Slashdot Mirror
Would You Install Pirated Software at Work?
An anonymous reader asks: "I am an IT professional, and due to budget constraints, I have been told to install multiple copies of MS Office, despite offering to install OpenOffice, and other OpenSource Office products. Even though most of the uses are for people using Excel like a database, or formatting of text in cells, other programs are not tolerated. I have been over ruled by our controller, to my disagreement. I would never turn them in, but I am in tough place by knowing doing something illegal. I want to keep my job, but disagree with some of the decision making on this issue. Other than drafting a letter to the owners of the company on how I disagree with the policy, what else can I do?"
How ELSE would I get anything done?!
I know you meant it as a joke, but it bears repeating. Whenever possible, I always pirate my software first, even at work (own business). The last thing I'm going to do is shell out hundreds of dollars on software that turns out to be shit.
For those a little skeptical I even had a recent example with Winfax pro. Very glad now that I went with Snappyfax instead, instead of shelling out money for Symantec's piece of crap.
And yes, I know that a lot of software is try before you buy, but that's a very recent development, and generally doesn't cover anything more than $50~$100 anyway.
Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
You mean the good ol' Nuremberg defense ( "Befehl ist Befehl" or "only following orders").... Very few who used that defense survived the trials and those that did claimed that if they didn't follow orders they would have been killed.... I doubt that's what the case here is.... Typically if you want to blow the whistle, you have to do so before committing the questionable/illegal act to maintain any kind of credibility. I say delay installing the software and look for another job. Turning them in may be a major headache depending on how your company handles human resource related issues and how your superiors handle subordinates going above them in the chain of command to point out their improper act(s)/behavior/orders....
I've refrained from profanity, racial/ethnic epitaphs and am 5'11" - how can I be ranked as troll?
It's a hard path, and I know someone who has walked it. I have a cousin who was in the same situation and was fired for refusing to perform those illegal acts.
If you are in your grace period, they can terminate you without giving a reason, but if you've been employed for some time they cannot legally fire you for refusing to perform an illegal act.
In the end, my cousin didn't get anything out of it. He had to find another job (and did) but he did have the satisfaction of seeing the company get busted for unrelated illegal actions, which were then compounded when the illegal software was discovered.
To this day, even though it was tough being forced to find a new job, he is glad that he took a stand against it... and I'll be the first to admit that I admire him for it.
This is not a sig.
And when you file for unemployment, and they deny your claim at first because your left voluntarily, and then you file paperwork in response that you left under duress after being ordered by a superior to do something against the law, stuff gets interesting!
What are we going to do tonight Brain?
Push it up the chain to the owners, then if there's no love:
The BSA gives out rewards for reporting piracy. Tell them the situation, but not the company, and find out if the reward will be worth possibly losing your job for reporting them. Then if you do lose your job that's good lawsuit fodder. Reporting is confidential, so the BSA won't tell it's you, but they'll probably know anyway due to your past protests.
I really don't like the BSA, which likes to drastically punish people for shoddy license accounting. But this is a case of a company willfully and against clear advice installing, using and profiting off of unlicensed software on a large scale. It's just wrong.
The first time I refused to back down and wound up prompting the company owner to call the company lawyer, who literally passed a brick when the owner tried to explain that he didn't "feel" software piracy was wrong. His language is very specific here, because while you might not feel like you're doing something wrong, that doesn't change the fact that it's illegal. Eventually they knuckled down and paid full price for the package they were going to pirate. The second time I was sacked on a friday afternoon after lunch ("Studies have statistically shown that there's less chance of an incident if you do it at the end of the week"). I called the BSA on the way out, and a few weeks later the company was audited to the bargained-down tune of $6,000, of which I received $500 for "doing the right thing". Ultimately, it's a question of how questionable you'll allow your ethics to become; things like this may not travel from job to job or position to position but it's much easier to keep the high ground than to regain it once you've lost it.
IANAL, but I am an employee representative with legal training. However, for Germany, not the US.
First, insist that they give you the order to install that software in writing. Tell them that you believe it is breaking the law, but as a good employee you will of course do it if ordered to do so in writing with either a) a statement from the legal department that it's legal or b) a statement from the boss that he's taking responsibility.
Stand your ground on this one. Make sure you have a witness (a co-worker) if things get tough.
Second, put your objections in writing as well. Sign them and mail them to a third party - a union representative, a lawyer, anyone who'll count for something in a court of law.
