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Sony BMG Sued For Using Pirated Software
An anonymous reader sends us to ZeroPaid, which seems to be the only site in English to have picked up a story out of France involving Sony and piracy. Except this time the shoe is on the other foot. The small software company PointDev learned that Sony BMG was using a pirated license for one of its system administration tools. PointDev got bailiffs to raid a Sony property and they found pirated software on four servers. The source article (link is to a Google translation of French original) quotes PointDev's spokesman claiming that the BSA believes 47% of software used in corporations to be illegal — whether he is referring to Sony in particular is not clear in the translation.
Did the servers have rootkits on them as well?
Yeah, my karma sucks....but so do the mods.
Ha ha!
I work in one of the US divisions of Sony as a system administrator. I know for a fact that all the commercial software I have knowledge of is properly licensed. This could be a rogue admin who couldn't be bothered to go through the proper channels for a license. Alternatively, it could be a problem with that particular division. It is NOT a company wide problem.
If they'd just managed to CD-rootkit the Pointdev developer's machines, they could have stolen the source code and made a rebranded version that wouldn't have gotten them caught. Sony should talk to Pointdev about using Bluray BD+ DRM to make their content pirate-safe! Oh well, maybe Sony/Vivendi can track down the dev's characters in WoW and ransom their gold in order to get them to drop the lawsuit.
Sony's excuse: "..but everyone's doing it!!!"
I am surprised that this does not occur more than it does in large businesses like Sony, the scale of the company increases the number of opportunities for this to occur. Also there are more people that have guilty knowledge that something like this occurred. It would only take one of these people to become disgruntled and rat out their employer( for a finder's fee of course).
This couldn't be more wonderful. Hopefully they really get nailed for it. If they are so focused on Intellectual Property that people can't even modify their own gear they have purchased or back up their own Blu-Ray's, they need to get nailed for an actual blatent, intentional misuse of another company's software.
I'd classify this under evidence there is a God
You have tried to support your argument with faulty reasoning! Go directly to jail; do not pass Go, do not collect $200!
Will PointDev get to hold Sony responsible for theorhetical lost sales in the same way the RIAA charges thousands of dollars per pirated song? I wonder what a 92000% markup on PointDev's software is?
We are all just people.
I once browsed a propaganda site by the film industry with the domain respectcopyrights.de (German). By chance I came across a PDF that had explications that sounded familiar... they were exact copies of some articles on Wikipedia! This is clearly a copyright infringement, as Wikipedia is licensed unter the GNU Free Documentation License and there are special conditions for redistributions of GFDL content which where not fulfilled.
Some cynical emails by me later and they eventually removed the content (they properly didn't want to include the GFDL into their propaganda material, as it would be quite contrary to all the pro-copyright stuff). This shows us: even those who try to make us believe copyright is important don't really care much about it when _they_ want to copy something.
I'm french so I can provide a more accurate translation:
Selon la Business Software Alliance, une association regroupant les principaux éditeurs du marché, 47 % des programmes utilisés en entreprise le seraient de manière illégale en France...According to the Business Software Alliance, an organization representing the major software companies, 47% of the software used by businesses in France is used illegally.
So 47% is the global number for french businesses, not limited to Sony.
Not that I expect Slashdot editors to be able read French, but if you're going to post a story on a top news site, it's usually a good idea to know what it says. -Specifically, it's PointDev's CEO quoted in the article, not just some spokesman. -PointDev's CEO is not claiming the BSA said anything. The article states BSA's statistics. -BSA's statistics clearly refer to enterprises in general. How would anyone (besides Sony) know the exact percentage of software that's pirated in Sony?
I think the original French article is saying that 47% of software used in companies in France (rather than just by Sony) is being used illegally. And it's quoting the Business Software Alliance directly, not the PointDev spokesman.
A closed mouth gathers no foot.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
why the fuck stupid Microsoft didn't get busted for something similar.
It's good to see Sony pay though. I hope this gets mainstream news coverage - I really can't stand those Hippocr... ah, excuse me, my choleric side is breaking through again...
Sue the bastards!
I'm an infovore...
Regarding the 47% number, this can mean a couple of things.
First, it may mean the corporation just doesn't have the documentation that verifies they legally own the software they bought. Microsoft is famous for shaking down corporations that have either misplaced or misdocumented licenses in order to force them to buy again or upgrade software.
Also, this likely includes various "non-commercial use only" freeware. Software like Toad, which you can use for free at home, but at work you have to pay to use. I always see situations where someone on a project team knows "this freeware I use at home" and it becomes part of the regular toolset. Unknowing, of course, that they are technically pirating that software.
