Tag: BOOTLEG

Don't get me wrong, I know that people have been posting digital copies of copyrighted books online for decades. While recent technological advancements have made digital distribution of music and movie files easier than ever before, eBooks are tiny, tiny files. It didn't take very long to download a book over a 56k connection. But it's not internet bandwidth or digital distribution channels ...

The FBI and Chinese officials have seized more than 290,000 CDs with pirated software in a crackdown on groups in China and the US who were making and distributing the discs around the world. 25 people were arrested in the sting. The CDs have an estimated value of $500 million, with software titles from companies including Microsoft and Symantec. Of course, if you do the math, officials are ...

In case you needed another reason to look over your shoulder when uploading or downloading illegal copies of music or movies, it's not just the movie studios and record labels tracking you anymore. AT&T has begun working with content owners to keep pirated media off of its network, making AT&T the first major ISP to take a hands on approach to anti-piracy efforts. AT&T may have started ...

Chasing after software pirates in the US is one thing, but China's a whole other ballgame. Pirated copies of Windows Vista are widely available throughout the country, for as little as $1. So while Microsoft spent millions to promote Vista in China, the company apparently sold just 244 copies of the operating system during the first two weeks it was legally available in China. Microsoft has spent ...

Microsoft spends an awful lot of money every year trying to make sure you don't use bootleg copies of their software. But Microsoft business group president Jeff Raikes had something interesting to say at the Morgan Stanley Technology conference last week. Essentially, he said if people are going to use pirated software, he'd prefer they use bootleg copies of Microsoft programs. While this sounds ...