I will create this topic for this case here. If needed, erase it or blend it into another topic.

The issue is centered around the following article http://devnews.ru/2008/12/04/srok-za-piratskij-windows/ translation for which I will provide.

"Frunzen district court of Vladivostok sentenced a local citizen for one year in prison on probation for installation of unlicensed Windows XP and Microsoft Office.
Investigation determined that the citizen had installed for two thousand roubles counterfeit Windows XP Pro and Office on four computers. All in all, the court considered him guilty according to the second part of the 146th chapter of the law of Russian Federation - illegal use of items under copyright protection and protected by related rights, committed repeatedly.
All in all, the given penalty for this crime is five years in prison. But since the accused honestly admitted his guilt and also because of other more or less personal reasons (for instance the pregnancy of his wife) the court agreed to give a less strict sentence. Hence, the citizen was given one year on probation and a fine of 117 thousand 138 roubles."

I'm not the only one who is rather shaken by this news which is even more menacing for this has taken place in Russia. As you know, in former Soviet Union states licensed software forms a tiny minority of all software used by people. It's understandable that similar cases happen in the US but now that it's reached Russia in such form....
Your comments please....

Not good, though he did install it on 4 computers, which is a bit going too far. 1 year sentence is pretty damn harsh for a "crime" like this.

also, i'm willing to bet that the russian judge himself has unlicensed software!

I agree with valentin b, even if they shortened the sentence to 1 year, imo that's too much for a 'crime' like that. although at east they shortened it considering his pregnant wife and whatever other reasons, but still... that's just too much.
btw, i'll also bet the judge has illegal software

Sorry in Russia sentences for such think , ok Sweden, USA, UK, but not Russia, its hacker paradise but 1 year in Russian jaul, knowing ex soviet prisiner ''traditions'' there I would prefere deathg penalty somehow how one year sentence there or in Lv

This is werry weird because realy such thinks in Russia , its weirdest how see reindear in Sahara

Written by Bad English on 07.12.2008 at 10:09

Sorry in Russia sentences for such think , ok Sweden, USA, UK, but not Russia, its hacker paradise

I always thought United States and India have the most hackers in the world but never heard of Russia..

Written by Hamird on 07.12.2008 at 10:39

Written by Bad English on 07.12.2008 at 10:09

Sorry in Russia sentences for such think , ok Sweden, USA, UK, but not Russia, its hacker paradise

I always thought United States and India have the most hackers in the world but never heard of Russia..

In USA you will be sentenced for such elegal think, there's law even againts elegal muisc download, but in Russia there are more elegal thinks how in Europa so

From another point of view, we could say it was time he was arrested before he succeeded in spreading that virus on more than 4 computers! God bless penguins

But yeah, seriously, I'm unable to think of a dozen people NOT having done that and a lot more than that. Although recently, the (slow) rise of linux and free/open source software as reduced piracy in my surroundings.
That and the fact that governments are taking measures to enfocre copyright laws... Now prison sentences are being added to fines.

Well....I point out that he was given one year ON PROBATION which means that, luckily for him, he won't have to actually sit inside the jailhouse...and this is because the judges gave him less strict penalty....the issue is that the actual sanction itself is FIVE years in prison and it doesn't make any difference whether you installed unlicensed software on your own personal computer for private use or on several other computers....the fact is that obtaining and installing unlicensed software is a crime according to these laws and no matter what, five years is the full sanction for it.....how eerie this may be, this has proven to be so....this Russian dude is lucky for his one year on probation only....

Written by wrathchild on 07.12.2008 at 14:12

God bless penguins

hahahah, though some websites and many windows programs(not to mention pretty much ALL games) don't work on linux

Written by Valentin B on 07.12.2008 at 16:03

Written by wrathchild on 07.12.2008 at 14:12

God bless penguins

hahahah, though some websites and many windows programs(not to mention pretty much ALL games) don't work on linux

Solution: WINE emulator.

Written by Hamird on 07.12.2008 at 10:39

Written by Bad English on 07.12.2008 at 10:09

Sorry in Russia sentences for such think , ok Sweden, USA, UK, but not Russia, its hacker paradise

I always thought United States and India have the most hackers in the world but never heard of Russia..

