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Pirate Banned From Using Linux
dsinc writes "A guy who uploaded the latest Star Wars movie got arrested, pleaded guilty to 'conspiracy to commit copyright infringement' and 'criminal copyright infringement' and got jail and home confinement. As part of his home confinement, he agreed to install some tracking software on his computer. The problem is He's an Ubuntu Linux user and the gov't doesn't have any tracking software for Linux. So he's been told that he must use Windows for the term of his confinement. Looks like a case of cruel and unusual punishment to me"
One presumes that he has been required to surrender his hardware (all of it) to the authorities for the installation of the tracking software which phones home to indicate what he's doing (at whatever level of granularity it tracks such things).
He could probably get away with VMWare or the like running Linux under Windows, but that would just run the risk of landing him in jail.
His best bet is Cygwin, the suite of open source tools for Windows that includes everything you need to essentially subvert a Windows desktop and make it think it's a Unix-like OS. It's not 100% perfect, but it's a far cry better than pure Windows. I regularly use a Windows laptop with X running under it, ssh to my office with X-forwarding and several gnome-terminals running on my work desktop.
Other than that, the only native Windows apps I use are Firefox and Thunderbird, so it's often hard to tell what OS it actually is.
Most likely not. I expect as a concession to even allowing him internet access at ALL, they probably strictly control what computer hardware the man is allowed to have in his own home. It might sound a bit tough, but bear in mind that this is not an innocent man here... he pled guilty to the charges and this is just part of the punishment.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
In jail for 5 months and he thinks changing Operating System needs more of a life restructuring.
Perhaps, this sentence will give him the perfect opportunity to finally find a life outside of his linux box.
>are they even allowed to do this? "Oh, well, we can't be bothered to make a system for your operating system, so we'll just force you to use something else!" Duh...
No, the taxpayers cant be bothered to pay for more coding software. Hell, considering his crimes it just be better to not allow him computer use during probabtion, if he doesnt like that he cant spend those 5 months in prison. I know what I'd pick. Incredible how we coddle our criminals. Whats next a personal butler and compensation for jail time spent? Hot chocolate?
I really don't care about the monitoring software. To me, the big wrong is that he is being compelled to purchase a software license from a third party in order to use the equipment he already owns. Not only that, but the money must go to a specific corporation: Microsoft. While it may not be unconstitutional, it certainly should be illegal for the government to require citizens to purchase commercial software.
run the government software on WINE?
installing software is the wrong way to go about this anyway. The gvt. should have an appliance that they stick between his router and the ISP connection. Have that box run whatever it is they want for monitoring and reporting. It'd be easy to make sure it isn't tampered with, and is always running that way too.
Hmm...I wonder how lucrative starting such a business to provide these things to authorities would be, seems like a fun project.
If you'll RTFA you'll notice they pretty much don't give a rat's ass about his personal situation. He's unemployed and unemployable and they're making him buy a Windows copy. It's like a fine thrown on top of the jail and home confinement. If he didn't have the hardware it would just be the same. He can sell a kidney and pay for Windows or he can stop using the Internet for all they care.
i ate crayons when i was a kid and now i have two braincells and the blue ones taste nicer
"16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
Maybe the parent was suggesting that it might be good to move towards a concept called equality before the law. If laws had to be enforced equally, the legislators would have to get rid of the plethora silly minor offences on the statute books that criminalise stuff that everyone does (including those same legislators). Then the police might have to spend their time going after real criminals as opposed to selectively enforcing such statutes against people they don't like the look of. I can see how that would be a terrifying dystopia..uhhh...wait
Joe Llywelyn Griffith Blakesley
[This post is in the public domain (copyright-free) unless otherwise stated]
I have a laptop that uses ME and it works fine. Well it worked fine when I got it, and for about five years after that. Trying to juggle two cases and the laptop while pushing a carry-on bag through the line for TSA fun have resulted in impact related hardware issues around the keyboard somewhere.
I don't see what the big deal about ME was. It worked as well as anything for the tasks it was intended.
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
To work around keyloggers, he could enter his password using character map, or store passwords in a text file on a thumb drive and cut and paste.
This appears to be not a key logger but an Internet traffic monitor. As such, it may be able to capture anything of intrest such as logging into email regardless of whatever you did to defeat a key logger. Booting a live CD and not loading anything from the hard drive will work against this mandatory software. The risk is if he got busted for being online and the log doesn't compare with an upstream log.
More needs to be known about the mandatory software.
With luck the ISP will protect his records. If ISP shares the list of traffic times, IP address, MAC address and such and it doesn't jive with the report from the mandatory software, then he is screwed.
His best bet is to use the mandatory software and not log into any personal accounts of any kind to prevent disclosure. I wouldn't even use any old passwords/username for the windows install. It would all be new for the monitor to protect any accounts existing they may be trying to access.
It's time for a new gmail account with a username like FBImonitored@gmail.com
The truth shall set you free!
Or he could use an ubuntu live CD...
Mod others as you would have them mod you.