What is Digg?116 Comments
- sspooner, on 10/12/2007, -1/+65Then they would know it's you because of your spelling.
- wallclimber, on 10/12/2007, -2/+40BSA = Evil. Pure unadulterated Evil.
- phpirate, on 10/12/2007, -5/+31But theres only one problem. You likely wouldn't have a job anymore. If you still did have a job, they'd sue the company you work for. Real smart.
I'm not saying pirating is a good thing (I don't pirate software, I create it), but less money spent on software means more money going to your paycheck? Just playing devils advocate. - ajb2015, on 10/12/2007, -4/+22Aren't they the ones who download and verify that certain torrent files are in fact piracy? Along with logging all the ips of those who are downloading it as well?
Anyone who accepts this bribe is a rat. - b403, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17Do Geek Squad employees have the number?
- AbsoluteMSTR, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17Suggested reading: Fahrenheit 451. Ray Bradbury's prediction.
- netmancer, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16They've been trying these types of programs for at least a few years now.. I remember getting something in the mail a few years ago that asked System Admins to rat on thier boss's if they found any piracy. But if you look at it, $36K is less that most make in a year, so if you weigh that versus losing your job...
- soogy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15Heh, well, good luck finding people who will be willing to be rats and lose their jobs.
- GarrettC, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12Next thing you know, children will be turning their parents in for pirating that horrible "One Night In Paris" movie off of Kazaa.
- orabox, on 10/12/2007, -10/+21Its a small world in IT, don't do it.
- GarrettC, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11Thought I smelled kerosene. =)
- RamezaniK, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Dosen't seem like its worth losing your job over this. I'm willing to bet that most people caught pirating would have a setllement that doesn't even meet $15,000. And if it does, it will still most likely be under $150,000. So really, losing my job isn't exactly worth $5,000 to me.
Now, if you worked in a company as large as, say, Microsoft, and you caught the company pirating software on a large scale, now that would be your lucky day. - msaleem, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8I think they use the term 'boss' loosely. Perhaps the mean person in charge.
- thejadedmonkey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Big Brother is watching...
- cyberghost232, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10the only good rat is a dead rat.
- alandd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Yes. Many End User License Agreements allow the copyright holder or their agent (the BSA) to audit your use of their software. If you refuse, they will show up at the door with a court order.
Read the story of Ernie Ball, a well known company that makes guitar strings. Just search Google a bit. Here is an interview with Sterling Ball, CEO on how their audit went and what they did about it:
http://news.com.com/2008-1082_3-5065859.html
And another article here: http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/02/11/27/021127hnerniball.html?s=IDGNS
where it states "The audit was prompted by an anonymous call to the BSA's antipiracy hotline by a disgruntled ex-employee, and concluded when armed U.S. Marshals shut down his IT system during a raid of the company's offices, he said."
From what I know and have seen, I would bet the BSA could audit small to medium businesses at random and find violations at every one of them. IMO, it is a strong argument for using FS/OSS where ever possible to avoid the whole issue. - jguerry, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6if you rat out your boss, don't expect to get a job in the next 5 years.
- rotten777, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6"Anyone who accepts this bribe is a rat."
Yeah people are generally pretty ***** so I'm sure it's not that hard to find a disgruntled tech who needs a chunk of change to help move to a better job elsewhere or pay off school loans or something. - radu79, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8You know what? ***** the BSA!
My part time employer is a digitizer (that means creating data that the embroidery machines can understand, from the customers logos).
Given the fact that the demand for such software is relatively low, there are very few software packages that can do that, and they are very pricy, in the 15K-20K USD range. Some older versions had a LPT dongle protection, while the new versions have an USB protection.
Now, the problem is that newer laptops don't have LPT ports anymore, and in addition to that, that software was designed for Win95 and 98, and it doesn't work for WinXP.
So my boss is pretty much forced to buy an upgrade, which he said is something like 5K USD, just so that he can use that software on a newer computer (he said he is not interested in the new features). He'd also have to pay for a new USB dongle, which is, he said, 500 USD.
Why is it OK for the software developers to rape the customer, but not the other way around?
And I am a software developer myself, but our business model makes 'piracy' desirable. - dave_colorado, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9step 1: start a company with your friend
step 2: pirate software
step 3: profit!! - nogami, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I think the point is that if you're POed at your boss or otherwise already planning on leaving the company, you might as well decide to "stick it to 'em" as you're already heading out the door.