I don't condone piracy by any means. I just avoid it by using open source software with an OSI approved license. The legal traps these corporations put into their proprietary products is burdensome. To go through procurement for every little text editor or utility is absurd in any large corporation. You'll wait 5 weeks to get something you just needed to use for a single day. And procurement doesn't like it either. License management is a bitch.
So instead of Photoshop, use GIMP. Instead of Toad, use SquirrelSQL. Instead of UltraEdit, use gVIM or jEdit. Obviously if you are some kind of power user that uses Photoshop all day every day, it may be worth your time to request a license. But if you just need it every once in a while, fuck it, just use GIMP.
Same goes for libraries. Why pay thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars for proprietary widgets, toolkits, and frameworks when the best of breed is probably open source (LGPL or Apache) anyway? But I'm guessing I'm preaching to the choir.
No. It looks like amanfromMars from The Register has found slashdot. For unknown reasons, he always posts AC here, but I would recognize his comment style anywhere. This is the second comment by him/her/it I have seen on /. in a couple days.
Do away with our corrupt tax code. Support the Fair Tax
Use the RIAA's math to figure damages... A single shared 3 minute song is worth many thousands of dollars in damages to the RIAA, so some software that took thousands of man-hours to create ought to be worth a few billion.
Sony needs to put up or shut up.
Seen the average EULA lately? I read them - I have to, I'm the IT manager - and I'd estimate that about 60% of the time it's clear whether or not we're covered by purchasing a particular product and using it in a particular way, 20% of the time it's not entirely clear but we're probably OK and 20% of the time I have no freaking idea. Not every piece of software has a license as clear-cut as "One copy per PC".
.exe on the system and expects the administrator to make sense of every single one individually. Now, the BSA might be prepared to go through that list if they think they can make some money by doing so but I can't spare the time.
Ironically, auditing software tends to have the most obscure licensing terms and is frequently next to useless anyway - either because it only goes by what's in the registry for "Add/Remove Programs" (so some dodgy copy of an application which was hacked around and no longer appears in "Add/Remove Programs" won't be caught) or it just gives you a list of every
It is for all practical purposes impossible to put hand-on-heart and say "I can guarantee that we're not using a single piece of pirated software" in any significantly sized business today. About the best you can do is say "I'm pretty sure we're not, however if you can provide evidence that I'm wrong I will be happy to look at resolving the issue - either by using an alternative product or buying whatever it is that we're missing".
I would gladly migrate the entire enterprise over to Free (either speech or beer) software tomorrow for every single business need - it would eliminate that worry at a stroke - but this is the real world and half-decent Free accounting and payroll applications are pretty thin on the ground.
My guess is that someone less than honest installed the application in the past with a pirated key and left the company. Their successor ran into trouble with the application and did the sensible thing - called the vendor.
...a representative from the French division of Sony was quoted: "I surrender!"
I don't see why both couldn't be true? Knowing someone from another forum does not preclude them being on the merry path toward crazytown.
We will pretend we didn't hear that in the interest of thoroughly flogging Sony.
Let the hate commence!
So it probably hasn't been picked up here in north america because of the love we have for the french.
I mean, they make up more of their news than china does, right?
The software pirates YOU!
Well, if you have nothing to hide, you won't mind if they have a look around... right?
...which contradicts the parent how?
rj
For those who didn't read the article, the software publisher discovered about the piracy at Sony because a Sony employee called tech support for the product.
A surprisingly large amount of corporate software piracy is discovered via tech support requests.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
This I understand. I guess my previous post wasn't clear enough. The general opinion on El Reg is that amanfromMars is an experimental turing machine which is designed to learn to communicate by reading internet forums. He/She/It posts many places... usually as amanfromMars, though sometimes AC. The nonsensical mess spewing from whatever this is sounds more like AI than a demented human. At least thats my opinion. I think it would be interesting to see the server logs and run a whois on the IP address of this commenter.
Do away with our corrupt tax code. Support the Fair Tax
"PointDev aurait remarqué que Sony BMG ne disposait pas des droits d'Ideal Migration, après une demande d'aide envoyée par l'un des employés de la maison de disques au support technique."
"PointDev noticed that Sony was unlawfully using "Ideal Migration" only after receiving support inquiries from one of Sony's employees."
According to the French article, they say 47% of all business software in France is believed to be pirated/illegally licensed.
According to me, I say 47% of all BSA statements are made up on-the-spot. The other 53% are merely obvious.
Thing is, they blame company policies and inadequate budgeting because frankly, if you're a sysadmin and you need a tool to do your job, you'll want your boss to pay for it. If they don't, well the job still needs to get done so many people download a cracked copy, get 'er dun' and keep that idiot boss off their back. I have to say, this makes a whole lot of sense.
