Bandido's sentence will fail to reduce piracy
OPEN TECHKNOWLEDGY
By: Dennis Mongello
Issue date: 6/29/07 Section: Ed-Op
Originally published: 6/28/07 at 11:48 PM EST
Last update: 6/28/07 at 11:47 PM EST
Originally published: 6/28/07 at 11:48 PM EST
Last update: 6/28/07 at 11:47 PM EST
The war on piracy is even more of an uphill struggle than the war on drugs. Pirate groups are motivated strictly by the desire to be the first to release a given piece of software. They don't care about money and they don't operate in the real world.
Griffiths' lawyers expect he will be out within 15 months, which is a long time, but is relatively still just a slap on the wrist. It's not going to scare anyone. Also, thinking about the chain of command and flow of information, "taking down" Griffiths is the equivalent of putting the small-time street corner drug dealer behind bars. Someone like him can be replaced in a second and has no real impact on stopping the crimes being committed at large.
Warez groups exist and get popular when they can either crack or release software the day it comes out or before it comes out. These groups get software mainly from people working at the software companies themselves.
Griffiths wasn't sneaking around the suburbs of Seattle trying to steal a master copy of Windows 95 along with a product key two weeks before it came out; an employee leaked it and used channels like Griffiths' to distribute it. Griffiths was a mere middleman between the junkies who want to steal software and the crooked employees willing to leak it.
With Griffiths behind bars, there's still a supply of and demand for pirated software. This is the most confounding point around why the U.S. chose to extradite this guy, of all people.
So, quite frankly, why is the FBI wasting time and money on this? Yes, Griffiths broke the law, but he was punished in his home country, the country where he actually committed a crime. What does his conviction prove? That the U.S. government is willing to go to exorbitant lengths to put one guy away for a little over a year?
This is not going to stop all the downloading. This is a gross misuse of resources that are much better spent on countless other programs. Ending piracy is not as easy as throwing the leader of a warez group in prison.
Griffiths' lawyers expect he will be out within 15 months, which is a long time, but is relatively still just a slap on the wrist. It's not going to scare anyone. Also, thinking about the chain of command and flow of information, "taking down" Griffiths is the equivalent of putting the small-time street corner drug dealer behind bars. Someone like him can be replaced in a second and has no real impact on stopping the crimes being committed at large.
Warez groups exist and get popular when they can either crack or release software the day it comes out or before it comes out. These groups get software mainly from people working at the software companies themselves.
Griffiths wasn't sneaking around the suburbs of Seattle trying to steal a master copy of Windows 95 along with a product key two weeks before it came out; an employee leaked it and used channels like Griffiths' to distribute it. Griffiths was a mere middleman between the junkies who want to steal software and the crooked employees willing to leak it.
With Griffiths behind bars, there's still a supply of and demand for pirated software. This is the most confounding point around why the U.S. chose to extradite this guy, of all people.
So, quite frankly, why is the FBI wasting time and money on this? Yes, Griffiths broke the law, but he was punished in his home country, the country where he actually committed a crime. What does his conviction prove? That the U.S. government is willing to go to exorbitant lengths to put one guy away for a little over a year?
This is not going to stop all the downloading. This is a gross misuse of resources that are much better spent on countless other programs. Ending piracy is not as easy as throwing the leader of a warez group in prison.
Jack Sparrow
posted 7/04/07 @ 11:56 AM EST
Excellent article. The US is essentially stripping away the sovereignty of an independent nation with moves like this. Note the original judge denied extradition, and after being embarrassed in the media as a result, American prosecutors went back before another (more favorable to their line of thinking) judge in an appeal that is/was extremely questionable. (Continued…)