Software pirate pleads guilty in Autodesk, Adobe case

A Florida man has pleaded guilty to software piracy charges in connection with the illegal sale of nearly $2.5 million in pirated Autodesk, Adobe Systems and Macromedia software over a three-year period. Danny Ferrer, 37, of Lakeland, Fla., pleaded guilty June 16 to one count of criminal copyright infringement and one count of conspiracy in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va. Ferrer, who faces a maximum of sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to a $500,000, is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 25.

Ferrer, along with at least three other individuals, allegedly offered unauthorized copies of software from Autodesk, Adobe and Macromedia for sale on a Web site called "BuysUSA" between late 2002 and October 2005. (Macromedia has since been acquired by Adobe.)

[thedreaming]

What they hate...

Companies hate it when people pirate their sofware, but it really pisses them off when you try to make a profit of the sale of pirated software. That just sets them off.

Piracy has always and will always exist, but when it was just one or two nerds sharing a copy of ms-dos 3.30 it wasn't a big deal, but now everyone pirates everything from software to dvds and that's costing companies money and what's the first thing companies do to save money? Lay people off.

It's simple folks, stop pirating. Let the companies make their profit. Fight the high prices with your wallet. Buy your software from a company that doesn't want an arm and a leg for it and shop around, you be surprised at what you'll find that's just a good as a name brand, but doesn't cost a mint.

[atomas123]

You 'll be surpised

you will be surprised of what you can get for free.
you just have to use the right OS.

[SeizeCTRL]

You're missing something

Companies need to set fair and sustainable prices. Your average highschool kid can't go out and buy Photoshop. People are tired of paying $15-20 for a CD that contains 1 good song, 2 decent songs and 10 filler songs.

One thing companies could do to end piracy is stop trying to rape the consumer's wallet.

[freq]

Re:"It's simple folks, stop pirating. Let the companies make their profit."

let the workers make wages in porportion to executives... but then the cops and judges would have to find new ways to scare the poor into submission... I will cast my touchscreen vote for the referendum of having gated communities for everyone.. and all the sacred trust fund brats and hollywood types will be free to save the environment from right-wing executive transportation war mongers...

[yohohoandabottleofrum]

pirated stuff allowed?

I emailed adobe about this site

<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.peerweb.org/files/software/" target="_newWindow">http://www.peerweb.org/files/software/</a>
(after you create an account)

They have pirated software hash links there so you can download it with a p2p client. I guess they dont care about the smaller sites as long as you are not selling it I guess.