lock someone who broke Copyright Infringement Law, a CORPORATE NO NO????????
I offer this alternative to this sentence of 6 years:
- Ban him from Technology for 5 years
- Ban him from owning or serving on Board or as Executive through Supervisor of Company FOR LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Make him work in a homeless shelter, a LIVE-IN homeless shelter at an undisclosed location, for 5 years
- Refuse Income. He can't earn money as all income is forfeited to the Gov't, and/or Corp's for fines
- He is restricted to his job, and nothing else.
- Daily Parole Officer call ins, from the shelter, and random police checkins
----OR Low-Jack GPS implant for 5 years, preferrably somewhere where self-surgery WOULD KILL HIM
- Give him a library card, with no PC access, and a newspaper
- If after 5 years, he has fullfilled this sentence, give him $500 and relocate him to the farthest domestic location (if in U.S.) away from where he was originally living, and tell him good luck with the rest of your life.
THAT, would be more of a punishment then sending him to the Gray-bar hotel with hot meals, hot water, and a roof over the head.
You mean to tell me that burnt CD of Adobe Photoshop I purchased wasn't really OEM?! Damn!
Piracy is wrong, sure, but when I hear of some poor kid getting killed by a drunk driver who only gets a two year jail sentence, I'm certainly not going to give a toss about big fat Adobe crying into their corporate coffers...
Screw anyone that values money over human life :-(
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
Looks like the blood bank thinks, prisoners will get AIDS after three days in jail.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
and pushing your products in exorbitant rates through unspoken cartel practice ?
RIAA, that is you.
Read radical news here
I wonder just what this guy was smoking when he did this. Did he honestly believe he could hide behind this UA?
7a: You are not permitted to duplicate or illegally distribute any product purchased from Buysusa. You agree to abide by the End User License Agreement contained within those products. You assume full responsibility for complying with all copyright laws. All products offered by Buysusa are fully compliant with sec. 117 of the US copyright laws. Buysusa reserves the right to refuse any customer for any reason. You understand that in order for Buysusa to make you a copy (OEM) of any software, you acknowledge that you are the legal owner of this same software, and are looking to just make a new copy (OEM) for archival (backup) purposes only. You also agree to destroy all copies of the software in the event it is ever no longer voluntarily in your possession. You understand that only the licensed owner (with a valid serial number, where applicable) of the various software found on Buysusa may use the services located here. You also acknowledge that the software you have was obtained legally and that you have the legal right to request this backup (oem) copy to be made. If you obtained your version though any other means, including any pirated versions, or if you do not already legally own the same version of the software requested, then you may not use this service. you also agree to hold Buysusa harmless for any damages that may occur for your failure to follow the U.S. Copyright and other laws as they pertain to the backup (OEM software) you are requesting. When you purchase any backup (oem) copy of software through Buysusa, you agree to assume full liability in the event your actions are deemed illegal. Buysusa does not condone software piracy and has every intention of complying with the laws pertaining to the duplication of software. By placing an order for software, you declare and warrant that you are provided all material on an "AS IS" basis, and Buysusa makes no representation or warranties of any kind. All title and intellectual property rights remain those of the respective content owner and any intellectual property protected by laws and treaties, without grant or rights to use, and not to copy or print. Any such documentation, serial number, activation services or material that is accompanying any software or document is provided by Buysusa only as documentation or to ease installation in the event your originals are lost, with no basis of value. The laws of the State of Florida will govern this agreement.
What happens if you answer yes to that question, though?
im in ur
The Imation DiscStakka, I've been hoping they come out with a 1000 disc holder w/ Reader built in
. html
But currently each unit only holds 100 discs, which can be stacked in 5's, It comes with a nice indexing software, although the units have to eject the CD & have you put it into your computers CD or DVD rom drive as there is no built in reader.
Here's the link http://www.imation.com/products/disc_stakka/index
posted this on the wrong article, cookies suck.
