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Teacher Avoids Getting Sent to Siberia For Piracy

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the off-the-hook dept.

Piracy Support Line writes "Russian principal Alexander Ponosov will not be visiting Siberia any time soon, at least not for the allegedly illegal Microsoft software that were preloaded on the computers they bought and Microsoft supported the reseller's story. Although Bill Gates rejected Mikhail Gorbachev's personal appeal for mercy on behalf of the teacher, the judge was kinder. Judge Elvira Mosheva decided to dismiss the case because 'Microsoft's financial damage is too insignificant for a criminal investigation.'"

8 of 252 comments (clear)

  1. Re:What did you expect? by Max+Littlemore · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Need we say more? The cards are stacked against MS. They back off, and then they go "soft" on copyright violations, but they are the big bullies if they do go ahead.

    Microsoft didn't go soft on anyone. They weren't suing, it was a criminal matter (ie state vs. defendant) and whether or not Microsoft approved was almost irrelevant. Again. this had little if anything to do with Microsoft.

    They did miss a golden opportunity for good PR by speaking out about it, but in the end the decision came down to the judge. It wasn't Microsoft's place to go soft or hard or otherwise.

    --
    I don't therefore I'm not.
  2. Forgive me, but... by Wes+Janson · · Score: 5, Funny

    In soviet russia, courts treat you justly!

  3. Shouldnt they be doing this with RIAA cases in US? by plasmacutter · · Score: 5, Insightful

    seriously.. we have to go to a former communist nation to get rulings the US should have?

    --
    VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
  4. No, but a teacher faces jail time due to malware. by Kris_J · · Score: 5, Informative

    "The Connecticut substitute school teacher who exposed 11 and 12-year-old students to porn in the classroom -- unintentionally, she says, because of malware on an infected PC -- may now go to jail. If her claims are true, she'll be the first American ever jailed for having had the misfortune of being forced to use a buggy school computer, with incompetent or nonexistent tech support from that school's administration despite repeated requests for help." -- Teacher faces jail time over "accidental porn" in classroom.
  5. Piracy? In school? by Anne_Nonymous · · Score: 5, Funny

    >> Teacher Avoids Getting Sent to Siberia For Piracy

    Clearly they are not teaching the three "Arrrrr!"s in school these days.

  6. Re:it is not "odd", but basic law by kfg · · Score: 5, Funny

    The way Microsoft has turned the government against the people is a good example of how rotten the company is . . .

    Once again Microsoft fails to be the actual innovator; they're just ripping off Disney.

    KFG

  7. Re:Thief got away... by aussie_a · · Score: 5, Funny

    They pirated it.

  8. Re:Odd... by kfg · · Score: 5, Informative

    That's a rather strange reason to dismiss a case, as it violates the letter of the law.

    If this were a theft you would be correct. It is not. It's a copyright violation; where intent to distribute/a dollar threshold determines whether the case is criminal or merely a civil matter.

    What the judge is saying is that based on the evidence it is unlikely that a crime has actually been commited by the accused and thus it is not worth putting the governement to the time and expense of an investigation to support a criminal proceeding.

    Bear in mind that the prosecution had, at the time of the hearing, dropped the accusation that he had himself "pirated" the software and instead he was merely accused of using it for a week.

    Making this sort of judgement is part of the job of judge; and why we call them "judges."

    KFG