[ILUG-Social] Legislative Alert

[Rick Moen]

Quoting kevin lyda (kevin at suberic.net):

> i love the bsa.  i hope they crack down harder.  people using closed
> source s/w in violation of the terms on which it offered are breaking
> the law and should be punished.  i think every company using such s/w
> should be checked for compliance, have a staff member who's primary
> (sole?) duty is to insure license compliance and conduct quarterly
> audits on everyone's computer.
> 
> go bsa!

Yes, indeed.

When I was chief sysadmin at $PRIOR_FIRM, an allegedly Linux-based
company, I quickly realised that various departments were freely
bootlegging sundry pieces of proprietary software, all of it Win32
stuff.  Some of this was even being done by one of my staffers, whom I
was preparing to fire for it when he resigned and went to Apple
Computer.

I tried to put a screeching halt to the practice.  I tried to collect
copies of all proprietary software purchase documentation and licensing,
and was then going to implement a modest audit regime.

And, you know what?  I was stonewalled by upper management and by
various department heads.  They gave vague reassurances and no
documentation whatsoever, and just refused to cooperate.

Allegations that the fundamental problem was a complete and total lack
of management integrity are... unconfirmed at this time.  ;->

-- 
Cheers,                 "Heedless of grammar, they all cried 'It's him!'"
Rick Moen                       -- R.H. Barham, _Misadventure at Margate_
rick at linuxmafia.com