Now that I've cleared that up, I would like to know what kind of broken judicial system allows a private company to hire a bailiff and raid someone's offices. Yes, I know the BSA does this all the time with rent-a-cops, but the practice is deemed illegal in many jurisdictions, not to mention the fact that a rent-a-cop ain't no cop, and they do get sued from time to time over their abusive tactics. As much as I support the developer for protecting their rights, I feel they did it sneakily instead of being honest and upfront with Sony and demanding payment in writing, rather than raiding someone's offices in retaliation.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
the BSA believes 47% of software used in corporations to be illegal
I believe that's referring to companies in France but, in my experience, I've never been in an enterprise that would survive a 100% audit and not find something out of spec in its license.
To me that's one of the best reasons to run F/OSS. Which makes it ironic that MSFT claims using F/OSS is a liability. Well, how does that liability compare to the near guarantee of of a big fine in the event of a BSA audit?
Perhaps someone with more legal background could answer the question of if you're not running any proprietary software, if BSA would be able to claim grounds for an audit? The obvious answer is no....but how would you prove you don't have any BSA covered software on your system? Or do you need to? I'm not at all clear how that process works. Maybe I should call myself into their hotline and see how they handle it.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
I agree, slashdot often publishes comments that are inconsistent with each other (sometimes even completely contradictory!)
It almost seems as if they were written by different people.
Software piracy's pretty big in France; I'm sure you could find other examples of companies using pirated software over there.
"The body may heal, but the mind is not always so resilient." -- Deus Ex: Human Revolution
I mean the BSA is now in teh process of going around busting whoever they can and imposing on the busted enormous charges yet giving none of it back to the software producers.
Sorta a self proclaimed police body.
Most people when speaking about affairs at their employer are smart to post as an AC.
The above comment makes a correct point!
Given Sony as a music distributor makes lotes of $$$ of a law-suit, make them pay when they [Sony] are wrong. Or propose that Sony will not sue music lovers anymore.
Best
The French article states that 47% of French (as in, in France) companies run pirated software. ('entreprises' is more generic in French; so this implies small/medium/big biz) They don't quote the source of their statistic.
...just another pie in the sky left wing hippie running their mouth off between bongs? Something tells me that you are not voting for a Democrat in this year's election...I don't like Linux. This doesn't make me a troll.
PointDev should have put an "anti-piracy" rootkit into their software.
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
What interests me, is what caused PointDev to think their software was being used illegally? It's seems stretching it a little to think that they just "got lucky"
You feel sleepy. Close your eyes. The opinions stated above are yours. You cannot imagine why you ever felt otherwise.
a "friend of a friend of mine" has an uncle who is a vice principle at an elemntary school, and the new computers he ordered come with vista, but instead of wasting his allotted school funds on buying XP (because some shit wasnt compatible or something i dunno) he just used a TPB copy of XP w/sp2 slipstreamed he said. I was suprised but apathetic, because M$ has enough moolah and they fucked up on vista....maybe if they had an XP downgrade available.
Orbis terrarum est non altus satis
Pope, i knew i could count on you. where and when do we all meet? mb send me a decrypt key first?
> That makes no sense. In P2P situations, the idea is that the person has shared each song with lots of people who would otherwise have bought it.
Be that as it may, the damages (which are all that's in question) are statutory. That means it's $750-$150,000 per work infringed, period. No matter how much the work is "worth" (though you can recover actual damages, too, if you can prove them and jump through other legal hoops), and no matter whether or not they're shared on P2P.
I have yet to see the RIAA attempt to recover actual damages. The statutory damages are already insane, they don't even tend to ask for the full amount (even they know that would be even more ridiculous). That said, they still end up with $222,000 judgments or ~$5k (or whatever they charge now) if people settle.
So there's no way they're liable for 150,000x the value of the work (unless it was a $1 piece of software), but they ARE just as liable as anyone else who has infringed upon copyrights (assuming they're guilty, of course, which I will do just because their RIAA friends get the juries to do that).
This fight isn't about the right or wrong of copyright, it never has been. It's about a bunch of folks fighting to protect their livelihoods. This is a perfectly natural thing for them to do and something we all understand. Unsurprisingly the folks fighting the hardest are the folks whose positions are becoming superfluous under the new system. I could even forgive them, except most of the current batch of record/movie execs have never been anything but scum sucking parasites as their positions have been tecnically superfluous since before they got them.
.. For driving Lik-Sang out of business. BOOHOO!!! Europeans are being sold asian PSP's!!! BOO HOO!!! Serves them right.
---- "Excuse me. Where's the children's gun section?"
I work as chief Administrator for all divisions of Sony. I know for a fact that all the software is incorrectly licensed. This is general practice as we couldn't be bothered to go through the proper channels for a license. It is a company wide problem.
