Robin Hood and the merry men

Quoted from my local newspaper:
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp.../21898RobinHoo

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March 9, 2005
'Robin Hoods of cyberspace' plead guilty to copyright charges

HARTFORD, Connecticut (AP) - Three men dubbed the "Robin Hoods of cyberspace'' by prosecutors pleaded guilty Tuesday to putting millions of dollars worth of copyrighted computer games, movies and software on the Internet so that people around the world could make copies for free.

All three said they made no money on the scheme, and did just did it for fun.

Seth Kleinberg, 26, of Los Angeles, Jeffrey Lerman, 20, of New York, and Albert Bryndza, 32, of New York, pleaded guilty to federal copyright charges. They are the first Americans convicted in what the Justice Department said was the largest-ever investigation of software piracy.

Investigators said that software valued at millions of dollars was copied and sold for pennies in foreign countries.

The investigation was aimed at an underground network known as the "warez scene''

"It's a competition of different groups racing to release pirated software over the Internet,'' said Kleinberg, who, with a high-school education and a home computer, cracked the computer industry's toughest copyright protections.

Prosecutors said Lerman edited the software so it could fit on a single compact disc, and Bryndza built servers that stored the software.

They were released without bail for sentencing in July. They reached plea bargains calling for sentences of about three to six years. - AP

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Hmm.. this time, the cruel Sheriff of Nottingham, King John and their men wins :p
Next time, mayb Robin Hood will stick on open source..

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Hmm.. this time, the cruel Sheriff of Nottingham, King John and their men wins
Next time, mayb Robin Hood will stick on open source..

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What the hell are you even talking about, man? :mad:

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Hmm.. this time, the cruel Sheriff of Nottingham, King John and their men wins
Next time, mayb Robin Hood will stick on open source..

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I have to agree with Spec on this one.... Dude... they're PIRATES. They steal ****. You can't steal open source because it's FREE. Free to take, free to edit, free to change up, free to do with what you will. This is why it's called "OPEN SOURCE". Durrrrrrrrrrrrr. :rolleyes:

I don't consider most open source software free when you need to get the original author's name out there to the rest of the world if you ever want to modify something then distribute. However, lets consider most "programmers" out there eventually rip stuff & sandwhich code together then call it their own on a daily basis anyways.

Most of it is "freely" tossed around though.

haa?.. i think spec & blackice, u two did misunderstood me.. hell no, i'm not supporting them! they are damn pirates!..
mayb i wrote it badly (hmm.. i shud improve my english), thanks..

i'm just highlighting that there are people who thinks like they r robin hoods of the cyberworld but they aren't robin hood, they just PIRATES just like u said.. and as result of their actions, they get caught, jailed and so on..

That is why next time they should use FREE alternative instead, the Open Source..
thanx to the open source authors who gave them for "free to use"..IMHO "free to use" is good enuf for most of End Users.. and keeping the author's name is a good gesture of crediting them for their work..

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haa?.. i think spec & blackice, u two did misunderstood me.. hell no, i'm not supporting them! they are damn pirates!.

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I do... but a good question right now is would you claim to feel the same way if this site wasn't so anal.

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i'm just highlighting that there are people who thinks like they r robin hoods of the cyberworld but they aren't robin hood, they just PIRATES just like u said.. and as result of their actions, they get caught, jailed and so on..

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I think people use stupid-ass analogies to much.

Well,

Strictly speaking they are not "pirates", they are "crackers" or "warez merchants". That is assuming that their claim not to have made money out of it is true.

Pirates/counterfeiters actually copy and sell their products for commercial gain.

The "Robin Hood" thing is based on the popular misconception that he "robbed from the rich and gave to the poor".................not really, sure he robbed the rich............ and BRIBED the poor so they did not turn him in ;)

Also, "bad King John" was actually a good king, and Richard was an a$$hole that bled his country dry indulging in expensive and irrelevant foreign military campaigns............. :eek:

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So, its all bullcrap in any case

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If I understand you correctly, it probably is:

1. These warez guys are just preening their own egos.
2. The media are hyping everything as usual
3. The corporates are spreading FUD as they know that they wouldn't make a legitimate sale in the largest warez consuming countries, they are just trying to get monopoly supporting laws in their favour, in their home markets?
4. And the law enforcers are happy because they have been seen to "have done something"

What does it do for Joe Publics like you and me?................nothing, except higher taxes perhaps, as you can bet your bottom dollar that the corporates are not paying for the exercise :(

Of course there is alot of hype... three people hosting a few servers and you seen this part of the article just as I did, "was the largest-ever investigation of software piracy."

Hey,

Please remember that I am UK not USA, and we have a different approach over here...........we go for counterfeiting/piracy and tend to ignore warez, file swapping and the like.

Over here most of it would be a civil, not a criminal action.........counterfeiting would be criminal.

The corporate would have to pay for a civil action, and would have to prove their loses (virtually impossible IMO). And totally imposible to recover their costs, let alone alleged "losses"........so they don't bother.

Hey, don't get me wrong, I lost a job because of piracy/counterfeiting.........but that was just an excuse for laying people off :) What really upset me was that I was financial accountant of the record company at the time, and they tried that excuse on me :rolleyes:

But, yes, media hype is used to cover up shortcomings elsewhere

cyclops07,

There is no such a thing called open source movie or music. It is just for software. Open Source software, as nihil stated, is free to copy, distribute and modify. So in this case no piracy would ever occure.

I always believe in "What is prohibited is fruitful, for some people". Pirates will always look for somthing is prohibted to crack... Otherwiase how the hell they will show off thier bitchy intentions... This is always the case... and even if the Piracy is legislated as a legal practice, they will leave piracy and turn to something is illegal.. they are inherently outlaws... lol...

As we menioned the open source.. I attached the GNU aggrement.. It is really nice and good to read its content...

Media is the de facto player in our life attitude... some many false things may be seen as true thigns by people and vice vers... Media turns lies to conceded truth

Cheers

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Black Cluster: There is no such a thing called open source movie or music. It is just for software. Open Source software, as nihil stated, is free to copy, distribute and modify. So in this case no piracy would ever occure.

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i knew that already, thanks anyway.. :)

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Nihil: The "Robin Hood" thing is based on the popular misconception that he "robbed from the rich and gave to the poor".................not really, sure he robbed the rich............ and BRIBED the poor so they did not turn him in.

Also, "bad King John" was actually a good king, and Richard was an a$$hole that bled his country dry indulging in expensive and irrelevant foreign military campaigns.............

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Somehow, i never thought robin hood fairy tale from this point of view.... nice one!..