Movie pirate forced to ditch Linux

House-arrest Ubuntu fan left staring at Windows

By John Leyden • Get more from this author

Posted in Crime, 24th August 2007 11:26 GMT

A BitTorrent admin convicted of uploading movie files is being forced to ditch Linux if he wants to use his PC.

Scott McCausland (AKA sk0t), the ex-admin of the EliteTorrents BitTorrent tracker, was sentenced to five months imprisonment after he confessed to uploading copies of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith just before its theatrical release. He was also sentenced to a further five months of home confinement and slapped with a monitoring order after he was convicted of "conspiracy to commit copyright infringement" and "criminal copyright infringement".

McCausland, of Virginia, has served his time but his problems are far from over. The monitoring software the government plans to use to keep tabs on his internet connection only works on Windows PCs, so McCausland faces the choice of switching from Ubuntu Linux to Windows or being prevented from using his PC.

Using monitoring software and wearing a monitoring bracelet were bitter enough pill but switching to Windows is just too much for the Tux-lover, who intends to fight the decision.

"It isn’t the fact that I have to be monitored that bothers me, it is the fact that I have restructure my life (different OS, different software on that OS) and that they would require (force) me to purchase software while I a currently unemployed and relatively unemployable with the two felonies that they gave me," McCausland told TorrentFreak.

"I think that this whole situation is just one more way that they can impose their will onto me. I have contacted my attorney, and we are going to fight this," he added. ®

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