

Who else is behind SOPA? - oxplot
http://blog.dentcat.com/2011/11/who-else-is-behind-sopa-other-than.html

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OstiaAntica
It can be effective to tweet, blog, and contact these companies and complain
about their endorsement of SOPA, as reflected in their Business Software
Alliance (BSA) membership. Associations like the BSA exist, in part, so that
companies like Apple and Microsoft can have someone do their political wet-
work while pretending to be above the fray. Call them out on it!

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doogle88
I didn't even know our industry had an RIAA/MPAA type body acting on behalf of
so many companies. I feel a bit dirty now.

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_delirium
They even have a mass-settlement-extraction campaign, though it gets less
press because it's not targeted at average home users; they're smart enough
not to send threatening letters to grandmothers whose grandkids might've
installed a pirated copy of Windows on their machine. If they suspect a
company is using unlicensed software from a member, they'll demand the company
undergo a "BSA audit", which will work to correct the problem and reach a
settlement. Of course, they aren't a law-enforcement organization, but they
try to pressure companies to agree to a BSA audit through a mixture of claims
that the company agreed to such an audit via their licensing terms, and
through threats of lawsuits if they don't agree. There's a whole "BSA audit
defense/compliance" specialist-lawyer industry around that.

To be fair, many of the companies targeted are not exactly innocent, but many
businessmen who _do_ have valid licenses are also worried about the
expense/disruption of the process. Disorganized shops who don't have their
licenses nicely indexed can end up in trouble, too, if they can't manage to
rummage through enough cabinets to locate copies of their licenses (one reason
some have resorted to physically attaching the Windows license to each
machine, so it moves with it). It's sort of like being audited by the IRS;
sucks even if you weren't cheating on your taxes, except it's weird that it
can happen from someone who isn't even the government!

There were also some allegations (I believe settled out of court) in the 1990s
that the BSA was using its enforcement threats to coerce companies into buying
site licenses of its members, because having a site license would exempt you
from the possibility of an audit.

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nodata
What happens if you say no to an audit? Do they ban you from buying software?

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calloc
They sue you. And then you have a long lengthy lawsuit ahead of you!

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alexholehouse
Interesting how the antivirus software companies are so on board (I mean, AVG
gives it stuff away for free). Any thoughts as to why this is?

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cjfont
On one hand there is a lot of pirating of antivirus software, and yet to some
extent P2P does increase the need to have it installed on one's system (which
may increase demand/business).

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alexholehouse
I feel like antivirus software is less piratable than a lot of things though -
you need to constantly update through a centralized server which checks your
credentials (which are inevitably false if you've pirated the software).

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nextparadigms
I hope Android will become a more full blown OS in the next few years, so I
can replace my Windows computers for good. I don't want to support in any way
a company that abuses so much the patent system, and is also supporting
Internet censorship. I think that day will come sooner rather than later.

~~~
dchest
You can replace your Windows computers now if you really want to.