I think that honor belongs to China, although I maybe wrong.

Written by Hamird on 07.12.2008 at 10:39

Written by Bad English on 07.12.2008 at 10:09

Sorry in Russia sentences for such think , ok Sweden, USA, UK, but not Russia, its hacker paradise

I always thought United States and India have the most hackers in the world but never heard of Russia..

dunno about hackers, but Russia is the country with the most pirate software in the world, with Romania as a close second. statistics don't lie!

Written by Guest on 07.12.2008 at 20:49

Written by Valentin B on 07.12.2008 at 16:03

hahahah, though some websites and many windows programs(not to mention pretty much ALL games) don't work on linux

Solution: WINE emulator.

Not really, since Wine needs Windows anyway. The only solution so far is to wait for Linux Christ to come and evangelize the world so we can enjoy software diversity. Hum, ok that was somewhat offtopic.

Back to the topic, yes he was very lucky. You know, in France - and I believe in many other countries - we still view Russia as being under a strict government so it's a bit surprising to read that the sentence was reduced so largely. But it's a good thing

Written by Bad English on 07.12.2008 at 10:09

Sorry in Russia sentences for such think , 1 year in Russian jaul, knowing ex soviet prisiner ''traditions'' there I would prefere deathg penalty somehow how one year sentence there or in Lv

Wow, I wonder how dire the Russian prison environment has or had been? Can you describe more about it.

Sorry for off topic but Im reallly curious to know.

Written by FOOCK Nam on 11.12.2008 at 18:13

Written by Bad English on 07.12.2008 at 10:09

Sorry in Russia sentences for such think , 1 year in Russian jaul, knowing ex soviet prisiner ''traditions'' there I would prefere deathg penalty somehow how one year sentence there or in Lv

Wow, I wonder how dire the Russian prison environment has or had been? Can you describe more about it.

Sorry for off topic but Im reallly curious to know.

You can imagene how was life for US war prisners at Vietnam? same is there only lil bit civiliazed and I cant explain how it is for those who never had been in USSR dont know how it like

Written by Bad English on 11.12.2008 at 18:33

Written by FOOCK Nam on 11.12.2008 at 18:13

Written by Bad English on 07.12.2008 at 10:09

Sorry in Russia sentences for such think , 1 year in Russian jaul, knowing ex soviet prisiner ''traditions'' there I would prefere deathg penalty somehow how one year sentence there or in Lv

Wow, I wonder how dire the Russian prison environment has or had been? Can you describe more about it.

Sorry for off topic but Im reallly curious to know.

You can imagene how was life for US war prisners at Vietnam? same is there only lil bit civiliazed and I cant explain how it is for those who never had been in USSR dont know how it like

Well, US war prison in Vietnam was, as far that I know, not really terrible. Prison staff will not have you damaged. All prison has rule and discipline with prison staff, and yeah it had and still been going until now. Have you heard of John McCain, the 09 candidate for president, he was Vietnam war prison, now he has releases and still been ok. What I wonder in Russian prison, or I guess that weak prisoners are harm by other prisoners and even raped, thats what I fear.

Russian prison maybe be same, but there people whit werry low intelect and stupid an dprimitive , in prisons ha sbad condition, cold, rets, etch you can easely got tuberchalosis and something simmilar , all jails ha sbuild werry long ago and country ha sno money for re pairing those, guars an beet you up there, other prisoners to from e USSR countries if I shood choose estoanian jails, others better kill me, totaly sucks , only OLD EU and USA/Canada jails are good there civil rights and normal condition, other countries its shithole

Ok, so the problem of Russian jails mostly not from human, insteadly, from the facility. Well, I think same as here, my country prisons can make prisoners easily to be tuberculosis. And yeah, also Scaldinavi Nordic prison is very better than Russia and ex USSR.

Written by FOOCK Nam on 12.12.2008 at 10:50

Ok, so the problem of Russian jails mostly not from human, insteadly, from the facility. Well, I think same as here, my country prisons can make prisoners easily to be tuberculosis. And yeah, also Scaldinavi Nordic prison is very better than Russia and ex USSR.

