Open source software against piracy

I recently got the BSA Mafia treatment. Out of the blue a letter from their lawyers that I had to submit an audit of all BSA member packages I have installed plus proof of purchase, failing which they'll proceed. I phones them to ask whose socks they were smoking and it turns out they are running an incentive program where they pay an informer quite a substantial fee if they can point to pirated software. Now I knew all my software was legal, so it seems what people are doing is to just give them a list of people they either dislike or they just hope that they strike it lucky and score a big reward.

Any which way, you are now guilty and must prove yourself innocent. Checked with my lawyer and basically we had no choice but to comply with their instruction. We've got about 10 PC's in the office running Windows and Office 2003. All legal and were in the process to upgrade to 2007.

Got so p!ssed I managed to switch all but 3 of the OS's to Ubuntu and ALL of M$ Office to OpenOffice. Staff went through a bit of a learning curve but within a week everyone was humming along on the new packages.

Wrote the BSA and their lawyers a nice letter explaining what I did together with what I thought about them (and how much revenue they've lost). Got a curt "We've closed the file" reply back.
 
Klos said:
I recently got the BSA Mafia treatment. Out of the blue a letter from their lawyers that I had to submit an audit of all BSA member packages I have installed plus proof of purchase, failing which they'll proceed. I phones them to ask whose socks they were smoking and it turns out they are running an incentive program where they pay an informer quite a substantial fee if they can point to pirated software. Now I knew all my software was legal, so it seems what people are doing is to just give them a list of people they either dislike or they just hope that they strike it lucky and score a big reward.

Any which way, you are now guilty and must prove yourself innocent. Checked with my lawyer and basically we had no choice but to comply with their instruction. We've got about 10 PC's in the office running Windows and Office 2003. All legal and were in the process to upgrade to 2007.

Got so p!ssed I managed to switch all but 3 of the OS's to Ubuntu and ALL of M$ Office to OpenOffice. Staff went through a bit of a learning curve but within a week everyone was humming along on the new packages.

Wrote the BSA and their lawyers a nice letter explaining what I did together with what I thought about them (and how much revenue they've lost). Got a curt "We've closed the file" reply back.
Click to expand...

Wow! So much for being innocent until proven guilty.
 
This is by far the least intuitive article I have read here on MyBB so far

Out of the blue a letter from their lawyers that I had to submit an audit of all BSA member packages I have installed plus proof of purchase, failing which they'll proceed
Click to expand...

I wonder if educational institutions get targeted like this as well?
 
Klos said:
I recently got the BSA Mafia treatment. Out of the blue a letter from their lawyers that I had to submit an audit of all BSA member packages I have installed plus proof of purchase, failing which they'll proceed. I phones them to ask whose socks they were smoking and it turns out they are running an incentive program where they pay an informer quite a substantial fee if they can point to pirated software. Now I knew all my software was legal, so it seems what people are doing is to just give them a list of people they either dislike or they just hope that they strike it lucky and score a big reward.

Any which way, you are now guilty and must prove yourself innocent. Checked with my lawyer and basically we had no choice but to comply with their instruction. We've got about 10 PC's in the office running Windows and Office 2003. All legal and were in the process to upgrade to 2007.

Got so p!ssed I managed to switch all but 3 of the OS's to Ubuntu and ALL of M$ Office to OpenOffice. Staff went through a bit of a learning curve but within a week everyone was humming along on the new packages.

Wrote the BSA and their lawyers a nice letter explaining what I did together with what I thought about them (and how much revenue they've lost). Got a curt "We've closed the file" reply back.
Click to expand...

The fact that you have legal copies of MS products running is how they got your details.
 
sin_x said:
The fact that you have legal copies of MS products running is how they got your details.
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:) Don't think so. They admitted someone fingered the company and there is a 'substantial' reward at stake.

Sounds like a good way to make a quick buck. Pick a list of 20 companies, 'report' them to the BSA, wait for their lawyers to do the dirty and you might get lucky and score a big reward from the BSA. Seems easier than to play the Lotto.
 
Klos said:
:) Don't think so. They admitted someone fingered the company and there is a 'substantial' reward at stake.

Sounds like a good way to make a quick buck. Pick a list of 20 companies, 'report' them to the BSA, wait for their lawyers to do the dirty and you might get lucky and score a big reward from the BSA. Seems easier than to play the Lotto.
Click to expand...

Well, that's one way.
MS does however provide lists of existing customers to the BSA. BSA then requests audits from those companies to make sure that nothing has slipped through the cracks.
 
sin_x said:
Well, that's one way.
MS does however provide lists of existing customers to the BSA. BSA then requests audits from those companies to make sure that nothing has slipped through the cracks.
Click to expand...

