BSA's Tactics and Motives Questioned 237
_Hellfire_ sends us over to Baseline Magazine for a longish article entitled After 20 Years, Critics Question the BSA's Real Motives, which paints the Business Software Alliance in the same colors as the RIAA. "A recent Associated Press story highlighted the fact that 90 percent of the $13 million collected by the BSA in 2006 came from small businesses. Since 1993 the group has collected an estimated $89 million in damages from businesses on behalf of its members, every penny of which it keeps. 'I don't know of a business where you can get away with raiding a customer with armed marshals and expect them to continue to do business with you...' said [Sterling] Ball, who shifted his company to open source software after the raid."
Re:If you're being raided... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:If you're being raided... (Score:5, Informative)
I find it interesting that there is such a strangle-hold in the software world. It's ridiculously oppressive. It's also amazing to find what people will tolerate. I guess some of the reality is that you rarely know anyone directly who has had the worst of experiences. But it amazes me still that even after a BSA run-in, companies continue to use the software of companies that enable the BSA to operate. In some respects, it seems unavoidable, but it's all about how we got where we are and looking at what it would take to over-throw the systems we have in place now. It would take LOTS to overthrow Microsoft, Adobe, Apple, Autodesk and the rest and switch over to F/OSS or something along those lines. It would lead to better things in the future, but people aren't willing to take short-term, personal hits for long-term, social benefit. Lots of people saw it all coming from far away and long ago, but people wouldn't listen and they still won't listen.
But things seem to be changing... slowly...
Yes, Him Again. That's Good News. (Score:-1, Informative)
Perhaps you should look at that as "Man who Dumped Non Free Software Could not be Happier Eight Years Later." The other victim told the sad sorry story of trying to "go legit" with non free software. The moral of the story is that avoiding non free software is the best course of action.
Laura Didiot was also quoted supporting the BSA's mission. Her insight, that the BSA might have overstepped itself and could be contrary to the best interest of non free software owners, is both obvious and perennial. Threatenting customers is never good for business, that's why M$, Apple, Sun and others created the BSA whipping boy.
It's all bluff and bluster to keep users helpless and divided and it's all about to end.
Re:GPL = One Size Fits All (Score:1, Informative)
I'm sure we'd all like to see lots more free software, but seriously, stop using bullshit excuses to justify it. And DEFINITELY stop fabricating reasons that there is no excuse for proprietary stuff, because that's just bollocks.
Re:You call them damages - I call them extortion (Score:4, Informative)
However, the argument he should have made is that these long terms in no way "promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts", which is pretty unarguably true (especially retroactive copyright extension; how exactly the hell is extending the copyright on something a dead person wrote going to encourage that person to write more?). There is no evidence of any kind to demonstrate that Progress is better served by 150-year copyright terms than by 20-year copyright terms.
My experience with the BSA (Score:2, Informative)
I was basically told to install everything from the one copy of things we had.
Fast fwd a couple years and i get sick of this place and quit.
The unstable boss refuses to pay what i am legally owed upto the day i quit. (no contract or other issues involved)
After a round with the labor board i ended up getting 90% of what i was owed.
So i decided that other 10% was worth my time to cause trouble and report them to the bsa.
called the bsa. told them my story.
They showed up at the business with 2 federal marshalls and inspected EVERYTHING. And ended up fineing them almost $200 thousand dollars.
The company went broke a year later.
Since i reported them. The bsa sent me a nice fat check for around $5000 and change. Took several months all total... Well worth the few hundred i got fucked out of that started it all off.
As an employer... the bsa is an evil money grubbing org with no soul.
As an employee... the bsa is one big fucking hammer you can use to get back at your ex employer.
If you pirate your business software. You should REALLY treat your employees better. But the types of businesses that have license problems. are also pretty shitty to their employees.
So in the end. the bsa = good. (for me)
Re:Of course not... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:If you're being raided... (you are a customer) (Score:5, Informative)
Keeping certificates is not enough. I worked for a company that got audited once. It was a small business, but run by a pair of lawyers who were sticklers for details. They shredded old paperwork after some number of years, and they got nailed because they had the certificates that came with NT 4.0, but not the receipts.
I honestly believe you could do everything by the book, and they'd still find something to nail you for... Not to mention that the audit costs your business in both time and money.
Re:tell them to go fish (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Huh? (Score:2, Informative)
Prosecution doesn't take place on site. If police gets suspicious, the ugly part starts (confiscation of hardware, thorough examination etc.).
Ideally, BSA trains police to do this on their own, thus ripping costumers indirectly.
N.B. This is how it works in Latvia (In EU? The state nobody knows about? Never mind). I doubt it differs much from rest of Europe.
Re:If you're being raided... (you are a customer) (Score:3, Informative)
Now, knowing the Slashdot populace, its almost certain that this post will be labeled either as a troll or a paid shill, but its neither - just a different point of view and a different experience.