Novell vs BBS - anti-piracy review at the end of the 20th century

In the comments to the last article on the topic of BBS sounded the idea that it would be nice to find out who all these people are, and how it ended. We have this opportunity thanks to historical press releases from Novell.

In the mid-90s, two companies, Novell and Microsoft, were the main fighters against piracy, which then existed in the form of a BBS network — files were transmitted by modems over telephone lines. In all, there were hundreds, perhaps thousands of such nodes used by several thousand people in the USA at that time. You can read about how the system acted in the history of the scene . In fact, it turned out that a rather closed group of people united by common interest bought every program that went out, one copy “for all”, then removing protection so that everyone could make a copy for themselves.
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In the four press releases of 1995-1997, we can trace how the fight against pirates took place, what amounts of damage were presented, what penalties threatened BBS operators, and what statements were made in connection with this by representatives of these companies.


The already mentioned story dealt with two BBSs almost simultaneously closed in 1995. The first operator had a good lawyer, so the trial lasted 2 years:

1. Novell and Microsoft Announce Winning Case

The Final Frontier is one of the biggest BBS of the time, through which all pirated releases from the stage were distributed. They were partners of the NTA (Nokturnal Trading Alliance) and RISC (Rise in Superior Couriering) groups, which in turn collaborated with all the major release groups.

The court ruled that the sysop (system operator) must pay damages in the amount of $ 73,000, and all computer equipment was also confiscated from it. The decision said:

The situation is such that any amount would be equivalent to an economic death sentence for the defendant ... if the defendant’s financial situation was better or if the violations were committed for profit, the amount would be greater

The representative of Novell (Harrison Colter) liked the words of the judge "economic death sentence", which he repeated in his statement, threatening that such a fate awaits anyone who will engage in such illegal activities.

“Computer piracy causes enormous damage to our companies, and as a result of the entire industry and its customers,” said Microsoft spokesman Jim Lowe, “neither we nor Novell will tolerate the illegal downloading of our products with BBS.” Novell opened the hotline 1-800-PIRATES (800-747-2837) for reports of pirated BBSs, as well as a mailbox at pirates@novell.com.

2. The operator will refund $ 200,000

The second participant of the story was less fortunate. All the equipment was also confiscated as a result of the raid. The BBS operator, Pierre Barkett, agreed to a pre-trial settlement: payment of damage in the amount of 200,000 dollars.

In this press release, Novell tells readers what these BBS are.

During the investigation, which began back in May 1995, it turned out that the Pits BBS had offered its users access to illegal copies of software for several years, including Novell's PerfectOffice. Barkett said that he knew about Novell’s aggressive policies regarding pirated BBS, but he did not know that PerfectOffice is their product.

Pirated BBS-ki allow users to download commercial products, either for a subscription fee, or in exchange for other programs that are not yet on the BBS. This is a violation of copyright, and deprives producers of money for their products. In addition, pirated software may be incomplete, or contain viruses, which harms the reputation of the manufacturer. They may also damage the user's computer or data.

Apparently after this, the rest of the operators in the United States decided not to take any more risks and completely banned the laying out of the products of these companies. Now it was time to take on Europe.

3. Novell closes the Belgian BBS

On May 22, 1996, the anti-piracy branch of Novell covered the largest illegal BBS in Belgium, codenamed 'GENESIS'. She was ruled from her office in Brussels by one Jean Louis Piret. An agreement was reached on the payment of 6-digit amount of compensation (which unfortunately is not specified), with the confiscation of all equipment (worth $ 35,000)

Specially trained people from Novell (they call them Technical Investigators Technical Investigators) undercover penetrated the Genesis BBS. Having obtained the required evidence, they received a search warrant from a Belgian court. The search showed that the equipment allowed storing over 13 gigabytes of information. Piret himself admits that he kept about 40 thousand programs. They were available for download on 10 phone lines for people from all over the world.

Martin Smith, a manager from Novell, comments: “BBS, such as GENESIS, deprive the industry of millions of dollars annually. More than 6000 people used its system. It’s not only publishers who suffer, but also distributors, resellers and dealers who live off legal sales. ” He also warned all BBS owners in Europe that if they had Novell products, they would be subject to prosecution.

4. Six arrested in Sweden

On May 6, 1997, as a result of a months-long investigation of the European anti-piracy branch of Novell, the Swedish police conducted 5 searches in the city of Kalmar (60,000 residents) and arrested four people. Using the evidence obtained, the police conducted 4 more searches and arrested two more.

Investigators found that BBS 'Another World' operators offered access to Novell products worth more than 380,000 kroons (about $ 50,000), as well as products of other members of the Business Software Alliance.

The prosecutor said that each of the defendants could be sentenced to 2 years in prison and / or a maximum fine of 150,000 kronor (approximately $ 20,000 at the 1997 rate). Stefan Kronqvist from the Computer Crimes Unit added: “This investigation is further evidence of the high level of computer piracy in Sweden. We will continue to work on this problem. ”

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Thus, even then there were allegations of imprisonment and millions of damages inflicted on just one BBS, although the speed and number of users could not be compared with modern torrents. However, the courts then took into account the absence of gains by the violators, and the amounts of damage awarded were, although large, not absurd. So it was 16 years ago. Nowadays, as you know , pirates get real terms and damage in millions of dollars.