anybody know the specifics? who to call? who is liable? how liable? would the employer have any grounds to file a personal lawsuit against the employee ratting them out? would the employee be liable directly? a while back i heard an ad on the radio encouraging disgruntled employees to rat out their offending companies for reward. i expect this a third party lawfirm getting rich prosecuting such cases. is there any reason to go straight to MS or whoever instead of one of these types of companies? anyone know any specific companies? been a long time since i heard that ad.
any help appreciated. for obvious reasons im reluctant to post more specific info at this time… maybe by PM if someone could help me learn more about this.
You contact the Business Software Alliance. They may or may not give you a cash reward, depending on the circumstances. The BSA then sends a letter to the company, saying “We’ll be at your door in 24 hours. Send the attached sheet agreeing to the audit and we’ll send lawyers and ‘enforcement specialists’ who will impede your work for the duration of the audit. If you don’t sent it, we’ll send nasty guys with guns (Federal Marshals), lawyers, and ‘enforcement specialists’ who will SHUT DOWN your office for the duration of the audit. Have a nice day.” They’ll audit the company, requiring proof of license for all computers and software on the premises. The company will be found non-compliant (they ALWAYS are. Even a fully legit operation can’t keep perfect paperwork) and will be forced to pay for additional licenses
IANAL, but if your tip is legitimate, I don’t see how they could hold you accountable. Either way, the BSA will probably keep your identity a secret. Contact them and ask.
FDISK is not a lawyer, and is in no way affiliated with the BSA or their operations. All information is second hand, and some may be incorrect
If your complaint is not legitimate, your employer may well take a dim view of your future, so be sure of what you’re doing. In an earlier thread, I wondered about the “home-burned” Windows 2000 install CD I got from our IT department and got a “possible” in reply to the thought that some site licenses do not provide manufacturers’ CDs and leave the company to burn their own.
And, if you believe some company employees have left the company vulnerable on licensing issues, why would you not try to rectify the situation internally first?
One thing the BSA required at the time was a notarized affadavit spelling out your accusation, the times, places, people involved, etc. I do not know if they still do, but the people I know went ahead and did it.
It got ugly. I will skip the anecdote, but it ended up with the two being “forced to quit.” The company paid the fines, though.
trying internally is a deadend. the owner knows and condones it, though we at the ground level are, i suppose, guilty by compliance. (does this equal legal laibility for us personally?) any and all complaints/suggestions/etc on just about any topic end in, “well if you dont like the way i do things, you can go work someplace else.”
at this point we are all ready to do just that. “forced to quit” has been ongoing for months now…
with 24 hours notice, whats to stop them from formatting all the guilty systems? does that leave them scott free? no evidence, no crime?
I would think that it would be a federal crime, meaning that the FBI might be the ones to contact, at least for a lead. They may have more important things to do, but it’s worth a try to ring the branch office.
My company can do this. We have a site license that lets our IT people burn and distribute within our company, in any way we see fit, XP, 2000, and Office.
IANAL, but I don’t think the FBI would give a rat’s ass if you as long as you complied with the request for audit (and even if you didn’t, I can’t see the federal gov’t shutting someone down unless there’s clear evidence of large-scale piracy with intent to resell. If it’s just licensing violations, then I would think the BSA would just file a civil copyright infringement lawsuit against the offender). The purpose of the audit is to make sure you’re compliant with the various licensing agreements of the software you’re using. If you format every hard drive, there’s not a whole lot anyone’s gonna do to you, except tell you what kind of and how many licenses of various software you’re entitled to.