System was made to kill, tourture priossners , they dont care about normal poeple system care how save communism and such case like private life, youre life quality they didnt card and prisen was place where put criminals (BTW a lot of crimminals from jail after WWII was removed toa rmy and fucked army whit stupid traditions) in jail and if jail was build in 60's its still nowdals like in 60's

Written by Bad English on 12.12.2008 at 10:59

Written by FOOCK Nam on 12.12.2008 at 10:50

Ok, so the problem of Russian jails mostly not from human, insteadly, from the facility. Well, I think same as here, my country prisons can make prisoners easily to be tuberculosis. And yeah, also Scaldinavi Nordic prison is very better than Russia and ex USSR.

System was made to kill, tourture priossners , they dont care about normal poeple system care how save communism and such case like private life, youre life quality they didnt card and prisen was place where put criminals (BTW a lot of crimminals from jail after WWII was removed toa rmy and fucked army whit stupid traditions) in jail and if jail was build in 60's its still nowdals like in 60's

Ok, I heard there were so many to put in prison for both political or non political purpose in Soviet time or concretely since Stalin era. But what I wonder, that criminials being put into prison is evidently, right? No diferent place to put them. But what I wonder is that those criminals was ex-army members ?

Written by FOOCK Nam on 12.12.2008 at 11:10

Written by Bad English on 12.12.2008 at 10:59

Written by FOOCK Nam on 12.12.2008 at 10:50

Ok, so the problem of Russian jails mostly not from human, insteadly, from the facility. Well, I think same as here, my country prisons can make prisoners easily to be tuberculosis. And yeah, also Scaldinavi Nordic prison is very better than Russia and ex USSR.

System was made to kill, tourture priossners , they dont care about normal poeple system care how save communism and such case like private life, youre life quality they didnt card and prisen was place where put criminals (BTW a lot of crimminals from jail after WWII was removed toa rmy and fucked army whit stupid traditions) in jail and if jail was build in 60's its still nowdals like in 60's

Ok, I heard there were so many to put in prison for both political or non political purpose in Soviet time or concretely since Stalin era. But what I wonder, that criminials being put into prison is evidently, right? No diferent place to put them. But what I wonder is that those criminals was ex-army members ?

We're of topic now but I asnwer
In Stalin era a lot of people was killed and send to Sibirian death camps, to die, work in some hard terible slavery, when jerk died 1953 Hru?cov realised mouts people from Sibiria death camps

No those huys was taken in army because after war there shood be re buil wgole ''empire'' from damiges and there shood be build new military objects etch

True story from Russian army after 2000
One guy went there, older guys from army beat him(there ritual thet older officels beat newbuys till they are beaten to unconcness) ok they 4 hours kick by boot to his penis and to hso legs, after 4 hours they stoped and gut was taken to deoctor next year, do amputeated his legs and penis because otherwise he would die, and such cases hepen in all post soviet land armies ... I love NATO

Written by Bad English on 12.12.2008 at 11:15

such cases hepen in all post soviet land armies ... I love NATO

K7, first of all, quit the offtopic since I weren't discussing the life standards in Russian and other prisons in the opening post nor was I discussing about the overall life standards in these regions....
I'm pretty sure, these kinds of things happen not only in Russian armed forces but anywhere....in Russia, by the way, there are also normal sections...it all depends on which people are in which department....

This is not a reason to say "I love NATO/everything evil is because Russia/US save us etc"

And in the end I recommend you, dear K7, watch films such as "Full Metal Jacket" and "G.I. Jane" and some others of this genre about the wonderful and super comfy standards and the uber luvly friendly environment in the US armed forces that you love so much...also, find some time to read about Lynddie England and about the living conditions of the US jails....there've been plenty of fictional depictions about the American prison life.....

THE END

From now on, let us be relevant to the topic.....

If he know how to copy Windows versions he also know the law (Microsoft emphatizes the Piracy combat in every product)
There are laws for some reason. He did wrong, he'll go to jail and I don't see any problem with that.

Now everytime someone is judged and go the jail, some critics appear saying "oh, he didn't deserve that, he is a good boy and other people did it too"..

For me the sentence is just unfair to the people who wasn't caught. For the ones judged, they know what they did.
There are cases where the law is hard to understand because is not well written, but in those cases, people must know they are playing with fire and in the same way they can benefit from the law, they also can be caught by it.