Illegal copies of Operating System And App Software

J

JustinC

I’m really sorry to put this here, but it seems so difficult to email
Microsoft directly, so I hope someone in authority will come across this
sooner or later.
For obvious reasons, I wish to remain anonymous because I am still employed
by this company, but having worked here for some time now, and understanding
how they conduct business with their clients, and the overall practices
within the business, I’m forced to write to inform you that amongst many
other unscrupulous activities, my company are using illegal copies of the
Microsoft Operating System and its associated Application Software. We have
about 100 pc’s and we have been specifically told NEVER to ‘OK’ the “New
updates are available†pop up because of the illegal copies installed.
I leave it to your own judgment whether or not to send Auditors to our
business premises to verify the legitimacy of the software installed on the
machines.
My company details are as follows:
AssurIT House
Harry Weston Road
Eastwood Business Village
Binley,
Coventry
West Midlands
CV3 2UB
UK.

I hope this come to the attention of those that are in a position to
investigate this further.
I am prepared to offer any assistance that may be required of me and I can
be contacted via (e-mail address removed)
 
M

Malke

JustinC said:
I?m really sorry to put this here, but it seems so difficult to email
Microsoft directly, so I hope someone in authority will come across this
sooner or later.
Click to expand...

(snippage)

Unfortunately, you're not talking to Microsoft here. This is a public
newsgroup hosted on Microsoft servers and the vast majority of posters who
help out are volunteers who don't work for the company. Occasionally an MS
employee will post in the newsgroups but it's not an official policy.

The best place to report piracy is directly to Microsoft. They are actually
quite easy to get hold of for this sort of thing:

http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/reporting/default.aspx

Malke
 
D

David B.

It probably would have been better to ask where to submit your info, rather
than posting your companies info on a public news server for the world to
see.
 
J

JustinC

Hi Malke,
Thanx for the link. I looked at the microsoft.com website and ended up going
around in circles.

I've contacted them now via the link you advised me of.
(Hopefully, I can sleep a little better now!!)
 
P

Peter Foldes

--
Peter

Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.
 
D

DL

Actually in posting an email addy, if its real, you are no longer anonymous
to any legal authorities
 
K

Ken Blake, MVP

I'd strongly advise you to get your resume out as well. Even anonymous
posts and reports can be traced back if someone is interested enough to do
so.
Click to expand...


And since his post included his e-mail address, it wasn't anonymous at
all. If anyone from his company wants to, he can readily find and read
his post, and identify him.
 
F

FromTheRafters

JustinC said:
I'm really sorry to put this here,
Click to expand...

Not as sorry as you're going to be, unless...
but it seems so difficult to email
Microsoft directly, so I hope someone in authority will come across
this
sooner or later.
Click to expand...

This was posted publicly, and archived on millions of machines
worldwide. Even if you wanted to "undo" this post - you wouldn't be able
to. You can be assured that many 'someones' of various 'authorities'
will be reading this.
For obvious reasons, I wish to remain anonymous because I am still
employed
by this company,
Click to expand...

For most people, anonymity may as well be a myth.
but having worked here for some time now, and understanding
how they conduct business with their clients, and the overall
practices
within the business, I'm forced to write to inform you that amongst
many
other unscrupulous activities, my company are using illegal copies of
the
Microsoft Operating System and its associated Application Software. We
have
about 100 pc's and we have been specifically told NEVER to 'OK' the
"New
updates are available" pop up because of the illegal copies installed.
I leave it to your own judgment whether or not to send Auditors to our
business premises to verify the legitimacy of the software installed
on the
machines.
Click to expand...

Starting to smell like a "Joe job" to me.

[snipped name and addresses]
 
R

Richard Urban

Justin,

You had better hope that your boss doesn't happen upon this news group. Do
you have another job lined up?
 
D

Dave Warren

In message <[email protected]> Nosha
totally agree with David B.
it's not the right place to report, and even if it is, you shouldn't
just expose such info on public, and by doing so, you actually can make
anyone blackmail your company for these info you supplied..
Click to expand...

How so? What would be the blackmail threat? I couldn't blackmail his
company because my only threat would be to make the information public,
a rather silly threat when it was obtained publicly.

If you had the desire, how would you blackmail his company?
 
