Blackmoor Vituperative

A Russian headmaster said on May 7 a court has fined him half his monthly wage for using pirated copies of Microsoft software at his school in a case President Vladimir Putin has called “utter nonsense.”

Prosecutors said Alexander Ponosov had violated Microsoft’s property rights by allowing pupils to use 12 computers with unlicensed copies of Microsoft Windows and Office software.

Ponosov, a headmaster in a remote school in the Perm region of the Ural mountains, said he did not know the computers had fake licenses when they were delivered by a sub-contractor.

Russia has been urged to crack down on the widespread availability of cheap pirated software, films and music as it prepares to enter the World Trade Organization.

[…]

“Today the court brought in a guilty verdict — they ordered me to pay a fine of 5,000 roubles ($194.4),” Ponosov told Reuters by telephone from the Perm region.

“I consider myself not guilty and I will file an appeal,” he said, adding that he had not paid the fine. He said he earned about 10,000 roubles a month.

Putin has described the case as “utter nonsense” and former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev even asked Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to intercede on the teacher’s behalf.

(eWeek, Russian Teacher Fined in Microsoft Piracy Case)

Take heed, true believers: this is exactly what the Digital Rights Mafia (DRM) is all about. You are not a consumer: you are a criminal, and the media robbers barons will twist the legal system into pretzels to make sure you get what they think you deserve.

We are all Alexander Ponosov, and it will get much worse before it gets better. Half your monthly salary is nothing compared to what the Digital Rights Mafia wants from you.

Michael Geist has it right, when speaking of the US bullying of other countries to get them to adopt US-style copyright legislation:

Not only are the policies suspect, but the USTR report should be seen for what it is — a biased analysis of foreign law supported by a well-orchestrated lobby effort.

(from BBC News, Ignore the US copyright bullies)