- evilgod69, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6there is a clear difference between companies pirating software and home users doing it.
companies generally have the money to buy the software, companies generally can't just move out of the country and companies should be scared of breaking the law.
i find it funny how home users are more afraid to download movies and music off the internet than some companies are worried about pirating software, it shouldn't be that way... - MightyGiant, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6$36,000? Sheesh they should just pay for the software themselves.
- dink, on 10/12/2007, -5/+10I call bull$4!7 on this one. Here is why. I DID report an insurance company back in January with these pansy arse losers and they did NOTHING!!!!
I was at the time a independent computer security auditor. They had all of their software pirated and wanted me to cover this all up. Fark that! In response to telling them that they need to buy all their software.. even had key generators and everything. They were also in violation of federal hippa laws- due to how they handle their leads..i.e personal information on people including social security numbers.. they started to try to turn on me and say miscellaneous things that were clearly failure to use software correctly, were suddenly my fault. I turned them in mostly so I could keep a clean record.
In short, this got reported to symantec, microsoft, bsa, and gotomypc. NONE of them did a d!ggum thing about it. pansy. I am an American citizen and this involved an American insurance agency.
in short. move along nothing to see here except a pansy corp who doesn't take action... or at least did not for me. I reported this within 72 hours of discovery. - gmeola, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Everyone has pirated some software. $36K is not worth having to find a new job.
- u3b3rg33k, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6uh, 36 grand isn't worth it. you can barely buy a nice car for that. maybe 6 million?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Why would a company allow another private company to audit their systems? Do they get warrants and work with the feds to do this?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4What goes around comes around.
No thanks - tkdan235, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5What if your boss in unaware of the piracy taking place in the office but the IT manager is? Does that make the IT manager responsible or is the company held liable?
- Nodren, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6if your boss thinks spending a few hundred(or thousand) dollars on some top end software is to high price to pay, whats to say the same cheapskate will give you a raise? consider how much money they lose in the long run over a $1/hour raise
- DDRSkata, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Equilibrium, anyone? Except he doesn't actually turn his dad in. But the point still stands.
- nickfromdc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Under the law, it is the company that is responsible.
- darwin22, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I used to work for a company that pirated almost every piece of software they used.
A friend of mine who was also working there ratted them out, got jack ***** for it, got fired, and the company went ahead and bought a minimal amount of licenses for a few pieces of sofware. No good became of it, it's *****.
The companies are generally warned first and given 90 days to comply. - Narpas, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4No band, cut the school play, no speech and debate team, drop some AP classes, get rid of all the computer classes, drop a guidance counceler, buy referrbished computers for the labs, cut back a few teachers...
Go ahead, pick three or four of these. - pjsk8, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Wow! $36,000? Next time I see a guy with an eye patch or a wooden leg, I'm throwing a party!
- TheRepublic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4This is why companies do audits, to keep tabs on what the money was invested in and or certain expenditures.
- 4tygames, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Kids turning parents in is straight out of 1984!
- orabox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Yea, and if you got tired of consulting you could just re-brand as a blackmail firm.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Actually i'm in full support of this. Now before you gasp and downgrade my post here me out.
I've always supported, to a degree, pirating software for personal use. It's a great educational and job skill building tool that, most people can't afford. $200 bucks for an OS, another 200-400 for a Office suite, 1000 for adobe suites or macromedia suites, a ***** ton for server software.
But for business? Gimme a break. They can afford it. Buisness's get tax breaks that citizens will never get. They underpay employees, slash benefits left and right, and they put YOU as an individual at legal risk as an IT person when they ask you to install and maintain, or furthermore obtain, software illegally.
Now i have no problem breaking the law for me. But i'll be damned if i support some organization that would fire me at the drop of the hat if they thought it would save them money, asking me to break the law for them.
My entire company is ran on pirated software. Every OS install, every office suite, all our anti-virus protection, professional editions of anti-spyware tools, you name it. And you better believe i have personal documentation of screenshots, camera taken pictures, documents, e-mails, etc that will protect my ass if this company ever gets nailed for it.
You think if this company got busted, that they'd pay the fine and move on? hell no. They'd point fingers at me and make it seem that i duped them. So you're damned right business's shouldn't pirate crap. They are putting my job and my reputation on the line.
How exactly is that right?
And honestly, 36k sounds nice. Too bad i don't live in the UK. As it stands now i get paid 28k. For building webpages, network administration, pc repair, etc.. for a 50-60 person building, as well as being a distributed tech for a startup tech company. Talk about being under-*****-paid. - ramiro, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Reported as lame. You have to be a despicable, comtemptible rat bastard to do such a thing.