How will they get some money for living if piracy becomes illegal in Brasil? =D
(for those who don't know: piracy *is* illegal here, but our most famous avenue, Av. Paulista in Sao Paulo, is full of guys selling pirated software, music, etc, in the sidewalk)
ilex paraguariensis for all
In this case, he has to pay out 4.1 million, including the liquidation of his assets including planes, car, etc.
In the end, he might still have something left, but would it be worth the 6 years in the slammer?
I just hope this doesn't set a precedent for non-profitable infringements such as music/software downloads, or download sampling (download, and then either erase or buy).
Ooh, close. The correct response is: "What happened when you answered yes to that question, though?"
Think anyone'd notice?
Send email from the afterlife! Write your e-will at Dead Man's Switch.
Except that loosing your life savings (Enron) can be physically harmful in several ways. The stress alone can cost you years. Suicide for some. No fund for a life saving surgery in a few years. End your life in a miserable, low cost, no service, retirement home (where they change your diaper only once a week).
This being said, I fully agree with 6 years. If he sold enough to have planes , cars and all that, then this is a major case.
http://www.polksheriff.org/cgi-bin/i080914?book=20 01020912
that appears to be him... complete with mugshot and everything.
...spike
Ewwwwww, coconut...
mod parent (-1: squishy liberal bullshit)
Crime is a gamble... When the punishment is far less severe than the potential profit, many people will feel compelled to commit the crime. If a person only gets caught for a fraction of the crimes they commit, then your silly hug-a-thug idea will only encourage people to commit more crimes, since there will be a point at which the profit from the crimes they get away with exceeds the minor "reimbursements" they have to pay when they are actually caught.
Theft is a crime against another person. When you steal from someone, you are depriving them of something which is legitimately theirs. This asshole went and sold software that he stole, with none of the money from the sale going to the people who actually owned the software. That action costs the company money, and it costs all of the people who purchased legitimate copies of the software because they are required to pay more to make up for the pirates. The people who unknowingly purchase pirated software are harmed when they find out that they haven't received a legal copy, and are then required by law to go and purchase the software again to have a legal copy.
If the crime is something like a guy smoking a little weed at home or paying a prostitute for a blowjob, I can understand the argument that nobody is getting hurt. However, even when the crime doesn't involve cracking someone's head open, property crimes still cause harm to others, and the criminals should be severely punished.
Slashdot, where you get modded down as redundant for stating an opposing viewpoint... Independent thought anyone?
You can see another photo of Ferrer here:
0 01020912
http://www.polksheriff.org/cgi-bin/i080914?book=2
(Follow link: "Jail Photo")
What about the people that the software makers could sue for using illegal copies of the programs. Where is their restitution?
I remembered seeing this this pop up in a local news story. I did some digging and found this:
3 28.html
7 0.html
9 .html
http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2005/10/19/124
You can also read about his fire truck purchase:
http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2005/7/17/1086
And his escape from death:
http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2005/1/18/6843
I think I remember someone asking about his site too. I did a reverse phone number lookup and found that his phone number was a resedience in the north end of Lakeland - less than 5 miles from my house. At that point I knew he was crooked, and told the person to stay away from the website.
Makes me feel a lot better about that advice now.
I wonder if he knew the guy I used to sit next to here at work - who was featured on Dateline, in Ft Myers a few months ago? You might remember him - "Generic White Male"?
CNN had a story on the magical TV that said you are 8 times, or 8% more likely to get AIDS in prision, than you would on the street. I do not know if it was 8 times, or 8%.
If your odds on the street are 1%, then both figures are accurate.
Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
His customers still have illegal copies of the software that they purchased. Which means that these software companies will get paid twice--Once in restitution, and once when the owners of the illegal software have to buy legit copies.
A small company directly disclosed what it was doing and what the consumer should expect in a User Agreement. Nobody read the agreement, what it said was fairly absurd, and as such it's considered to be fraud and the company got closed down and the owner sent to jail.
