Public works for pirates
Thoughts out loud about how software companies can make the fight against piracy more “humane” without compromising their principles and interests.
I was told this by Adobe employees engaged in countering piracy, and asked to propose this topic for discussion at Habré — they are really interested to know your opinion about their initiative. Before you ply or minus - think about being a storyteller here =)
It's no secret how software companies refer to those who use or distribute unlicensed software. Moreover, they don’t like it when professionals use the software that earns money (which is very important for Adobe software). And certainly they are not ready to put up with those whose business is to trade in pirated software.
')
But they regularly encounter situations when, for example, unauthorized Adobe programs come across, for example, students who work as “computer emergency first aid”: help set up a computer, solve problems with viruses, or put the program needed for the program, among which there is “pirate”. From the point of view of the law, these people are guilty.
Adobe as the “injured party” also has a voice in deciding whether to punish them. More precisely, this court decides, but the company can offer a settlement agreement on the civil part of the claim. People work there for whom piracy is primarily a business problem, and generally alien to some sort of special vindictiveness or cruelty. At the same time, it is clear that in their situation it would be wrong to simply turn a blind eye to the identified cases of piracy. Accordingly, a problem arose: what to do with such “villains”? Should I punish them in the framework of the overall system?
Among the friends of Adobe is the fund “Give Life” Chulpan Khamatova . The Foundation is engaged in helping children in need of treatment, and it helps them in two main ways - money and volunteer work. One of the problems of the foundation is that volunteers usually have a main job and there are not many people among them who are able to offer their assistance during the day.
You have probably already guessed the essence of the idea: Adobe offers certain categories of defendants in piracy cases the possibility of replacing the civil lawsuit with “community service” as a volunteer of “Give Life” foundation. The choice of a charitable foundation as a front of work for convicts was dictated not so much by the desire to help the fund, as by the desire to give the opportunity to the guilty to do something good and useful, and not just work out the punishment assigned to them. In turn, this fact is taken into account by the court when sentencing in a criminal case and gives reason to reduce the term of conditional imprisonment or to do only a fine.
In February, the first time the installer of the program, sentenced by the court to a year of imprisonment and a fine of 2500 rubles, was offered a settlement agreement under this initiative. Under the terms of the agreement, he paid a small part of the cost of software, the rights to which were violated by him and was obliged to work 41.5 hours in the fund.
He worked on them during the month in March-April of this year, carrying out various assignments (taking medicines and medical equipment, collecting documents for the wards of the foundation, helping with the unloading of furniture for sick children, etc.), and received as a result the most positive characteristics from the foundation.
Adobe had various doubts about what would come out of this venture. The first experience is quite inspiring, and now 3 more people should be included in this program, however, the companies will still be happy to hear what others think about this.
PS
Immediately I will give answers to several obvious questions (those that arose in myself):
1. No, this is not the only way Adobe helps the foundation (both as a company and as individual employees).
2. This program is offered as an option, and the defendants have the opportunity to choose between paying the full amount of compensation for a civil suit and public works in the fund.
3. A small part of the compensation remains included in the agreement due to certain legal features of how this works in Russia. Adobe would prefer a full replacement of compensation work in the fund.
4. This program is not open to all categories of “pirates”: disk merchants and companies using unlicensed software do not fall under it.
5. The Foundation (who is primarily interested in this) is responsible for ensuring that the convicted person actually fulfills his due hours. Accounting is conducted very carefully and very friendly with respect to the “volunteer reluctantly”: as with all other volunteers, the full time spent on a particular assignment is taken into account, taking into account the road from home to place.
In general, any questions and comments - well!
moved here from "I'm smart" on the advice of DileSoft
I was told this by Adobe employees engaged in countering piracy, and asked to propose this topic for discussion at Habré — they are really interested to know your opinion about their initiative. Before you ply or minus - think about being a storyteller here =)
It's no secret how software companies refer to those who use or distribute unlicensed software. Moreover, they don’t like it when professionals use the software that earns money (which is very important for Adobe software). And certainly they are not ready to put up with those whose business is to trade in pirated software.
')
But they regularly encounter situations when, for example, unauthorized Adobe programs come across, for example, students who work as “computer emergency first aid”: help set up a computer, solve problems with viruses, or put the program needed for the program, among which there is “pirate”. From the point of view of the law, these people are guilty.
Adobe as the “injured party” also has a voice in deciding whether to punish them. More precisely, this court decides, but the company can offer a settlement agreement on the civil part of the claim. People work there for whom piracy is primarily a business problem, and generally alien to some sort of special vindictiveness or cruelty. At the same time, it is clear that in their situation it would be wrong to simply turn a blind eye to the identified cases of piracy. Accordingly, a problem arose: what to do with such “villains”? Should I punish them in the framework of the overall system?
Among the friends of Adobe is the fund “Give Life” Chulpan Khamatova . The Foundation is engaged in helping children in need of treatment, and it helps them in two main ways - money and volunteer work. One of the problems of the foundation is that volunteers usually have a main job and there are not many people among them who are able to offer their assistance during the day.
You have probably already guessed the essence of the idea: Adobe offers certain categories of defendants in piracy cases the possibility of replacing the civil lawsuit with “community service” as a volunteer of “Give Life” foundation. The choice of a charitable foundation as a front of work for convicts was dictated not so much by the desire to help the fund, as by the desire to give the opportunity to the guilty to do something good and useful, and not just work out the punishment assigned to them. In turn, this fact is taken into account by the court when sentencing in a criminal case and gives reason to reduce the term of conditional imprisonment or to do only a fine.
In February, the first time the installer of the program, sentenced by the court to a year of imprisonment and a fine of 2500 rubles, was offered a settlement agreement under this initiative. Under the terms of the agreement, he paid a small part of the cost of software, the rights to which were violated by him and was obliged to work 41.5 hours in the fund.
He worked on them during the month in March-April of this year, carrying out various assignments (taking medicines and medical equipment, collecting documents for the wards of the foundation, helping with the unloading of furniture for sick children, etc.), and received as a result the most positive characteristics from the foundation.
Adobe had various doubts about what would come out of this venture. The first experience is quite inspiring, and now 3 more people should be included in this program, however, the companies will still be happy to hear what others think about this.
PS
Immediately I will give answers to several obvious questions (those that arose in myself):
1. No, this is not the only way Adobe helps the foundation (both as a company and as individual employees).
2. This program is offered as an option, and the defendants have the opportunity to choose between paying the full amount of compensation for a civil suit and public works in the fund.
3. A small part of the compensation remains included in the agreement due to certain legal features of how this works in Russia. Adobe would prefer a full replacement of compensation work in the fund.
4. This program is not open to all categories of “pirates”: disk merchants and companies using unlicensed software do not fall under it.
5. The Foundation (who is primarily interested in this) is responsible for ensuring that the convicted person actually fulfills his due hours. Accounting is conducted very carefully and very friendly with respect to the “volunteer reluctantly”: as with all other volunteers, the full time spent on a particular assignment is taken into account, taking into account the road from home to place.
In general, any questions and comments - well!
moved here from "I'm smart" on the advice of DileSoft
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/64421/
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