Software Pirate Found Guilty of Stealing $100 Million in Goods

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flamethrower205

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Agreed, $100 Million is some b$ estimate to gain publicity. What were the actual monetary losses by the companies? Would the people buying the pirated software actually have paid the absurdly high prices for legit software? This is hard to demonstrate.
 

Hpnotiq

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They equate this as if he literally took a possession and now that owner is now lost of his item - when in reality they're not.

I understand they're protecting your idea and you cannot just have it without paying legally for it - but threatening 20 years in prison over this petty shit?

Why do they stop there - why not just shoot him? Kick down the door and put a .44 to his head. I think the mercy killing is more humane than going to prison for 20 years.
 
[citation][nom]flamethrower205[/nom]Agreed, $100 Million is some b$ estimate to gain publicity. What were the actual monetary losses by the companies? Would the people buying the pirated software actually have paid the absurdly high prices for legit software? This is hard to demonstrate.[/citation]

Enterprise software and CAD/Engineering software is extremely expensive. They often have embedded 'phone home' code that is used to track exactly how many people are using unauthorized copies.

This is not an article about 15 year old kids playing pirated copies of Skyrim (although I still say that is wrong), this is an article about companies using software to enrich themselves without paying for it.

Companies like those mentioned in the article spend millions of dollars optimizing and fine tuning software for very small and specific markets and customer use cases. When others profit from that without paying for it, it has a very real impact on their bottom line.
 

A Bad Day

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[citation][nom]flamethrower205[/nom]Agreed, $100 Million is some b$ estimate to gain publicity. What were the actual monetary losses by the companies? Would the people buying the pirated software actually have paid the absurdly high prices for legit software? This is hard to demonstrate.[/citation]

Development effort required to create the software.

You think programmers are cheap? Haha, sadly no.
 

A Bad Day

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[citation][nom]Pinhedd[/nom]Enterprise software and CAD/Engineering software is extremely expensive. They often have embedded 'phone home' code that is used to track exactly how many people are using unauthorized copies.This is not an article about 15 year old kids playing pirated copies of Skyrim (although I still say that is wrong), this is an article about companies using software to enrich themselves without paying for it.Companies like those mentioned in the article spend millions of dollars optimizing and fine tuning software for very small and specific markets and customer use cases. When others profit from that without paying for it, it has a very real impact on their bottom line.[/citation]

Currently in China, there is relatively little innovation within the manufacturing and software industry.

Why?

Because almost all of the businesses' core practice is to simply copy their competitors. The copying is so rampant that many of them refuse to allow their customers to tour their facilities, and often treat all of their customers as a move by the rivals to steal their info.

If that's what some people want in the US, then I sure hope they don't mind a stagnant development in the software industry.
 

cmcghee358

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[citation][nom]A Bad Day[/nom]Currently in China, there is relatively little innovation within the manufacturing and software industry.Why?Because almost all of the businesses' core practice is to simply copy their competitors. The copying is so rampant that many of them refuse to allow their customers to tour their facilities, and often treat all of their customers as a move by the rivals to steal their info.If that's what some people want in the US, then I sure hope they don't mind a stagnant development in the software industry.[/citation]

Yeah I would hate to have stagnation in our software industry because our programmers are too lazy to do the work themselves when they can simple copy the code and use it elseware.

Oh wait, they do that with PC ports from consoles right???
 

j2j663

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"Development effort required to create the software.
You think programmers are cheap? Haha, sadly no."

You think the programmers would have seen any increase in their pay had all of this software been purchased legally? Haha, sadly no.
 

wolley74

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[citation][nom]bystander[/nom]I seems so many people around here believe that companies should work for us for free. It's rather shocking that people actually believe that selling someone elses hard work should be legal.[/citation]

Stealing implies it is lost and cannot be sold, copying leaves the original and makes a duplicate, I don't get how people find this so hard to understand. they can still sell their product, nobody is stopping you from buying it from them, they didn't lose any keys, they didn't lose any part of their code, they lost the money to use their code
 

kingnoobe

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Hey he shouldn't have missed with the corporations. They run this country of course he's gonna get an insane amount of jail time for the crime committed. It's also why when they sue people for pirating it's in insane amounts that they have no possible way of proving that's what they actually lost.
 

alidan

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[citation][nom]flamethrower205[/nom]Agreed, $100 Million is some b$ estimate to gain publicity. What were the actual monetary losses by the companies? Would the people buying the pirated software actually have paid the absurdly high prices for legit software? This is hard to demonstrate.[/citation]

reading the article, it looks like he got his hands on pro grade software and was selling bootlegs to other people who really use it, not like people who get photoshop and release it to a consumer market who wont pay the 600+ for a commercial grade license.

