Charges Reinstated Against Russian School Teacher Accused Of Piracy
from the back-on-trial dept
The case of the Russian head school teacher accused of pirating Microsoft Windows has taken another turn. In the case, the teacher was accused of piracy after computers he bought for the school turned out to have unauthorized copies of Microsoft Windows on it — though, the teacher claims he believed they were legit. In February, a court threw out the case, calling it trivial and sparing the teacher a stint in a Siberian jail. But an appeals court has now decided to reinstate the charges following pressure from the prosecution, although the courts actual reasoning isn’t clear. When the case was first in the news, former Soviet chief Mikhail Gorbachev pleaded with Microsoft to intervene, although it appears the case is now beyond the company’s control. Still, it seems like a climate where Russian teachers are threatened with jail time over something like this is due in no small part to the work of the BSA, which has tried hard to enlist the world’s governments in its fight against piracy. When you consider the fact that companies like Microsoft benefit from piracy, particularly in developing economies, this kind of case looks particularly ridiculous and sad
Comments on “Charges Reinstated Against Russian School Teacher Accused Of Piracy”
Agreed.
this kind of case looks particularly ridiculous and sad
I agree absolutely.
Re: Agreed.
Almost as ridicules as the statement that Microsoft benefits from piracy…
wont somebody please think of the children
Re: dave
Errr . . . OK.
*thinks of the children*
*shrug* Now what?
hey rushonbye
you must be new here buddy, Techdirt and a variety of other tech related sites (along with various economists) have more or less proven that to be true. Microsoft operates on monopolistic lock in principle. Just watch how fast Linux takes off in developing nations with all the hassles surrounding Vista DRM.
People like you generally pull out the “but they weren’t paying customers anyway” argument. Nope, not until they had to be. But what os do you think they purchased when they had or acquired the means to, whose software do you think they purchased. Now Microsoft can’t even count on those forced to buy there crap, or those who finally buy a legit copy when they can because that’s what their used to. Now there are too many hurdles and legally free software is going to become the only sensible choice.
Not to mention, if a government is suddenly face with a computer, but not windows, literate workforce which makes more sense, to keep buying those crazy expensive Windows OS upgrades AND training your workers to use it, or just going to Ubuntu themselves.
So, you were saying, a**hat
Pretty much every industry benefits from piracy to a degree that almost (and often far) outweigh the losses they incur due to it. The only people who don’t believe that are those listening to the legal departments of those industries, even as independent studies abound that prove that they are full of crap.
Re: hey rushonbye
LOL asshat… haven’t heard that in a while. I should call more people asshats. ITs funny AND insulting. Oh and BTW your comment rock. definitely pwnd.
Re: Re: hey rushonbye
Top comment @vapiddreamer
lol
owned
Sad? Microsoft can’t do anything about it! It’s not them doing the prosecuting nor pushing for the prosecution.
M$ admitted thay profited from Piracy a while back, so should they be sued by themselves fro profiting from the piracy of thier own products, or face criminal charges if the *AA get their way.
“I didn’t know that Windows was pirated” should be a pretty solid defence in almost every country in the world, by analogy to the reciept of stolen proerty laws, which is an area where analogy between physical and Itellectual property can be drawn.
It's a joke right ?
“…although it appears the case is now beyond the company’s control.”
joke ?!!