News - Microsoft: Organised crime at the heart of software piracy

[aidanjt]

So your telling me that you don't think that the commercial piracy, people flogging DVDs in London are organised crimbos?

It's alike to black market cigarettes, some of it is 'organised', some not. None of it is 'big business'. Only a small percentage of software/media piracy is actual piracy (as in attempting to profit off illegitimate copies), after all, why pay even £10 for something you can get for £0? It makes enough for it to be worth doing, it's hardly makes enough to fund international terrorism, and plots to take over the world or whatever hyperbole rubbish RIAA/MPAA/etc spews out.

That is very obviously utter tosh, ask any of the charities which deal with the consicquencies of people trafficing in the UK. Now i'm not for a moment saying that if people stopped buying DVDs this horrific varient that is moden day slavery would disappear overnight. But most of those people are organised crime in every sense.

Human trafficking funds human trafficking, it is its own market, and by far eclipses piracy in worth.

[Fraz]

i bought my copy of windows 7... I have to install windows normally, and then have a 15min long phone call to microsoft to reactivate my CDKEY from the previous dead installation of it

OEM license is it? If so, you only have yourself to blame. I certainly don't have to do this with the full retail version.

[TheAnimus]

It's alike to black market cigarettes, some of it is 'organised', some not. None of it is 'big business'. Only a small percentage of software/media piracy is actual piracy (as in attempting to profit off illegitimate copies), after all, why pay even £10 for something you can get for £0? It makes enough for it to be worth doing, it's hardly makes enough to fund international terrorism, and plots to take over the world or whatever hyperbole rubbish RIAA/MPAA/etc spews out.

But we're not talking about that.

We're talking about the sale of pirate software been often a result of organised crime.

The only time I've seen this has been in very much central London pubs, once out in the noisebleeds of Zone 4. They are prodominantly asian selling mass produced ultra thin sleved and printed discs, £3 per film, and £10 per software item, which whilst good value for photoshop....

Those people are most certainly organised criminals, thou I do think its odd to try and draw a distinction amongst the crimbos, how about "thoroughly unplesent types".

Now compared to the money that you get from say drugs, its penuts, but the margins are better for the distrabutor.

[Georgy291]

OEM license is it? If so, you only have yourself to blame. I certainly don't have to do this with the full retail version.

I been asked this many times over and over again, NOT OEM

ONE OF THE GREEN BOXES



^^ illustration in case you still dont get it.

[gagaga]

So, let's get this straight.

They use high-profit, low risk software counterfeiting to fund high-risk activities like human and drug smuggling?

We're meant to believe this sh*t?

Fine that they do both activities, as hey, income is income, but this is the same boll*cks the music industry pushed.

[TheAnimus]

So, let's get this straight.

They use high-profit, low risk software counterfeiting to fund high-risk activities like human and drug smuggling?

We're meant to believe this sh*t?

Fine that they do both activities, as hey, income is income, but this is the same boll*cks the music industry pushed.

You say your from London Town in your description.

Go to somewhere like Kilburn high street, the southern end and look at all the people flogging pirated software and films, mostly films mind, I think MS are bigging up their problem a little here.

They are prodominantly asian, and not here legally.

Do you think they bother to treat those people amicably?

This reminds me of when soon after 9/11 some retard decided to run an add campagin focusing on the fact that weed funds terrorism. The problem is most of the users are forced to give their money to such people because of the prohibition, but also the sterotype of heavy weed smokers as self rightious hypocrticial runts who are just one copy of the socialist worker or gardian away from my gass chamber not withstanding, they were directly funding nasty people in many cases.

It is very shocking how some of the recretational drug users in California can be so blazae about the effect their black market money is having just a few miles further south.