08.25
So there was an article about a BitTorrent tracker admin who was recently convicted of 2 felony charges relating to copyright infringement. Apparently, he uploaded Star Wars Episode 3 just before it opened in the theatres, and then pleaded to conspiracy to commit copyright infringement and criminal copyright infringement. He took a plea bargin, served some jail time, and is now on house arrest. As part of his parole agreement, he cannot use a computer without the government’s monitoring software. That sounds reasonable given the charge; at least he wasn’t banned from computer use completely.
Well, apparently the monitoring software is windows only software. Or at least it was geared for Windows. He’s unemployed and is playing the “I have 2 felonies and cannot find a job” card, so Windows is out of his price range. Therefore, he’s taking legal action against the state that is trying to force his hand here.
There are 3 main things wrong with this. First, unless the agreement said he had to use Windows specifically, his lawyer might be able to argue that they test the software under Wine to ensure that everything executes to their standards. Running Windows software is not necessarily a new concept in Linux. I’m sure he should be able to find an “expert witness” willing to testify if the government’s standards are met for the software to be run from Linux.
Secondly, and more importantly, he is missing the big picture. He committed a FELONY (actually 2). That means as a felon he will no longer be treated as a full citizen. In most states, he cannot vote or serve on juries. While most people don’t want to do either of those things, they are absolutely critical in making American citizens free. Now that he is a felon, while still on parole no less, he is now awarded few rights most of us are granted. While on parole, he is expected to do as told or risk being sent back to prison. Since he has 2 felonies, he’s now one strike away from being sent to prison for some real hard-time.
Lastly, it’s very ironic that someone who was uploading bootlegged/free movies is now being forced to buy a legitimate copy of Windows. It’s also ironic that since he was unwilling to pay attention to the FBI warnings, he is now a second-strike felon complaining about being forced to use Windows. If he had heeded the warnings, perhaps he wouldn’t be in this predicament. Ignoring the law does not make you exempt from it; neither does ignorance.
After all, he did take a plea bargin. His chance to fight this was before he accepted the plea. Instead, he rolled over and only afterwards does he have a problem with the agreement. As the old saying goes, if he wasn’t willing pay for the crime, he should never have committed it. Take your lumps with the rest of the criminals of the world. As much as people dislike the copyright law, it’s still a law that must be treated as such (revoked by legal means only). It’s like the pot smoker who gets busted and then complains that he isn’t allowed to smoke it for medicinal purposes in his state, after pleading guilty.