No, you are wrong. All our comments always agree and we never contradict each other. What you wrote is simply not true.
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
I especially like "(Score:-)". Apparently either the software can't properly determine where the comments begin or end* or someone referenced a moderation result in a post. Either way, the result is pretty much a gead giveaway for a markov spammer - there's not a lot of useful matching rules for the colon and even if the next part would fit, it's still difficult to place a moderation reference in a post without the result looking extremely weird.
* Possibly because it used those special parts to make its robot friends, but I'm not certain.
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
Do you know how much copyright used to last?
14 years.
Yep, 14 years after publication you were free to copy at your heart content any material and publish it.
Now it is death of copyright holder + 100 years. So for most productive people this translates in copyrights that extend for the best part of 150 years.
This is sick, insane, unethical and immoral.
The outrage is not that people in Slashdot seem more willing to endorse piracy more openly than most other people. The real outrage is that elected representatives everywhere have legislated to the current state of affairs (extending to international conventions), that private companies have corrupted copyright to such an extent, and that there are people like you demanding that others conform to a situation that is clearly not sustainable in a social system that prizes cooperation and inventiveness.
People are not pirating stuff because they are bad or unethical. People are pirating stuff because they know they have been screwed and are not willing to pay homage to the screwers.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
So what you are saying is that one of the parent companies knows about the issues surrounding piracy but that such vital information somehow does not get through to the subsidiary company?
I don't know about you, but that is even worst in my book.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
There are plenty of commercial tools for all OSes that make sure you only have software installed for which you have paid for.
Responsible companies don't allow a 2 bit System Administrator to do nonsense, and if he does, he is caught. Pronto.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Can you really distinguish the voting records of Democrats vs Republicans concerning the information cartels (RIAA, MPAA, BSA(Microsoft ...) ) ?
Perhaps Obama is different, but your average democrat (Clinton, Feinstein) is not worth highlighting in this area.
The head in the sand attitude is sadly quite common with management that isn't willing to go fight a budget battle.
I wrote a great post and deleted it for fear it would come back to haunt me even posting AC.
Lets just say my manager is aware that we are $300,000 short on licensing for 2 apps I support.
They have known for 4 years and still refuse to do anything about it.
Do refuse to continue using the app? Refuse the request to add 5,000 new users?
Get fired and let them try to explain why I was let go?
Back in 1999, the Computer Renaissance I worked for was sued by MS for selling a computer with a pirated copy of MS Office97 on it. As a lowly tech I was instructed by the store manager to '...just put it on there'. As a result, we all lost our jobs and the place got the franchise rights pulled. A year later, I went back to work as a store manager and lead tech in the same location however it had been sold to a different owner and operated under a different name. I vowed NEVER to knowingly illegally install any software on any system. I eventually ended up a partial owner. 8 years later I'm an IT director who oversees a handful of servers for a different company. 3 years ago we implemented a strategy to ensure proper and legal licensing on all of our servers and workstations, and implemented group policies to prevent (illegal) installations at the workstations. It was a difficult and lengthy process, but I KNOW for a fact now that we are 100% legal. YOU Have control over the software you install in your systems. If you don't,or don't 'think' you do you shouldn't be in the IT business.
Folks who don't set a high standard of conduct (like /.ers, on the issue of piracy) can't be hypocrites in this case for laughing, because they're not setting a standard of conduct and then violating it. We're simply laughing at a company getting caught in the sort of traps it lays for others. Also, it simply wouldn't be funny if a company that didn't take such a hard line got caught. There's just no irony in that. But the sense of schadenfreude kicks in when someone condemns you, the consumer/potential-pirate, from their high-and-mighty position of owning intellectual property, and then gets exposed for being filthydirty pirates who willfully infringe on others sacred IP themselves.
It's like being reprimanded and lectured about how your tie is crooked by a man who forgot to wear pants.
Also funny: Jimmy Swaggart preaching about the hellfire that adulterers will be condemned to, and then being caught committing adultery. Or Ted Haggard preaching about the evils of homosexuality and drugs, and then being outed by a male escort he hired and did meth with. All these things are funny because they are examples of people who should've known better, they preached the law, and then they broke their own laws. The moral is, if you hold others to a higher standard, you'd better hold yourself to it too, or you look REALLY foolish.
No, you are incorrect. Every one of our remarks harmonizes without exception and nobody here ever opposes one another. What you composed is frankly false.
Have you driven a fnord... lately?
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Do you know of any other places these posts show up besides El Reg, or do you know if anyone has compiled a list of posts? I'm curious, I must admit.
Compile a list? I'm lazy, try Google. In short, he posts a lot of places. Blogs, forums, El Reg
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