E-waste recycler loses appeal on computer restore disks, must serve prison term
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Re: E-waste recycler loses appeal on computer restore disks, must serve prison term
#2This has to be fake news...
Re: E-waste recycler loses appeal on computer restore disks, must serve prison term
#3I'm in two minds over this. First, it's ridiculous that someone is being jailed for 15 months for trying to make it easier to keep using older PCs and reducing waste.
On the other hand that's the risk one takes when dabbling in the world of proprietary software. Where discouraging people from upgrading is seen as a threat to revenue and is attacked accordingly.
Had he printed 34,000 Linux disks we'd never have had this case and sentence, but then perhaps no one would have used those old PCs. It seems that someone has to lose.
Re: E-waste recycler loses appeal on computer restore disks, must serve prison term
#4No paywall: https://outline.com/zcZGaN
It’s unfortunate when people get punished because other people don’t understand how technology works.
“Senator, we don’t sell data!” - Plato
Re: E-waste recycler loses appeal on computer restore disks, must serve prison term
#5Gizmodo[1] added this --
"Unfortunately, in what seems to have been a huge mistake, the disks had “labels nearly identical to the discs provided by Dell for its computers and had the Windows and Dell logos,” the Times wrote. As a result, Lundgren pleaded guilty to two of 21 charges, conspiracy and copyright infringement. He told the paper, “If I had just written ‘Eric’s Restore Disc’ on there, it would have been fine.”
[1]https://gizmodo.com/e-waste-innovator-will-go-to-jail-for-se...
Re: E-waste recycler loses appeal on computer restore disks, must serve prison term
#6This is one of the most unabashedly sinister first-world articles I've read in a while.
Microsoft's argument hinges on two damages: Either, they didn't get to charge a convenience fee to customers, or they were losing revenue by people unexpectedly extending the life of their computers.
Foolish judges and evil lawyers putting a decent person away for 13 months.
Re: E-waste recycler loses appeal on computer restore disks, must serve prison term
#7Sounds like this guy made a really bad decision in putting the Windows and Dell logos on the disks, and then selling them (albeit for $0.25, which would seem to just barely cover the cost of production.) But that bad decision pales in comparison to the court's decision to value at $25 what Microsoft was giving away for free. If anything, he was saving them a significant amount of bandwidth.
Re: E-waste recycler loses appeal on computer restore disks, must serve prison term
#8I'm in two minds over this. First, it's ridiculous that someone is being jailed for 15 months for trying to make it easier to keep using older PCs and reducing waste. On the other hand that's the risk one takes when dabbling in the world of proprietary software. Where discouraging people from upgrading is seen as a threat to revenue and is attacked accordingly. Had he printed 34,000 Linux disks we'd never have had th…
Does the license prevent people from downloading and distributing it explicitly? Curious what is going on there.
I wonder if one could sell a USB configured to simply connect to the internet and download the software automatically.
Re: E-waste recycler loses appeal on computer restore disks, must serve prison term
#9[deleted]
Re: E-waste recycler loses appeal on computer restore disks, must serve prison term
#10This is just shameful prosecution of law for the sake of law and not whether it's appropriate. Even the judge recognizes the greater good that was at play and the non-malicious intent.
It boggles my mind that some DA put the effort in to this case.