Slashdot Mirror
Russian School Teacher 'Pirate' Case Re-Opened
newtley writes "Russian school teacher Alexander Ponosov thought he was out from under after having been accused of 'criminally' using Microsoft product. A Russian court threw the case out, calling it 'trivial,' and Russian president Vladimir Putin said those who make "pirate" goods should be targeted, not consumers, calling the trial "utter nonsense". Now the BBCA Russian court has ordered a retrial, 'after pressure from the prosecution'. However, Ponosovhas now launched a web site. It's in Russian."
The administrator in question is enjoying this publicity and thumbing his nose at the authorities and Microsoft as if it is some kind of a virtue to run machines preloaded with pirated copies of Windows. There has been talk in Russian press that he was well aware that software was illegal on dozen of the machines but still decided to cut the costs and pocket the difference.
During a court trial he was asked to apologize and move on but he insisted of filing an appeal to "clear his name" and play a martyr of some sort. In sum, this guy is an asshole.
If one were to put aside the bias towards Microsoft, it's clear that Panosov is being defiant, despite him being completely guilty.
I've checked his blog and he's asking his readers on how to partition the NTFS drive and install Linux alongside windows. I don't think he learned a lesson here. He's not the saintly school teacher who was unknowingly victimized by prosecutors as the media had initially reported.