However, when a large company creates an EULA with some absurd phrases, and puts it somewhere no one will read it, the end users get held accountable for adhering to it. Sony can (and perhaps has) go sue people for ripping their purchased CDs to both their home computer and their work computer, since that's a violation of their CD ELUA. Using that logic, the hordes of people who bought from this guy are the criminals.
People are seeing this as a landmark case for software piracy. I think it's much more than that- it's a landmark case against insane ELUAs, which is something that needs to happen.
You understand that once the seal is broken on software products we will not take them back and No refund will be issued, as we have no guarantee that it or they have been removed from your computer. We will however promptly exchange defective products. This is the same policy that all software vendors have in common. You cannot buy software at a retail store and then expect a refund once you have opened it and installed it on your computer. This would be considered software piracy on your part. Buysusa does not condone software piracy and has every intention of complying with the laws pertaining to the duplication of software. So please do not ask us to break the law. All sales are final with the exception of damaged or defective goods.
http://web.archive.org/web/20050331090113/bannedd
I think what they are saying is that you are way more likely to be sodomized by an I.V. drug-user in jail
than you are walking down the street or by picking you own sex partners. It takes less that 72 hours
to get AIDS.
What is it about Florida and con artists, spammers, religious freaks (i.e. Kent Hovind), and other shady operations anyway? Is it just me or does Florida seems to have more than its fair share of these things?
"THERE IS NO JUSTICE, THERE IS ONLY ME." -Death
I have absolutely no remorse for people who sell pirated software for money, although it would be nicer if child molestors got at least this amount of jail time too.
...unless you are rich enough to be able to afford the services of celebrity lawyer Nick Freeman who just got Caprice (who she?) off a drink-driving charge - then you don't get to go to prison at all. A while back he got some multi-millionaire off on a technicality in a drink/drive case where a child was killed.
Justice for all? Don't make me laugh!
Wonder how the guy sleeps at night. Probably comfortably in a really expensive bed.
You are an asshole and an enemy of freedom. I hope you get anally raped, and then die.
-Clio
Karma: Bad (mostly from not giving a fuck)
Blog: http://clintjcl.wordpress.com
Nothing was "STOLEN", it was an infringement, nothing more. A victimless crime, much like mideast warring -- Let God/Ala sort them out.
Raman noodles are mostly carbohydrates and sodium.
Read the ingredients
err... 8 times anything would be 800%. If you have a 1% chance of getting AIDS on the street, and you had 8% more chance of getting it in prison, that would be 108%, or 1.08 times more likely. On the other hand, if you had 1% chance of getting AIDS on the streets, and you were 8 times more likely to get AIDS in prison, that would be 800% more likely.
Ha, no offense - But in Germany you might even get a job at your local government after killing someone while DUI.
I scanned all the "beneath current threshold" posts here 'cause I knew one of them would make this point. Thanks Doc.
What's more, I think the "pick better partners" quip skirts the issue altogether (no pun intended). Perhaps it's possible to have sexual relations only with people you know long enough, well enough & intimately enough to be fairly confident about about their future state of mind. In fact, that's a commendable way to conduct oneself. However, in this country it's not illegal to be a promiscuous fornicator with extraordinarily poor judgement; the original poster was simply pointing out that this very thing has the potential to land you in jail, and he's right. There's just no easy answer to that situation, personal responsibility included.
Pi Ran Out
If you have a 1% chance of getting AIDS on the street, and you had 8% more chance of getting it in prison, that would be 108%, or 1.08 times more likely.
You're correct, Mr. AC. It appears I read it as an 8% chance rather than 8% more.
Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
He broke the law, he got caught, het got convicted, and now he's getting punished. He was a big-time guy, not one of the small fry.
What does this have to do with my rights?
It's official. Most of you are morons.
...
(See, there are other ways to karma-whore besides making standard jokes about in Soviet Russia, our new %s overlords ..Profit! from You :-)
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Punishment is revenge. Revenge is irrational.
Confinement should be used as a temporary situation to teach criminals (with psychiatry) to put them selves in their victims place, or to keep society safe from dangerous individuals.