That should cover your ass. If you're ok withh probably breaking the law, you're good from here. If you're not ok, do the one thing you can (and, by the way, are legally obliged to) do: Inform the authorities. Really. Stop dancing around the fire. No matter what you do, one thing is sure to not make you happy in the long run, and that's the half-assed way.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
Do many of these actually end up in court? From what I understand, after an audit, BSA gives you a reasonable amount of time to gain compliance before you actually get hit with any fees.
P.S.,
This is what part of the alphabet would look like if Q and R were eliminated.
1) Early in my career, a VP walked into my office and asked me to steal a copy of a competitor's source code. I refused. I later found out he'd already asked someone else more senior, who had also refused. He eventually came to his senses, and never asked us to do anything unethical or illegal again. Everyone lived happily ever after.
2) A few years later at another company, two C?Os kept a vendor busy while another VP "borrowed" a copy of their code "until we can afford to pay it back". The rest of us found out about this when the company got sued. Not long after, the company went into bankruptcy and everyone was laid off. Just before thanksgiving. Happy holidays to all the rest of us. I don't think it came to criminal proceedings against the officers of the company, but it very well could have. Civil suits were also filed against the CEO/CFO team, and they declared personal bankruptcy as well.
So which boat would you rather be in?
I know, you could end up getting chunked out of the boat all together. At that point, I'd drop the hammer on them. If you think think that's a likely scenario, speak with a lawyer NOW so if they threaten you, you know what to say. That might solve teh problem.
Ethics is further down the list of things to be true to than survival. Especially since we're talking about something as abstract as violating a copyright.
No, we're talking about not being someone else's bagman and the risks that involves. The problem here is that the boss is transferring the risk his company is taking to the employee. If something goes wrong he's screwed and won't have the option of another job he has now. If the company is caught and he's blamed, he'll end up washing dishes for a living.
I've worked with convicted felons and they all deeply regret their convictions. Their crimes were petty but it has locked them out of all sorts of honest work. The few people who hire them do so because they know they can squeeze that much harder. This makes life harder for them than you and me.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Just keep it simple and professional. Get a list of all the Serial Numbers you have (legal access to). Email that list to your boss, along with a letter saying: "We have office installed on the following computers: Dave Jones, Workstation 101, Serial # 1234 1234 1234 1234 Steve Jones, Workstation 102, Serial # 1244 1244 1244 1244 Etc Etc Etc I am ready to install office on workstation 201, 202, etc etc, but we have no more serial numbers that I am aware of to activate any other copies. If you have more serial numbers available, please provide me with a list of them and I can proceed with installation, thanks in advance! Tom Jones" This tells bossman that you know what is going on, that you have an inventory of what is where and what should not be where. And if by some miracle he comes up with a list of new serial numbers, that is on his head, not yours. You're just implementing instructions and information that was provided to you by your boss. If he tells you to find serial numbers on your own, tell him you have no idea how or where to look for that kind of information. Keeps it simple, shows him you're willing and ready to install, you just need that one thing from him to proceed.
Trust me, they will. Same thing happened to me.
I sent such an email. Was then called into the managers office and told in no uncertain terms that if I sent an email like that again I'd be kicked out of the building. They don't like that stuff because it's tracable.
This company had one MSDN for 100 employees. An unlicensed exchange server, mostly unlicensed XP, unlicensed VS2003, unlicensed office, you name it, they didn't license it.
They also ran a single (pirated) vmware GSX server and rented the resulting virtual machines to customers not telling them they were virtual.
This is not uncommon - every company I've ever been with has had the same attitude.
Of course when they all but ordered me to hack into a rival companies servers and steal their data I put my foot down - stripping it from webservers and demo versions of their software is fair game... hacking? I wasn't going to do jail time for them and refused.
Bad advice. Snitching is a bad thing. You don't have to. The proper, legal, way is the right thing to do. Refuse the request. Don't go above someones head (that is usually a bad idea). If you have an HR department, talk to the HR person. The HR person is in legal hot water if he complains and later get fired for sticking to the law.
As I said - there is a proper process for this, and it is trivial. He sticks to the law. Refueses all such requests. If they fire him, he sues them. They're not going to fire him. If the organization is of some size, his manager should be in trouble once the HR person gets involved.
My contract and enlistment oath says I swore to "obey all LAWFUL orders", and they're quite quick to fry anybody woh does something illegal with the cop-out "but I was ordered to...."
Think so, huh? Wonder what 1LT Ehren Watada has to say about that.
Besides, the Nuremberg Doctrine is a shining example of victor's (so-called) justice. The Allies knew right, good and well that "but I was refusing an illegal order" would have gotten nowhere. "That's nice, private. Would you like a blindfold? A cigarette? Do you have any last words?" Watada's situation is proof positive of that.
I have karma to burn, so fire away, wingnut mods.