Topic: Please Mr. Gates, show mercy.

[Pugnate]

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2007-02-05T125219Z_01_L0598755_RTRIDST_0_OUKIN-UK-GORBACHEV-GATES-PIRACY.XML

Gorbachev to Gates: Show mercy on software "pirate"
Mon Feb 5, 2007 12:52 PM GMT135
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MOSCOW (Reuters) - Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on Monday asked Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to intercede on behalf of a Russian teacher accused of using pirated software in his classroom.

In an open letter, Nobel Peace Prize winner Gorbachev said the teacher, Alexander Ponosov, from a remote village in the Urals, should be shown mercy because he did not know he was committing a crime.

"A teacher, who has dedicated his life to the education of children and who receives a modest salary that does not bear comparison with the salaries of even regular staff in your company, is threatened with detention in Siberian prison camps," read the letter, posted on the Internet site of Gorbachev's charitable foundation www.gorby.ru.

"We have great respect for the work of Microsoft's programmers ... and are in no way casting doubt on the principle of punishment for intellectual property violations.

"However, in this case we ask you to show mercy and withdraw your complaint against Alexander Ponosov," the letter read.

"This noble step will be enthusiastically received by all those in Russia who use Microsoft products."

Prosecutors accuse Ponosov, headmaster of a middle school in the Perm region, of violating Microsoft's intellectual property rules by using computers in his school that contained unlicensed copies of the firm's software.

Russia has been mounting a high-profile crackdown on piracy as part of its efforts to join the World Trade Organisation.

[angrykeebler]

you know, if the chinese government ever cracked down on piracy they would have to send more than half the country to jail

[Pugnate]

What if they had to send the whole country to jail? Would they just put metal grills around the borders, not change the rules, and still call it China?

[idolminds]

Its my understanding that China is like that already.

[angrykeebler]

it'll be just like "Escape from New York"

[scottws]

Yeah, not Escape From L.A. because that one sucked.

[gpw11]

Wait....what the fuck? 

Why is he writing this letter to Bill Gates?  Shouldn't he be writing it to the Russian gov't or even the WTO?

[MysterD]

Wait....what the fuck? 

Why is he writing this letter to Bill Gates?

Probably b/c he pirated a Microsoft product.

He doesn't want Bill to probably sue -- and wind up even richer than he already is!

This might not look good if he gets in trouble, since Russia wants to get into the WTO.