Linux user forced to use Windows as part of home confinement
By Darren Murph 
posted Aug 24th 2007 1:53PM
posted Aug 24th 2007 1:53PM
If you think doing five months of hard time in the slammer for uploading a feature film to the internet is tough, try using Windows for nearly half a year when your heart belongs to Linux. Unfortunately, this heartbreaking scenario is indeed true, as the "ex-administrator of the EliteTorrents BitTorrent tracker" is now being forced to use an operating system in which the US government can install monitoring software on. According to Sk0t, who has served his jail time and is now sitting through five months of home confinement, he believes that the government "should have software that conforms to [him]," especially considering how expensive it would be to replace all of one's software... sans a job. Of course, his alternative seems to be just living out the sentence without using a PC at all, but c'mon, we all know that ain't happening.[Via Slashdot]
poor bastard
BTW, that picture is just downright wrong. The Penguin should be angry and trying to squash the Windows logo...
BTW, that picture is just downright wrong. The Penguin should be angry and trying to squash the Windows logo...
oh noes, he'll find a way round it though :) Finally, a condition where WebOS's could be useful!
why are 'US' and 'software' linked in this article? that's utterly useless and i would love to see a click count please engadget! you know my email address ;)
do you think he had to pay for the license too? :D
Vmware?
Yes, or a live cd.
Thats hilarious, but it sucks to be him.
Mac OSX FTW!
Just say using Linux is a part of his religious practice. They'll have to comply.
To be quite frank, however, I'm surprised (though not really) that he's saying the US Gov should accommodate his OS desires when he wouldn't accommodate the law.
I don't think so about the religious practice. I doubt he could meet the "sincerly held" and "regular practice" prongs of the test. I agree with the rest of it. They could have Miternicked him and he would have no computer at all. Or pull the balance of his time at the appropiate Club Fed. Then he might have something to whine about.
"regular practice" = rituals every night when you sit at your PC and pray you don't screw something up.
"sincerely held" = Linux laptop. ;)
I have a hard time disputing the "regular practice" comment. I worship at my Altar of Linus daily, for hours on end...
Didn't they use to ban guys like from using computers altogether? I guess the laws have gotten more lax.
Whoever thought that a usb stick with dsl could be considered contraband.
Apparently my place of work :o
There are only 5,000 ways around it.
just monitor his broadband connection, not his OS. silly feds.
ssl, proxy, vpn, tor, various other forms of encrypted communication.. how would monitoring his connection be any more secure?
WTF Ever !!
Poor baby - boo-hoo !!
I have to go thru this every day when I go into work_ I'm stuck on a crappy "top of the line" Win Box_ ( hours per day 5 days per week_ For the past year_
Tough Shit Co-Cheese - suck it up_
Buy an iPhone or something that is technically classified as "not a computer" then install Linux or whatever on it_ The OS is versatile enough_ I've seen it running on RAZRs and BlackBerries and iPAQs_
Who knows what your typing?
Keep the l337 Wow type to yourself, kthxbye.
If I leave only the words with underscores attached...
work_ Box_ week_ year_ up_ it_ enough_ iPAQs_
You do what with an IPAQ for a week out of the year? Work your box enough??
haha, well, i think they should provide him with the replacement software ;)
that or he could just pirate it, get sent back to jail and repeat ;)
you're right... the U.S. government should pay criminals for monetary losses related to their punishment. "Oh, you couldn't work while in prison? Well, how much would you have been making?"
So, let me get this right?
A criminal wants the US government to conform to his standards of punishment?
Right.....
Cause this scenario sounds acceptable?
Sir, you are convicted of the slaying of 5 people.
Where do you want to go to prison?
Disney Land
It could be worse... he could be a pedophile living in Neverland Ranch...
If I could stop laughing at him, I might care.
Wait, I don't like Linux or criminals, so I don't.
"I don't like Linux or criminals"
Linux, check
criminal ---scratch--- Microsoft, check
So your a Mac user?
No, Apple is criminal too.
He must be using Amiga or DOS.
>> He must be using Amiga or DOS
Dude, DOS was Microsoft's first OS. So if he considers Microsoft a criminal, then he would definitely NOT be using DOS.
Actually.... DOS was Microsuck's first PURCHASE. Get it right.
-----There are only 5,000 ways around it. Just monitor his broadband connection, not his OS. silly feds.---
Do you have any idea how much more expensive that would be, in terms of manpower alone? They need something readable by the parole officer. That said, the LiveCD option would make a hell of a lot more sense than even Windows.
It's not like they're monitoring his Windows usage with an assigned person, they'll throw their software on it and wait for remote alerts that will prob never make it out of his system.
It's called a log file - log where he went, size of downloads, uploads, transfers, etc. Won't matter what OS he uses if you intercept all his internet usage at the connection.
Pwned!
Or VirtualBox his Linux install...
Just run their software in WINE...
What, why? He DOESN'T want to use Windows, he's NOT allowed to use Linux, and he's FORCED to use Windows. Not the other way around.