[citation][nom]Wolley74[/nom]Software Pirate Found Guilty of -snip- COPYING $100 Million in GoodsFixed for ya there[/citation]

the moment he sold the coppies, is the moment that stealing the money is used in real terms.

[citation][nom]Hpnotiq[/nom]They equate this as if he literally took a possession and now that owner is now lost of his item - when in reality they're not. I understand they're protecting your idea and you cannot just have it without paying legally for it - but threatening 20 years in prison over this petty shit? Why do they stop there - why not just shoot him? Kick down the door and put a .44 to his head. I think the mercy killing is more humane than going to prison for 20 years.[/citation]

you are looking at it from the point of view of someone who downloaded a torrent, this guy was actually SELLING the software.

[citation][nom]bystander[/nom]I seems so many people around here believe that companies should work for us for free. It's rather shocking that people actually believe that selling someone elses hard work should be legal.[/citation]

because there are many cases where piracy is proven to promote sales, and actually bring in more revenue, and every time someone is punished for it, you may have gotten off easier if you rape and murder a baby on national tv.

and the reason that professional software is seen as an even more ok target is companies like adobe that become industry standard, not because they are the best, but because they are so widely pirated that everyone knows how to use it, so businesses buy the license, seriously, adobe owes all its success in photoshop and many other areas exclusively to piracy.

[citation][nom]cmcghee358[/nom]Isn't anyone else concerned that the DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY is the one that led this investigation?[/citation]

we should be outraged by that, but seriously, we all know who owns our government at this point, i would honestly be surprised if they did something that truly warrants the title of department of homeland security.

[citation][nom]cmcghee358[/nom]Yeah I would hate to have stagnation in our software industry because our programmers are too lazy to do the work themselves when they can simple copy the code and use it elseware.Oh wait, they do that with PC ports from consoles right???[/citation]

if you are talking about codeing alone, ill give it to you, but if you are talking graphics... a AAA game costs 50 million to make because of how good graphics are at this point, i really dont want prices to go up further because of graphics.

[citation][nom]Wolley74[/nom]Stealing implies it is lost and cannot be sold, copying leaves the original and makes a duplicate, I don't get how people find this so hard to understand. they can still sell their product, nobody is stopping you from buying it from them, they didn't lose any keys, they didn't lose any part of their code, they lost the money to use their code[/citation]

yea yea, we all know that, none of us are that stupid at that point. however look at it this way, i dont believe in religion at all, yet i still use biblical words when i swear, not because i believe it makes them worse or stronger or even mocking way, but because they are the words that are so in grained in me to use in those situations.

anyone on this site knows piracy =/= stealing, but stealing is still the first word that comes to mind when you get something for free you normally cant get for free.
 

jadedmonkey28

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What a lot of people don't seem to get is that stealing 100million in software is the same as going in to best buy and stealing software off the shelf. Just because you commit the crime in cyberspace does not make it any less of a crime. Making fake goods is a very serious crime and is punished every day here. If we choose not to punish people who steal software like this then why is anyone punished for stealing anything.
 

w0_od

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well he will either spend 20 years getting to know the local sodomizers in prison or he will be offered a way out by the government to help them catch others.
 

freggo

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3 years to catch him ?
What is the problem with out system ?
Goes to show how crooked out banking system is as it should be a snap to trace payments.
Same with drug dealers. The REAL crooks wear expensive suits.
 

abbadon_34

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So if I make 1000 copies of some game, or movie, and a drive with sequential names, like "copy 1" and "copy 2" etc., what have i done? does it matter if the original was mine or my brother's, which he let me borrow under "First Sale" doctrine? Did I "steal" 1000 copies from him, though he never owned more than 1 ?
 

cRACKmONKEY421

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What you are purchasing is the ability to use the software. When you steal copies, you don't steal them from the person that they're being copied from, you're stealing from the software companies mostly.
Sad that I had to explain that.

Selling cracked software is real bad karma.
 

kartu

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You can steal hardware with software on it.
But you can not steal software.
And don't start with "oh, but making/selling illegal copies is the same", because, nope, it's not.

Calling this "stealing" is an attempt to prevent you from copying stuff you BOUGHT from one of YOUR devices to another by labeling it "stealing". It is only for legit buyers. "Pirates" don't give a flying fruck and won't buy anything no matter what.
 
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