For pirated software distribution

Mar 30, 2007 12:17 GMT  ·  By

Courtney Smith, a 36-year-old man from Anderson, India, was sentenced to 27 months in prison after he managed to sell pirated software through the online bidding website, eBay. He managed to earn more than $700.000 with counterfeit computer applications distributed on the website and directed to millions of users from every corner of the world. According to PC World, Courtney Smith bought pirated versions of software applications, duplicated them and then resold the copies to other eBay members.

"The case came out of a DOJ initiative to combat online auction piracy. U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents searched Smith's residence on Dec. 15, 2004, seizing several computers, CDs and devices used to create counterfeit software, the DOJ said. Smith told investigators he made his own Rockwell Automation Software labels to affix to the software, the DOJ said," the same publication reported.

The amount of money earned by the software pirate is quite impressive because he managed to gain $4.149 after he sold counterfeited computer programs in 32 auctions. The piracy software matter is again brought in the spotlights after numerous companies tried to stop this illegal activity that affects the firms' profits. As you surely know, one of the most pirated applications is surely Microsoft's product, Windows operating system that is currently installed on millions of computers from all over the world. How can we stop piracy? Well, we can't, but at least we're able to contribute to the antipiracy campaign by refusing to buy software applications from malicious people, others than the developer's retailers. Although the security companies and the software firms are working hard for a solution able to protect their products, it seems like there is no application able to face the hackers' attempts to copy and distribute it.