Movie pirate forced to ditch Linux

[spinynorman]

Scott McCausland of Virginia has served his time but his problems are far from over. The monitoring software the government plans to use to keep tabs on his internet connection only works on Windows PCs, so McCausland faces the choice of switching from Ubuntu Linux to Windows or being prevented from using his PC.

 

More at The Register.

[SoulSe]

:(

 

Well, at least he can now run Windows on a Mac :P

[gem-in-eyez]

Can they really do things like that? like force a user to switch from OS to OS. Like I understand that they can ban a user form having access to a pc in his domicile but to go even further by dictating what OS he can use. Pretty controlling to me.

And on top of that, it kind of says something about using windows... that really we are not secure and private using it.

[Darkelve]

If you have served your time, I thought your punishment should be over?

[javaguy]

If you have served your time, I thought your punishment should be over?

 

That's how I feel about it, and once upon a time that was a pretty clear principle of law, but it has eroded over the years. In most states, for example, convicted felons can never again get a gun permit. In many they can't register to vote.

 

The case has been made that some people are still dangerous even after serving their sentence, but that strikes me as a problem with the length of the sentence, not a case to keep harassing them after it's over. Some argue that child molesters, for example, pretty much never stop doing it and should be watched for life; I sympathize, but if it's true then it seem to me they should be kept locked up for life and that it's cruel and irresponsible to turn them loose on society no matter how carefully we think we're monitoring them.

 

In this particular case, we're talking about a movie pirate for God's sake! Even if he resumes his crimes he's not really a threat to society. The government is treating this case like they've captured Dr. Mengele. Leave him alone already.

[tyme]

The government is retarded. There are so many easy, and better, ways to monitor someones internet activity without installing anything onto their system. And in fact, it would be better to have it in some black box that can't be accessed by the person (especially if they are computer-savvy) as software-based solutions are very easily circumvented.

 

That being said, I don't personally see this as a very big deal, or really news, for that matter. It's more like petty whining on the pirates part...they could have completely banned him from internet access, Mitnick-style.