
Eric Lundgren loses appeal on computer restore disks, must serve 15-mo sentence - petethomas
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/true-crime/wp/2018/04/24/recycling-innovator-eric-lundgren-loses-appeal-on-computer-restore-discs-must-serve-15-month-prison-term/
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kolpa
Microsoft leadership, from Nadella on down, has blood on their hands,
callously lying to Federal authorities and weaponizing the courts to put an
innocent man in jail, destroying a year of a man's life, disrupting the
livelihoods of 100 honest working people, and creating tons of dangerous
polluting electronic waste, just so they could steal $700K from their
customers.

Remember this next time you buy a Microsoft computer.

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craftyguy
Exactly. This same business model would have worked out had he used Linux
instead. My local old computer re-purposing shop exclusively uses Linux, and
they offer classes for owners.

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kup0
That Microsoft decided to pursue this, especially in an instance where the
person being sentenced is doing good work, is just ethically bankrupt all
around. Even the judge mentioned having a hard time sentencing him because of
the work he has done.

I know that my personal protest would do nothing, but this kind of operating
corporate policy really just adds to my already strong disdain of Microsoft
and companies that act like this. Zero nuance was applied in this case, and
restore discs _without licenses_ have zero value- Microsoft arguing otherwise
is ridiculous.

I only use Windows for one specific usage case, gaming, and if it wasn't for
that (or if Linux ever gets far more gaming support), I will drop Windows
permanently for Linux.

I wish there was something we could do about this and the many injustices we
say day-to-day, but I sure feel helpless.

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em3rgent0rdr
> "the person being sentenced is doing good work"

No good deed goes unpunished.

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carapace
Unbelievable travesty of justice.

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Simulacra
Absolutely atrocious. We’ve seen this time and again, technology companies
placing exorbitant value in the courts on data that is essentially worth zero.

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em3rgent0rdr
Whatever happened to the new friendly Microsoft?

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teddyh
It was an illusion in the minds of some people. It always was.

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captain_crabs
What can I do?

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MoBattah
Never work for Microsoft.

Most of the HN community I bet works in the tech industry. Microsoft employees
should make their stance known to management. This is reprehensible.

Mo Battah is my real name and I will never work for Microsoft. I work for
ethical companies.