He was born with a blank mind like the rest of us. Raised by the environment he grew up in, and the experiences he had. He is innocent by definition, but he did something wrong.
\
The separate question of whether six years is an appropriate time in the slammer is harder to decide - car thieves do time even for non-violent theft of 0.1% of that much value. He stole about 40 person-years worth of salary from the companies, and he put his customers in a position where they've paid him money for software that may stop working if there's any license-validation and certainly won't get the support they thought they were paying for, so he's also ripping them off by selling them stolen property.
Now, as an anarchist, I've got mixed feelings about "intellectual property" and "putting people in jail as revenge", but he's in no position to bitch about his sentence.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
I don't make money off the software I pirate. I have gigs of Mac software, some old windows software, and tons of DVDs, and Music, but I don't make a dime off of them. 6 years is way to much for someone to go to jail for since he didn't hurt anyone. If the guy made that much money from pirating, I say more power to him.
In Soviet Russia, Software pirate you!
When government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. - Jefferson
The prices for their products are too high, and once I got a product, it still has a license and I'm limited. They are leeches of the poor programmers that try to get their art to the world. These programmers only get a small fraction of the price of the product! Copyright is sooo outdated, it was never made for this. The programmers should get out, and make a living by selling t-shirts and giving programming demonstrations for crowds of nerds. Next thing you know, the industry will go after us, plain guys, who simply share this stuff among friends, and sue us. How dare they. They make nothing, drive expensive cars, and are just the evil middleware between the people and the programmers. Freedom is what we need. I haven't even started on software protection yet! At least that will be forbidden in France!
Lawsuits, lawsuits, lawsuits. What would Jesus do?
Matthew 6:12
"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."
Matthew 5:40
"And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also."
Matthew 6:14-15
"For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."
"Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." -Jesus Christ The Lord's Prayer
Here in America, they become Senators.
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
"This is roughly comparable to the discount that allofmp3.com offers on music, and many people defend their allofmp3.com use because they cannot afford to pay $1 / track."
Clear this up for me. How can people who can afford a computer (usually a nice on), supplies (CDs, DVDs, Scanners), and a broadband connection not be able to afford music, movies, software, games, or books?
So the criminal threshold is $1000 worth of works in 180 days. I guess as long as you stay under that threshold, you're only liable for civil violations.
-- "I never gave these stories much credence." - HAL 9000
Well the problem with your argument is even though we're talking about something of a digital nature. Your punishment is treating it like a physical good. If I steal something physical and sell it. It's still a one to one relationship. This isn't true of anything digital. It's one to many, multiplied at the speed of light, never bound by human limitations. The Edward R. Morrow bombing or 9/11 is the closest we have to were the few have an impact all out of proportion when speaking of something in the physical realm. Technology like the scanner, CD/DVD recorder, broadband are the commen mans equivalent of a fertilizer bomb, or a fuel-laden plane. Ready to bring down anyone producing content for sale. The nature of digital not only hides the acts done to it, but hides the consequences as well (see compromised machines. You and I see the consequences because we're the recepients of said action. How many here are content creaters who've been on the receiving end of piracy?)
The federal case was against Frederick Banks in Pittsberg, Pennsylvania. Banks was sentanced to 5 years.
After the case was over, Banks harassed me, and other witnesses, constantly. He filed numerous frivilous lawsuits against the witnesses, and the arresting officers.
Guess who paid for all those lawsuits, and appeals? Yep, the USA taxpayer. Banks is broke and in prison, the USA feels obligated to pay to have prisoners harass witnesses.
I did not have to go to court, but I had to spend many hours filing out forms, and mailing, and faxing. The only reason I did not have to go back to court was that the USA attorney general's office petitioned the court to represent me - they did not have to do that.
I hate to think what will happen when Banks gets out.
It's supposed to be:
1. Read someone else's post.
2. Make patent joke that involves an underpants-gnomesesque step-by-step enumeration
3. Point out how this post is infinitely recursive.
4. Profit!
Please stop stalking me, bro.