D

Dave Warren

In message <[email protected]> "Ken Blake, MVP"
And since his post included his e-mail address, it wasn't anonymous at
all. If anyone from his company wants to, he can readily find and read
his post, and identify him.
Click to expand...

Law enforcement could find him easily with or without an email address.

If he took the time to create a dedicated address without any personally
identifying information in public areas of the account, it would be
rather difficult for a corporate entity to discover his true identity.

From there, proving it was him that sent the message would be the next
step, another rather difficult task since it could have been me that
posted, pretending to be him.

Next up would be the fact that reporting a crime is rarely covered under
NDAs. Copyright infringement is a bit more of a grey area when the
report is to a third party rather then a law enforcement agency, but if
the company has an ethics code, it may unwittingly protect said action.

Oddly enough, his largest exposure might actually be libel, since in the
UK, the truth is not an absolute defense to libel, rather, since his
statements could be interpreted as being designed to defame or damage
his company's reputation, he may find himself liable.

Either way, having an up to date CV is never a bad idea, especially in
this economic climate -- I can't imagine he's a happy employee if he's
posting here.
 
T

TheWash

Good for you, but a simple search on microsoft.com would've given you the
link to the page for reporting piracy.

Too many people turn a blind eye to this or of the opinion that since
they've a pc they deserve a copy of windows for free.
 
M

Mark H

You were taken by a con into buying an illegitimate copy of Vista.
What exactly does MS owe you?
Did they get a single dollar of your money?
Did you expect them to recoup your money?
Or, to provide free products to soothe your ego?

It's exactly this attitude that "I made a mistake. Now somebody... I don't
care who... should make it right for me" that has led to the idea the
ridiculous prices we pay for software and the outlandish justification that
piracy is okay.

Report it! Sure, and MS ups the bean count in some statistic warranting a
higher price for their product.
But, if you want your money back, or a legitimate copy of the software, you
should have went after the thief.

Don't like the system, fix it.
Don't want to fix it, then be willing to pay twice, or more.
Don't blame MS for your being duped by a thief.
 
R

Ray

Exactly, take responsiblity for your actions. too many with hands out for a
bail out. Let the buyer beware.
 
C

Charlie Tame

JustinC said:
I’m really sorry to put this here, but it seems so difficult to email
Microsoft directly, so I hope someone in authority will come across this
sooner or later.
For obvious reasons, I wish to remain anonymous because I am still employed
by this company, but having worked here for some time now, and understanding
how they conduct business with their clients, and the overall practices
within the business, I’m forced to write to inform you that amongst many
other unscrupulous activities, my company are using illegal copies of the
Microsoft Operating System and its associated Application Software. We have
about 100 pc’s and we have been specifically told NEVER to ‘OK’ the “New
updates are available†pop up because of the illegal copies installed.
I leave it to your own judgment whether or not to send Auditors to our
business premises to verify the legitimacy of the software installed on the
machines.
Click to expand...
I hope this come to the attention of those that are in a position to
investigate this further.
I am prepared to offer any assistance that may be required of me and I can
be contacted via (e-mail address removed)
Click to expand...


Well, for a company to refuse windows updates that almost certainly will
have contained fixes for many exploit vulnerabilities is irresponsible
to say the least, and if they haven't been hacked yet just give it about
ten minutes after this post hits a few servers :)

I don't expect MS to go berserk about someone having a cloned drive or
two since that is a legitimate backup method, but what you suggest does
not sound at all accidental and of enough value for at least an
investigation.

I suspect you are not anonymous, it would probably not take a genius at
the company to figure out who you are, but it might be a career move to
learn about administering Linux since the cost of making their
installations legal might put them out of business and you might be able
to offer them an alternative they don't actually have to pay for :)

By the way Google earth has a nice picture of the building and their
website gives helpful directions to the location :) Besides which I
worked nearby in Coventry for years, seems like they have a lot of
dealings with IBM... hmm.
 
K

Kromag

I agree with what Charlie says here in regards to trying to help them with a
free or cheaper setup.

I hope you didn't just report your people that employ you merely cause
you're a disgruntled employee.

Being that this is a company that you work for, you may just have opened
yourself to a lawsuit yourself as well by inadvertently inviting a possible
attacker to this system.


__________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature database 4176 (20090622) __________

The message was checked by ESET Smart Security.

http://www.eset.com
 
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