Leader of "warez" software piracy group gets 18 months prison

[Sava]

yeah sloww.. it looks good...

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Sava
there are X amount of federal resources... it's obscene that they are wasting resources on some 30 year old bum copying software from his parents' basement rather than corporate crooks stealing billions or terrorists plotting to kill us...

Oh for the love of God, based on your histrionics one would think that you believe that the entire Justice Department's budget was dedicated to this.

[Sava]

Oh for the love of God, based on your histrionics one would think that you believe that the entire Justice Department's budget was dedicated to this.

it's a simple question of priorities... each dollar, each man-hour spent catching this guy is a theft from the effort to prosecute bigger fish.

[FrustratedPoet]

Yay for justice!

Why are people so often shocked and outraged when people who knowingly break the law are punished?

[Sava]

Why are people so often shocked and outraged when people who knowingly break the law are punished?

I'm outraged because there are REAL threats to society running around out there.

[Q Classic]

i find it funny that in the article, they quoted some specific things as if it wouldn't be obvious what they meant:

the underground Internet piracy community or "warez scene"

[FrustratedPoet]

I'm outraged because there are REAL threats to society running around out there.

And, funnily enough, they'll be punished when they're caught too.

Somehow I don't think the people in the Justice Department that deal with software pirates are the same ones who have to deal with corporate fraud and terrorism.

If nobody stops the "little criminals" the world will collapse much faster than the "big criminals" could make it do.

The argument of "There are more serious crimes than this! Why are they investigating these crimes?" is an absurdity.

This person essentially stole money from software publishers and developers. Probably several thousand dollars worth. Theft = theft = illegal.

[Agathon]

As long as this doesn't affect abandonware sites I don't see a problem with it. After all abandonware sites are mostly attempting to keep this stuff around rather than rip off the software manufacturers

[Sava]

And, funnily enough, they'll be punished when they're caught too.

not if they aren't pursued or the Fed gets appropriate funds to do so

Somehow I don't think the people in the Justice Department that deal with software pirates are the same ones who have to deal with corporate fraud and terrorism.

duh... it's a misappropriation of funds AND manpower.

If nobody stops the "little criminals" the world will collapse much faster than the "big criminals" could make it do.

so if a skyscraper is on fire, you'd worry about putting out a single pack of matches before the inferno?

The argument of "There are more serious crimes than this! Why are they investigating these crimes?" is an absurdity.

no, it's a fact and legitimate gripe. A cop sees two crimes happen at the same time... a man shooting a person in the head, and a kid stealing a candy bar from a 7-11... who should the cop pursue?

[muxec]

Originally posted by Solver
Yeah, because they use legal software and only help others obtain illegal copies, it's conspiracy .

They were jailed for being hummanists, saying in simple words.

They cought small warezist. Really serious warezist live in Germany, Russia and Asia Pasific.

[FrustratedPoet]

Originally posted by Sava
A cop sees two crimes happen at the same time... a man shooting a person in the head, and a kid stealing a candy bar from a 7-11... who should the cop pursue?

That analogy just doesn't make any sense. Are you suggesting that these particular justice officials saw two crimes at once and decided to pursue the software pirate at the expense of another crime?

Yes, software piracy is not the most serious crime around. However, to describe investigations into it as a "misappropriation of funds and manpower" is just stupid.

Are you suggesting that no attempt should be made to catch and prosecute software pirates? Or do you simply think it needs to be downgraded in priority so that money and manpower can be spent on more serious offences? If the latter, then do you have any source to document the levels of money and manpower devoted to investigations into softwatre theft as compared to terrorism or corporate fraud? I'd like to see such a source if you have one.

[muxec]

FPoet, its really waste of money. There are millions of people who share warez and thousands of those who crack software. So USA simply has no enought room in the jails.

[Q Classic]

an easy way to shut down a lot of piracy in the united states is to kill off the highspeed access to universities.

college students are too poor to afford the programs, movies and music they want, want everything, and know how to use it.

[Pekka]

Isn't this like year old news? Or did they just sentence this guy.. ?

Anyway, these are the ones that investigators should go after. They are the reason why these things get released and later on makes it possible to public download software, operating systems and games.

But, scene is still as active as ever. Out with the old, in with the new.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Yeah, Sava, your argument is silly. There are different divisions dedicated to different crimes. One is software piracy, another (and MUCH bigger) is corporate crimes. Of course the main problem with corporate crimes is the corporations are MUCH better at hiding wrong doing. It is hard to get a smoking gun. Software piracy? Much easier.

for getting these guys.