[justlurking]

Finally, you came through. Thank you. And, yes: i concede the point, that the BSA obtained a court order.

But, this doesn't mitigate my concerns about the process:

The legal action began with a call to BSA's anti-piracy hotline 1-888 NO PIRACY. BSA filed a complaint for copyright infringement in federal district court in Los Angeles, and the court ordered the unannounced audit of Ernie Ball's computers. The court also entered a temporary restraining order preventing Ernie Ball from deleting software from its computers.

There's nothing in there about contacting him before conducting the uannounced audit. And, they even prevented him from remedying the problem by removing the software in question.

And the BSA admits the tactic in your subsequent quote:

Typically, after an initial investigation of the lead, the BSA contacts the organization reported, although in some cases it pursues a software raid.

So, they don't always contact the organization? Why not? Perhaps because they suspect a massive, willful infringement? If that's the case, the subsequent audit of Ball's computers don't seem to support that suspicion. And that brings us back to the original issue: did the BSA treat him fairly, or did they single him out to set an example? He thinks the latter is the case, and you appear to believe that was a possibility.

This information is consistent with what I've been saying on this thread.

And it's also answers the question I've been asking: if they always contact the person in question before escalating to a court-ordered action. The answer is "No". Given the history of this case, I could apparently pick up the phone and make an anonymous call to the BSA and claim that a competitor is illegally copying software. If I can convince them I'm an employee (or ex-employee), I can shut my competitor down.

BSA offers a self-audit tool for monitoring software licensing compliance

Have you used it? I'm curious about how it works. I might recommend it to our admins.

[Golden Eagle]

Have you used it? I'm curious about how it works. I might recommend it to our admins.

Good move, glad you are starting to see the value in policing theft. I have used it before myself, simply a disk you put in the drive that scans the system and provides an audit, they may even have network tools now. Good luck with it, and you may even increase productivity with a lot of the games etc you find in the process.

[Bush2000]

But, this doesn't mitigate my concerns about the process.

If it did, I'd expect the Pope to announce his conversion to Judaism soon after.

There's nothing in there about contacting him before conducting the uannounced audit.

The absence of that fact in the article does not constitute proof that it didn't happen.

And that brings us back to the original issue: did the BSA treat him fairly, or did they single him out to set an example? He thinks the latter is the case, and you appear to believe that was a possibility.

It depends on the evidence from the ex-employee which prompted the investigation in the first place. We simply don't know the content of that evidence. And speculating on it is useless.

Given the history of this case, I could apparently pick up the phone and make an anonymous call to the BSA and claim that a competitor is illegally copying software. If I can convince them I'm an employee (or ex-employee), I can shut my competitor down.

Wouldn't work. You'd be in no position to know that the competitor was using illegal software.