@fistpittingpork
What I got from the entry was that the gov't just mandated they be able to install monitoring s/w on his computer. If the s/w worked in WINE (pretty doubtful tbh), then he would be in compliance with the court order. Though he probably already tried that and found it didn't work.
uagent, makes sense. I read the entry wrong, sorry djroot.
They mandate that he install Windows? And to that I say he run Windows in a Xen or Vmware vm(player and Server is free, btw.) And he will be in compliance.
He doesn't have to wipe out his Linux Install just for this.
I'm more interested in the fact that the US government only has monitoring software for Windows.
Attention Terrorists, save money and keep the US government out of your business by switching to linux today! Act now and pay nothing! Hurry though, this is a limited time offer! Hundreds of distros are standing by!
Seems the US government should be able to accommodate any OS as the hundreds of groups that do not like the US probably can. Sounds like a hole in national security to me especially for groups operating outside the US where the government has no power to monitor their connection and the only option would be to discretely install monitoring software.
Or maybe they do have that ability but just want to further punish this guy by making him switch to Windows.
When Linux is outlawed, only outlaws will run Linux.
I am so stoked that the gov't can't figure out how to monitor a Linux user at a reasonable cost!
There is a silver lining here!
that really sucks and its seem unconstitutional!!
How is it unconstitutional? Cruel and unusual punishment? The guy's under house arrest and it was mandated that his computer needs to be monitored. That he needs to use Windows hardly seems unconstitutional.
Lol, government conforming to his desires. That's like me saying, if I were convicted of Murder, "Well guys, I don't like this whole 'prison' idea, could we go for home confinement instead? Or maybe a tropical island? And also, let's reduce the sentence, please. Thank you!"
Seriously, don't bitch about what OS you're being forced to use on your computer- in your house, as in, not in prison. What a moron. Here's an idea- don't break the law in the first place. Idiot.
Well at least we'll know what he's doing with windows...
Yes, he won't be any threat if Windows is the OS he is forced to use. Obviously, the windows-based monitoring software cannot be backdoored, hacked, disabled, spoofer or otherwise compromised. With that iron-tight OS I'm sure there's no possibility he could telnet to another machine (running Linux) while circumventing the protection measures and restrictions.
Afterall! This is what we use to run our voting machines!
You make no sense arcaynn, how is that random? or insulting?
This guy is a MORON! In most cases, they will take your pc, force you to buy another one, and do routine check ups to make shure you have no way of getting internet connection. This guy got lucky, the fact that he was even given the chance to use a PC at ALL is good enough.
btw, if this guy had to use OSX, he'd probebly hang himself
That's quite possibly the most random yet insulting thing I have ever heard.
He shouldn't be using shait he's a criminal
I thought there were laws against cruel and unusual punishment.
Oh whatever... he commited a crime and now he is forced to use Windows. Sounds like a punishement to fit the crime since all his illegal behaviour was on Linux.
It cracks me up that half of the "he shouldn't get anything, he's a criminal" posters are probably downloading torrents as they type...
aww boo hoo- nerds
wah wah go cry some more...
Someone took over "brb" sk0t's nickname?
http://strugglers.net/wiki/User:Andy/Sk0t
at the end of his confinement, do they take the software off?
If not, he could start working on ways to detect it, for others.
In fact, in the middle of his sentence, he could just back his hard drive up to an external usb drive and work at it at leisure later.
Speaking of which, if the clean PC they have him get boots from USB he could boot from that and run his own os. Or boot from CD. Assuming they don't protect the BIOS.
THAT is soooo sad (tear*)
Expensive? There's a FREE 180-day trial of Windows Server 2003 available for download. That should get him through his five month sentence.
Bet he's already got a cracked version of windows downloaded ;)
Tracking his internet usage externally would be such a pain in the rear, I can understand why the gov't is requiring him to install and use local software instead. Good god, imagine using a packet sniffer and hacking apart every packet to make sure its legit?!
Although a local program would be awfully easy to hack . . .
Make him use a Foleo!
Forcing windows use? I'd rather take the death penalty
wheres the UN when you need them?
that is a breach of human rights if i ever saw one.
it has to say someone "people my use whatever OS they like, no matter their race, religion or age."
He could always serve the remainder of his sentence back in federal prison.
Wait, the US government doesn't have monitoring tools for linux?
That just doesn't make sense.
I bet they have the software for Linux too, but just wanted to rub it in a little.
Force him to use OS2 Warp. That should shut him up.
Why doesn't the Fed Govt have Linux software? It's simple. Because Linux is not commercial software, and because the govt is aware of SCO's claims that Linux was concocted out of stolen SCO-UNIX code. And because Windows is easier to debug (and more "user-friendly") than Linux.
That probably isn't too far off.
Keep in mind, it's like the computer version of an electronic monitoring braclet you wear on your ankle. Any attempt to remove, tamper with, or hack around it will be noticed by the software, which will contact your probation officer...As your probation can legally include virtually any condition if it can be at all related to the crime committed (or the commission of other crimes), 100:1 odds says doing *anything* to evade it also violates a condition of your probation.
Maybe the government should hire a few hackers to design a good Unix-based OS designed for monitoring that they could install on a criminal's computer. One that would give them complete control.