Well, the whole concept of punishment is silly anyway. How does it help to punish someone for 10 years, if they have not reformed when they leave prison? How does it help to punish someone for ten years if they repented and reformed as soon as the cops caught up with them, and now only feel the uselessness of their existence when they could instead be contributing to society again?
The point of prison should be restoration and re-integration, not punishment.
Now, this is a case of true piracy and he SHOULD be put in jail. He was profiting off the sale of copied items.
However, this is far different then sharing some tunes for FREE.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
It is:
...
1) steal underpants
2)
3) PROFIT!
Here is a copy of the ToS of BuyUSA I found from a forum (http://www.ehmac.ca/printthread.php?t=25083) Buysusa reserves the right to refuse any customer for any reason. You understand that in order for Buysusa to make you a copy (OEM) of any software, you acknowledge that you are the legal owner of this same software, and are looking to just make a new copy (OEM) for archival (backup) purposes only. You also agree to destroy all copies of the software in the event it is ever no longer voluntarily in your possession. You understand that only the licensed owner (with a valid serial number, where applicable) of the various software found on Buysusa may use the services located here. You also acknowledge that the software you have was obtained legally and that you have the legal right to request this backup (oem) copy to be made. If you obtained your version though any other means, including any pirated versions, or if you do not already legally own the same version of the software requested, then you may not use this service. you also agree to hold Buysusa harmless for any damages that may occur for your failure to follow the U.S. Copyright and other laws as they pertain to the backup (OEM software) you are requesting. When you purchase any backup (oem) copy of software through Buysusa, you agree to assume full liability in the event your actions are deemed illegal. Buysusa does not condone software piracy and has every intention of complying with the laws pertaining to the duplication of software. By placing an order for software, you declare and warrant that you are provided all material on an "AS IS" basis, and Buysusa makes no representation or warranties of any kind. All title and intellectual property rights remain those of the respective content owner and any intellectual property protected by laws and treaties, without grant or rights to use, and not to copy or print. Any such documentation, serial number, activation services or material that is accompanying any software or document is provided by Buysusa only as documentation or to ease installation in the event your originals are lost, with no basis of value. The laws of the State of Florida will govern this agreement. Well, you are paying to have a copy of the software you already have. Weird but people did fall for this crap (e.g. if you have the software, then what's the point of having a CD back-up?, can't you do it yourself?) Anyway, I have my backups on torrent sites as little .torrent files awaiting me to "back them up". In the end, I won't fall for this BuyUSA thing. That's for sure.
Actually where I come from (Vietnam), software are 50 cents and you can have 3D Max to Office 2003 to AutoCad to Visual Studio to You-Name-It crap. We didn't call it illegal software, we called it CD which we bought that happened to have software on them (much lucks and coincidence). The sellers made 10 cents profit on the revenue of 50 cents and we "paid" 20 cents for casing/ label printing and another 20 cents for the cost of the disc. Ironically, part of the knowledge gained from the CDs-that-got-stuff-on helped thousands of software engineers in Vietnam (or any other 3rd world countries) learned about computer science and then do outsourcing jobs, producing more software for the corporations. The circle keeps repeating.
I don't bash bootleg software as for 3rd world countries, it's the best thing that can happen besides you have enough food to eat for the day. But ripping off people by selling them bootleg software and buy yourself a ferarri or lamborghini or jet-fighter is just wrong. I wonder why the IRS didn't visit this guy earlier and the FPI busted him any sooner.
http://www.alexle.net
Will small towns that have high speed fiber running thru their town be able to "sift the stream" on the Information Super Highway and make IP violation citations?
We have an entire parish ( what we call counties in Louisiana ) that is supported entirely on speeding tickets on a State Highway. Each of about a dozen tiny towns each have a half dozen or so full time cops, chief of police, mayor and city councils members who are all paid entirely from traffic violations. Good thing is that the mayor is the traffic judge, so if you challenge, you lose and pay court cost.
I only look human.
My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling