A Linux user who was jailed for uploading a film onto a
peer-to-peer service has been told he will have to switch to
Windows if he wants to use a computer again.
Scott McCausland, who used to be an administrator of the
EliteTorrents BitTorrent server before it was shut down by the FBI,
pleaded guilty in 2006 to two copyright-related charges over the
uploading of Star Wars: Episode III to the Internet. As a result,
he was sentenced to five months in jail and five months' home
confinement.
McCausland--who also goes by the name "sk0t"--has since been
released from jail, but on Tuesday he reported on his blog that the
terms of his sentence meant he would have to install Windows if he
wanted to use a computer during his probation. "I had a meeting
with my probation officer today, and he told me that he has to
install monitoring software onto my PC," wrote McCausland. "No big
deal to me...that is part of my sentence."
"However, their software doesn't support GNU/Linux (which is what I
use)," continued McCausland. "So, he told me that if I want to use
a computer, I would have to use an OS that the software can be
installed on. Which basically means: Microsoft and monitoring
software or no computer. I use Ubuntu 7.04 now, and they are trying
to force me to switch. First they give me two felonies, then they
throw me in prison, and now this."
According to the Web site TorrentFreak, McCausland and his attorney
will fight the situation. "It isn't the fact that I have to be
monitored that bothers me, it is the fact that I have (to)
restructure my life (different OS, different software on that OS)
and that they would require (force) me to purchase software while I
am currently unemployed and relatively unemployable with the two
felonies that they gave me," McCausland said. "It is just a
ridiculous situation."
http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-admin-monitored-by-us-government-forced-to-dump-linux
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6204348.html?tag=nl.e550
*speechless*
