That’s because even a grey market Windows key costs US$20 nowadays and that’s over ₹1,600. For comparison purposes, the largest Indian banknote is ₹500.
…but not legal. Being poor doesn’t necessarily mean you’re inclined to break the law. Besides, Linux is useful if you perhaps want to later get a job in the tech field.
You’re not breaking the law, you’re breaking a software license agreement. That does not automatically make it a crime, at least, that would depend on your exact local laws, and the lawyer’s interpretation of it - in many cases the actual wording around this is ambiguous and could be argued both ways. A better term for it would be a “legal grey area”, which means if you’re a company then don’t f*** around with it, and if you’re just a random user then no one gives a f***.
In any case, if those scripts were truly illegal, then the Microsoft-owned Github wouldn’t host them in the first place. Clearly Microsoft themselves don’t have an issue with it, so why should anyone else care about it?
Yes, you are breaking a law. Copyright infringement in this manner is an offence under the Copyright Act 1957 punishable with up to three years imprisonment and a fine.
Just to be clear, MIT’s role was to catch him out by finding his hoovering laptop hidden in the janitor’s cupboard and reporting him to cops. JSTOR didn’t want to prosecute but the government did, presumably because he helped scuttle SOPA & PIPA and was clearly going to be a powerful thorn in their side in future.
Unfortunately MIT gave the government the excuse they were waiting for to destroy him.
That is what I recall from the documentary anyhow.
iirc, MIT could have denied access to FBI in setting up a trap to whoever was the owner of such laptop. They could’ve set the trap themselves and dealt with academic discipline too. So, they did enable the up-scalation of the conflict.
Of course, it’s all subjective at this point… either I recall incorrectly some details, or even how I unconsciously choose to see it is shaped by personal world views.
Aaron would be appalled at the state of the world of today if he, like so many brave, selfless defenders of human rights, hadn’t been murdered by the capitalist cadres of yesterday.
Yes. He also helped create RSS which is basically where content needs to be moving. He had exactly the same principles in mind as Lemmy/Mastodon creators and would have been a vocal opponent of what Reddit became. I mean, perhaps he could have eventually been corrupted, but judging by his record of hacktivism, he probably would have become a “problem” for the powers that seek to control/centralize, advertise to, and study our browsing habits.
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