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Microsoft Uses WGA To Obtain Record Jail Sentences
theodp writes "According to Microsoft, 'No information is collected during the [Genuine Advantage Program] validation process that can be used to identify or contact a user.' That's little comfort to the software counterfeiters who were just handed jail sentences ranging from 1.5-6.5 years by the Futian People's Court in China, especially since Microsoft contends that much of the estimated $2B in bogus software was detected by its Windows Genuine Advantage program. 'Software piracy negatively impacts local economic growth,' explained Microsoft VP Fengming Liu in a celebratory New Year's Eve press release. But then again, so does transferring $16B of assets and $9B in annual profit to an Irish tax haven, doesn't it?"
Bill G.'s just learned from Ingvar Kamprad, founder of IKEA and also one of the richest men in the world, about how there's nothing as good as avoiding taxes.
I think you missed the key point of the statement..."Irish tax haven." Basically, Microsoft is allegedly using offshore accounts as a tax haven. Opps, you don't understand that term. Microsoft is allegedly stealing money from the US Government by using accounts that are inaccessible to the feds while complaining to the feds that software pirates are the bane of Microsoft's^H^H^H^H^H^H$oft's existence.
As for "...stealing from the rich." Be serious. M$ is stealing from the poor. Us poor tax payers, that is. Clear now? KBye.
This could mean anything. It could mean, as others have said above,
a) that people's s/w just failed validation and the people complained to MS, leading to the case(s) breaking, or
b) that WGA fingered the specific computers and the PRC police took care of the rest.
MS officially denies b, but one suspects that it wants you to believe it, whether it is true or not, as they seem to want people to fear them. The question becomes, does you believe MS when they assure you that personal information is not collected? Those paragons of honesty? Who could doubt their sacred word? Have they ever been less than 100% honest? I might believe MS--if they swore to it on a 10,000 meter high stack of $100 bills, which is probably the only thing sacred to MS.
If you want your life to be different, live it differently.
They are only "stealing money from the US Government" if they are breaking the law. Are you implying they are breaking the law? Are you too stupid to realize they have a fiduciary duty to maximize shareholder profit? Are you one of those dumb assholes who thinks it's a "patriotic duty" to give your money to the govt so they can mismanage it?