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Gorbachev Asks Gates to Intervene in Piracy Case
An anonymous reader writes to tell us that former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has asked Bill Gates to intervene in a software piracy case against the headmaster of a middle school. If convicted, Alexander Ponosov could face detention in a Siberian prison camp for his crime.
This isn't a case about Microsoft going after a teacher. The real issue here is the pressure that the US puts on countries that want to join the World Trade Organization. The hypocrisy here is ridiculous. Look at China and the rampant piracy there.
But this leads to another issue and that is pricing. The cost of software is way out of reach for most of these countries. Piracy becomes the only alternative (besides open source of course).
gasmonsoI don't know, did this schoolmaster knowingly "pirate" his software? It's not clear to me from the article. Gorbachev argues the nuance he didn't know he was committing a crime. That to me sounds like splitting semantic hairs.
It's possible the schoolmaster assumed he could make unlimited copies of the software for non-profit, academic use only. If he works at a school that has to watch every penny in its budget (like 90% of schools in the world), and he makes barely enough to live on himself (like 90% of teachers in the world), he probably assumed Microsoft would not attempt to charge a price that he and his school would be unable to pay.
Clearly Russian schools need a donation of 10,000 Kubuntu live CDs. This will provide them with well-needed coasters, and maybe a few schools would try it out and switch to legitimate software rather than risk having their teachers sent to Siberia.
It doesn't hurt to be nice.
You get what you pay for, but you never know what virus you are going to get. Better to get it for free with a faithful and honest Ubuntu.
Seriously, at some point when they start threatening you with being sent to prison in Siberia.... I think it is proving a bit too dangerous to be using Microsoft products. It just isn't remotely worth this type of bullshit.
Obviously Bill Gates has no control over the Russian judicial system. However, Gorbachev's appeal is more to show the connection between big business and governments around the world. While it may not do anything legally, it certainly paints M$ iin a bad light (and Putin). This is perhaps our only way of fighting powerful corporate interests. We call out the REAL culprits and hurt their image (and perhaps profits) with an expose. If we want to be successful we have to use the media to fight these companies and their desctructive practices. Of course M$ will try to distance themselves from the case.
If this teacher has the backing of people like Gorbachev, I doubt he will spend any time in a gulag. I am a lot more concerned about the poeple who never make it into the headlines...
I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand. -Confucius
I don't know a single teacher that is any good at their job who doesn't grade papers at home (unpaid), buy some amount of supplies for their class (unreimbursed), and as a result make far less than average on an hourly basis.
-nB
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Both parents, 2 siblings, and a couple extended family members are all teachers, or in the case of my father superintendent.
Yes pay is ok, it's not stellar but it's good, though raises and cost of living increases rarely ever happen.
Benefits are excellent, summers off unless you opt for extra pay through summer school teaching. Good medical insurance for free, my dad's gets free generic drugs and anything over $200 in medical bills (including vision and dental) a year is covered 100%. Other benefits depend on tenure and position, like paid retraining, access to facilities after hours (my first real internet connection was in my dad's office, which I had free reign of after 6pm and on weekends). Some school districts recieve a lot of unnecessary grant money and budget allocation for tech upgrades, meaning at the end of the fiscal year even a small school can have $50k in unused tech cash and a need of ideas on what to spend it on.
Biggest benefit is stability and portability. EVERY community needs teachers, and it usually takes a good decade for population growth rates to effect wether they still need 50 teachers, or just 45.
Downsides are what turn most people off from the job. Longer hours than most jobs. Enough unpaid overtime to make an EA programmer pity you. More breakroom drama than ABC's daytime lineup. No Child Left Behind and other completely fucking stupid plans and regulations. Daily exposure to more infectious diseases than most doctors will ever see (this is why they don't skimp on the medical insurance).
Kids who wish you were sent to a siberian prison camp. Parents who ignore the fact their little angel is a holy terror and attribute everything from bad grades to disciplinary issues on your incompetence (so what if little billy was caught cheating, sleeps in class, and has started 3 fights this week alone, YOU hate him and are singling him out for undue punishment and failing grades). Parents who will do anything to correct any percieved issues with little angel's grades (death threats, my dad as a principal got dozens from parents looking for a way their kid won't fail 3rd grade again).
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!
> Ignorance is not an excuse
When the legal code in the US fills entire floors of a stadium sized library how in the world can ignorance not be an excuse? There isn't a single person in the nation who knows all of the laws.
We do not have too many criminals. We have too many laws.
the NPG electrode was replaced with carbon blac
I lived in Russia for two year. The problem with this as I see it is that outside of Moscow/St. Petersburg it is nearly impossible to find a legitimate copy of Windows. I've never seen one anyway. The same goes for music and DVDs, I wouldn't have known where to go to get a legit copy of anything, but the pirated versions were EVERYWHERE. In Russia they can just assume that anyone with a computer has something illegal on it. I would imagine that many people don't even realize that they're using pirated software, they're just using the software that they bought from some vendor on the street, and that's what everyone else in the whole country is doing, so why shouldn't they? It's probably mostly the teens who are more connected with the rest of the world through the internet cafes that have a good understanding of what's pirated and what's not. A lot of the adults, especially the farther you get from the capitol, don't even understand what piracy is. Computers are not ubiquitous the way they are in America. Just my $.02, having lived in Russia.