Background:
“Pirates with Attitudes” was a worldwide group distributing thousands of copyrighted software including the then unreleased Windows 2000. The site did not actually sell software, but was more of a barter system. Intel employees would give the site access to software they obtained from work in exchange for software that the site had. Justin Robbins from Charlotte, NC was a Microsoft employee who supplied Microsoft software and allowed access to Microsoft’s internal network with his personal identification and password. The software was available on a hidden internet site at a university in Quebec, Canada called Sentinel.
The Question:
The website did not receive a monetary profit for the software, but instead received additional software that they could use. Think about the current controversy over Limewire and how songs are only exchanged with no money involved. Do you think the Pirates with Attitudes group should be punished for sharing software among their group?
The Court's Answer:
Seventeen defendants were indicted from the group in 2000 by a federal grand jury after an undercover FBI investigation. The members pleaded guilty and received jail time, house arrest, probation, and fines. The group was in violation of the No Electronic Theft (NET) act, which holds people responsible for copyright infringement even if no profits are involved. So, basically, under the NET act you do not actually have to sell copyrighted software to be at fault.
Follow this link to view the indictment:
http://www.cybercrime.gov/pirates.htm
http://www.justice.gov/criminal/cybercrime/pirates.htm
This is a really interesting information. Now I know that dealing with copyright can cause a serious legal issue even if there is no money involved but anything in exchange without legal rights.
ReplyDeleteYea, I was honestly surprised too about this information. I always thought that to be committing a crime a profit had to be made. I just assumed that the software industry would only frown upon people disrtributing their software if they were making a profit that should have been there's. Now that I think about it though, if people get software for free,then the software companys still lose money.
ReplyDeleteI never once, provided software, at any time, from my employer to the group. Another member of the group obtained the software from the developers at Microsoft. I was a convenient fall guy because I was working in support at MS. I was shafted because of my involvement in the group because I was aware of the activities the group was doing. Also, my network ID password was not provided to any other member of the group for obtaining software. My passwords weren't regularly changed (my mistake, I had the same password for just about everything) and someone attempted and I was notified by corporate that there was an access using my account and I changed my pw immediately. The stories told have defamed my reputation.
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