When it comes to stopping citizens from sampling a CD that only has one good track, there is no police action too great for the occasion.
NEW YORK – A Delaware County jury began deliberating this morning on the fate of Mr. Stefano who was convicted on Wednesday of copyright infringement and first-degree possession of stolen software. Mr. Stefano pleaded guilty to all charges. The lawyers for the Business Software Alliance (BSA) are pushing for the death penalty, comparing Khyl's, “rampage” with that of pirate Albert W. Hicks in the 19th century.
Hicks was executed by hanging, on Bedloe's Island in 1860. This push by the BSA is part of their massive crackdown on unlicensed software that has already seen dozens of raids this year.
Stefano was arraigned after an informant notified the BSA of his illegal sharing. The informant, a former friend of the munificent Stefano made the allegations after hearing about the BSA's $1 Million Dollar Reward program that rewards qualifying participants with cash prizes for snitching out their friends and employers.
The informant, who spoke on condition of anonymity exclaimed, “I ain't sure I'll see the whole mill but hey, money's money, right!” In an ironic twist, Microsoft had already been watching Stefano for months after Stefano received a forced update (KB892130) from Microsoft back in May, containing Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), a program that critics label as spyware. WGA promptly notified Microsoft of Stefano's unlicensed software usage.
Microsoft's partner, the BSA, compiled a dossier on Stefano's software usage in order to pursue legal measures against him. On Tuesday, backed by a half-dozen armed federal agents, the BSA raided Stefano's small business in what can only be called the most severe raid by the software police in Delaware County's history.
Stefano, who maintains he, “thought the giant thugs were a bunch of criminals and burglers”, jumped out the window of his office and narrowly avoided a barrage of bullets that were fired as he jumped to the ground. Luckily, an off-duty officer took notice to the commotion and used his stun gun to paralyze the already shocked Stefano. Shaken and battered, Stefano was taken into custody in a straitjacket under heavy surveillance.
In a press conference outside the Delaware County Courthouse, Mr. Stefano's lawyer spoke this morning on the dilemma Stefano faced as a proprietary software user, “Although by accepting the software license my client agreed not to share with others, he also felt he had an ethical obligation to help others when he could. He felt this was a no-win situation; break the promise not to share, or betray his friends by refusing to cooperate with them. He felt that by sharing the software, he was choosing the lesser of the two evils.
However, he was far from enthusiastic about his decision. To the contrary, for the past three years Stefano has been taking a solid regiment of anti-anxiety and heart medications including Prozac, Venlafaxine and Digoxin. Stefano's psychiatrist attributes his physical and mental condition to the stress caused from this dilemma.”
Opinion remains sharply divided over software sharing. President Bush today said, “Like I ain't got 'nough to worry about with the darn Chinese!” His comments came shortly after passing an international anti “piracy” bill. On the other hand, ninety-five percent of the general public consider sharing a good thing.
For instance, Mrs. Julia a 39 year-old mother of two said, “I always tell my boys to share, I tell them it's the Golden Rule.” A programmer with 25 years experience explained, “Stefano had the right idea; sharing software is good. Had he known about free software he could have avoided the dilemma that caused his downfall. He could have shared his software without being called names like, 'pirate'.”