- alandd, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Do you all see what is being said here?
The consensus seems to be that you should not "rat" your employer because the resulting costs will cause one or more of:
- firing
- layoffs
- eliminate job creation
- eliminate school programs (band, debate, repairs, etc.)
- blackballing
- no raises
- bankruptcy of the business
Lesson 1 from above: Licensing violations are expensive and very bad for business!
Then there is discussion of:
- company will be broke paying for the licenses
- company uses unlicensed software because they have to
- management knows and doesn't care
- piracy is needed to support the business model
- software companies charge too much so making unlicensed copies is justified
Lesson 2 from the above: Paying for proper licensing is very hard/bad/wrong.
The next time you see a study or paper or whatever comparing the TCO of "closed source" vs. "open source" and pointing out that initial licensing costs don't matter, remember the above two lessons. Licensing costs may actually be only about 10% of the overall TCO. But if they don't matter, how come compliance is so hard and expensive that most people don't do it, even with threats of lawsuits?
The next time someone tells you licensing costs are small or don't matter, ask them if they are in complete compliance with all of their current software. Ask them how they know they are in compliance. Ask them how much it costs to know they are in compliance. Then, ask them if it matters. - DSPGeek, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5The BSA can slurp on my nuts: my startup is going entirely Open Source precisely because of this kind of petty harrassment. If they weren't so greedy, Microsoft (the big dog behind the BSA) would've gotten thousands of dollars in OS and office software licences, but I don't have time to track every CDROM in the office so they're getting jack.
Here's a guy who got hosed by the BSA and canned Microsoft as a result:
http://news.com.com/2008-1082_3-5065859.html - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4In order to actually receive your $36,000 payout first your company, or former company needs to be found guilty of piracy in the court of law. Once done the money is taken from the settlement. BAS doesn't just hand out money to random tipoffs there's an actual agenda which makes it extremely difficult for any person to receive a payout for ratting on anyone.
Consider that you'd need substantial proof, time to sit through a lawsuit and then win the lawsuit itself.
With all this weighing against you its unlikely you'll see anything but wasted time and some burned bridges while helping BAS with their agenda.
If that's your cup of tea, go nuts. I only know this from researching them the first time I heard about them. - Silencer7, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5yarr, but the cap'n's been so good to us scurvy dogs...
- dnthomps, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5http://reporting.bsa.org/usa/rewardsconditions.aspx
Reward Payment Guidelines
Settlement/Damages paid by
Company Potential Reward payment
$15,000 - $150,000 Up to $5,000
$150,001 - $300,000 Up to $7,500
$300,001 - $500,000 Up to $10,000
$500,001 - $750,000 Up to $20,000
$750,001 - $1,000,000 Up to $75,000
$1,000,001 - $1,500,000 Up to $125,000
$1,500,001 - 2,000,000 Up to $175,000
Over $2,000,000 Up to $200,000 - rotten777, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"What if your boss in unaware of the piracy taking place in the office but the IT manager is? Does that make the IT manager responsible or is the company held liable?"
There is a food chain. They simply follow it up. Whoever is above the rat is responsible for the rat. - Reddog_x2000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Wow, some of you guys are incredibly loyal to your employers.
I'd take it on a case by case basis. My current company is decent enough. So, I'd probably keep quiet. As for my previous employer, he was an evil, ruthless bastard. It wasn't a question of IF he was going to screw you over. It was a question of when and how. There are few bad things you could do to this guy that he doesn't deserve. So, yeah, I'd turn him in. Would it hurt my career?
probably not. I don't talk trash about his company at interviews. But, the people who've interviewed me have. - elebrio, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3These things never go to court. Hence you never getting paid. These guys are just shakedown artists and scumbags. At the end of the day it jsut means higher prices for consumers.
- Nodren, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4i dont see why buisnesses continue to steal software, with as much as the open source movement has grown in the past few years there is so much great open source(and more free software too) available to us, it really doesnt make sense unless its a program that the open source alternative really doesnt compare to yet(example: adobe photoshop) but buying one program and using a ton of open source for the rest isnt gonna break your company.
- danielmcniel, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6you forget about public educaton employeess. texas hasn't fixed their finance system. anyways, i'm only a student and i know my school district has some unlicenced software. 36k is looking mighty fine to me. a new MacBook Pro, maybe a car. senoir band trip. all that fun stuff, maybe even some college tutition.
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