I want to know what harm he has done or what danger he poses to society that warrants a 15 month prison sentence.
I feel like this is what pardons are for.
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
#12Gizmodo[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…
You're absolutely right. This guy obviously deserves to spent the next 15 years in jail because his startup practically gave away disks with someone else's logo on it that even the original copyright owner doesn't charge money for.
Re: E-waste recycler loses appeal on computer restore disks, must serve prison term
#13“One of his projects was to manufacture thousands of ‘restore disks,’ usually supplied by computer-makers as a way for users to restore Windows to a hard drive if it crashes or must be wiped. The disks can be used only on a computer that already has a license for the Windows operating system, and the license transfers with the computer for its full life span. But computer owners often lose or throw out the disks, and though the operating system can be downloaded free on a licensed computer, Lundgren realized that many people didn’t feel competent to do that, and were simply throwing out their computers and buying new ones.
Lundgren had 28,000 of the disks made and shipped to a broker in Florida. Their plan was to sell the disks to computer refurbishing shops for about 25 cents apiece, so the refurbishers could provide the disks to used-computer buyers and wouldn’t have to take the time to create the disks themselves.
...
Eventually, the Florida broker, Robert Wolff, called Lundgren and offered to buy the disks himself as part of a government sting, Lundgren said. Wolff sent Lundgren $3,400, and the conspiracy was cemented. Both were indicted on a charge of conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods and criminal copyright infringement.”
This should not result in jail time. Is Florida really so free of violent crime and other more serious offenses that this case is a priority for federal prosecutors?
Re: E-waste recycler loses appeal on computer restore disks, must serve prison term
#14From the article
"“These sales of counterfeit operating systems,” Microsoft lawyer Bonnie MacNaughton wrote to the judge, “displaced Microsoft’s potential sales of genuine operating systems.” But Lundgren’s disks had no licenses and were intended for computers that already had licenses."
and even worse,
"Hurley decided Lundgren’s 28,000 restore disks had a value of $700,000, and that dollar amount qualified Lundgren for a 15-month term and a $50,000 fine. The judge said he disregarded Weadock’s testimony."
Weadock was an expert witness (for the government no less) in a Microsoft antitrust case. When asked what the value of the restore disk was, he responded with zero, or near zero. The prosecutors were initially looking for $299 a disk -- the value of a full license.
This is the most egregious case of a judge ruling on something he or she does not understand I've seen in a while. This is an item Microsoft gives away for free to anyone with an internet connection, all this guy was trying to do was sell them for $0.25 to cover the cost of a disk and make it easier for people to fix their broken computers (allegedly).
Re: E-waste recycler loses appeal on computer restore disks, must serve prison term
#15Gizmodo[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…
You're absolutely right. This guy obviously deserves to spent the next 15 years in jail because his startup practically gave away disks with someone else's logo on it that even the original copyright owner doesn't charge money for.
.. can't tell if sarcastic or serious..
Re: E-waste recycler loses appeal on computer restore disks, must serve prison term
#16This is a travesty. It reminds me of Aaron Swartz.
Re: E-waste recycler loses appeal on computer restore disks, must serve prison term
#17Doesn't a restore disk contain binaries from the operating system? So he's distributing somebody else's work, with their logo on it. However well-intentioned, its pretty dodgy. No matter what Microsoft does with those binaries, they weren't his to resell?
Re: E-waste recycler loses appeal on computer restore disks, must serve prison term
#18Sounds 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.
Microsoft wasn't giving them away for free though. According to the article, they get $25 for each disk from computer manufacturers.
Re: E-waste recycler loses appeal on computer restore disks, must serve prison term
#19Sounds 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.
Microsoft wasn't giving them away for free though. According to the article, they get $25 for each disk from computer manufacturers.
The .iso was available for free off of their website.
Re: E-waste recycler loses appeal on computer restore disks, must serve prison term
#20I'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…
The reasoning in your second paragraph seems circular - this punishment is reasonable because unreasonable punishments are the norm in this matter.