Interesting, did not know that. So they actively target the people that actually do buy from them.

Next time you use a pirated M$ product you can always claim you're so afraid of the BSA strong-arming you (because you actually bought a product), you thought it better to be safe and rather pirate it......
 
sin_x said:
Well, that's one way.
MS does however provide lists of existing customers to the BSA. BSA then requests audits from those companies to make sure that nothing has slipped through the cracks.
Click to expand...

MS is like Judas, kissing us and then when we turn around they are selling us out for like coins and stuff.
 
Klos said:
I recently got the BSA Mafia treatment. Out of the blue a letter from their lawyers that I had to submit an audit of all BSA member packages I have installed plus proof of purchase, failing which they'll proceed. I phones them to ask whose socks they were smoking and it turns out they are running an incentive program where they pay an informer quite a substantial fee if they can point to pirated software. Now I knew all my software was legal, so it seems what people are doing is to just give them a list of people they either dislike or they just hope that they strike it lucky and score a big reward.

Any which way, you are now guilty and must prove yourself innocent. Checked with my lawyer and basically we had no choice but to comply with their instruction. We've got about 10 PC's in the office running Windows and Office 2003. All legal and were in the process to upgrade to 2007.

Got so p!ssed I managed to switch all but 3 of the OS's to Ubuntu and ALL of M$ Office to OpenOffice. Staff went through a bit of a learning curve but within a week everyone was humming along on the new packages.

Wrote the BSA and their lawyers a nice letter explaining what I did together with what I thought about them (and how much revenue they've lost). Got a curt "We've closed the file" reply back.
Click to expand...

I know of a few other companies that also got this treatment and the fact that they criminalize you before they even speak one word to you also had the same result from the other companies.
 
Klos said:
Interesting, did not know that. So they actively target the people that actually do buy from them.

Next time you use a pirated M$ product you can always claim you're so afraid of the BSA strong-arming you (because you actually bought a product), you thought it better to be safe and rather pirate it......
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's easier to target people when you know they are willing to pay for software.
It's a gamble though, cos they may come across someone like you that would rather switch to open source.
 
The BSA and M$ are in league with each other. No one at M$ cares if people pirate - hell, they probably support it. Without piracy of M$ software, M$ would cease to exist in 10 years. People only use it because they are used to it - and they became used to it on pirated versions.

What they DO care about is people SELLING pirated software - if there is a buck to be made, they sure as hell want it to be them making it - not some oke with a shop in his basement.
 
"the unauthorised copying or distribution of copyrighted software. This can be done by copying, downloading, sharing, selling, or installing multiple copies onto personal or work computers."
Click to expand...

This article is fundamentally flawed. "This can be done by" clearly indicates that it follows on the previous sentence, and the previous sentence refers to unauthorised copying or distribution of copyrighted software. Something which is clearly not unauthorised as you are allowed to distribute this non-copyrighted software as you wish.
 
Unfortunately I share the sentiment that MS and the BSA are in bed together, so to even propose this idea is ludicrous. In any case, it is generally permissible to copy FOSS, provided you don't claim it as your own, as I basically understand it. I do not see the benefit of the BSA getting involved here.

B
 
lol @klos - the irony is killing me.

this article is what a buddy of mine calls a 'brain fart'

- a little thought pops into your brain
- you get quite excited
- you sniff around a bit and realise it stinks
- you move on without telling other people about it

good for a laugh though
 
Moederloos said:
The BSA and M$ are in league with each other. No one at M$ cares if people pirate - hell, they probably support it. Without piracy of M$ software, M$ would cease to exist in 10 years. People only use it because they are used to it - and they became used to it on pirated versions.

What they DO care about is people SELLING pirated software - if there is a buck to be made, they sure as hell want it to be them making it - not some oke with a shop in his basement.
Click to expand...

Agree. I tried to report a local PC store that was selling PCs with the famous XP crack (FCKGW-....) one :). M$ wanted receipts, "hologram" discs and cd-keys. Without all 3 they where not interested.

The BSA is the reason why I switched my wife from M$ Office to Open Office 7yrs back, and eventually from Win2K to Ubuntu (her PC died and built her a new one).
 
Alistair, it sounds to me like you had a scare from the BSA, and probably got a nasty fine for piracy as well. I, and I suspect just about every other OSS developer & user WILL share our software with whom we please, over the internet, email, copied media (CD's / memory sticks / DVD's, etc) as much as we like to.

The BSA can come knock on my door any day, but be prepared to face court cases if you do.
 
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