Overview

• Part 1: Microsoft's Legal Attacks on Eric Lundgren Demonstrate There's No 'New' Microsoft Except a Super-Vicious, Law-Twisting Thug



• Part 2: Microsoft Windows Puts Recyclers Like Eric Lundgren in Prison and Patients Six Feet Under the Ground



• Part 3: Microsoft Put an Innocent, Heroic Man in Prison. Then Microsoft Ran Away.

Microsoft's Declaration of War on Recyclers

• You are here ☞ Part 4: Microsoft Being Microsoft, Bullying Everyone Who Reduces Microsoft's Profits



• Part 5: Microsoft's War on the Right to Repair (One's Own Computers) Makes Lundgren an 'Enemy' to Microsoft



• Part 6: Damage Control Mode: Satya Nadella Fleeing Lundgren After Realising What Microsoft Had Done



• Part 7: Slander and Libel From Microsoft (Demonising the Victim)



• Part 8: Similar High-Profile 'Bargains' (Aaron Swartz and Marcus Hutchins)

The Legal Aftermath

Pending review and research

Reference: The WannaCry Hero Deserves a Pardon, Not a Conviction

Summary: People who serve society the most (to the chagrin of some corporations and secret vested interests) are being put in prison or threatened with life in prison (i.e. death); Eric Lundgren is a classic example of that because his work reduces consumption/sales

THE incredible story of Eric Lundgren is one that Microsoft hoped -- if not prayed -- would go away by now. It's one of Microsoft's 'skeletons in the closet'. We're opening this closet. We sensed the stench from the outside and it is a lot worse when one takes a mere peek inside. Lundgren has been released and he has a lot to say. He has so much to show. Unlike 1.5 years ago, there's none of that immense stress of a courtroom clocking legal bills (about a million bucks), facing potentially decades behind bars. Now it's time to spill the beans. The record needs to be set straight. It must.

We're angling or planning to start presenting legal documents soon. The story presented in prior parts reveals 1. media manipulation; 2. distortion of court processes; 3. lies told to court and 4. defamation in media (defamation of an already-vulnerable and poorly-funded defendant).

As Mr. Lundgren put it, the problem with these court documents is that they show "no one in the room knew what a "Restore CD" was... or worse -- they knew and convicted me anyway."

As The Verge put it in April 2018, "E-waste recycler must serve 15-month sentence for selling discs with free Microsoft software" (free as in gratis).

There are at least half a dozen aspects to cover in this case. The injustice is multifaceted and rather breathtaking. Thankfully, court documents are a written documentation and maybe transcriptions too can help show the lying, the distortion, the mobbing. There was character assassination and outright defamation (intentional). If the story stays in our news cycle for weeks/months, making a difference when it comes to public opinion, then at least we can clear the person's name. He will never get his life back, but why live in shame too? Microsoft on the Issues -- Microsoft's nefarious lobbying blog -- defamed him under the guise of "The facts" (that's in the title!). It led to puff pieces such as "Microsoft defends conviction of e-waste recycler over piracy" (they actually used the word "piracy"). That's how Engadget portrayed him, comparing him to a murderer at high seas (false equivalence from Hollywood); "An e-waste recycler is going to jail for ‘pirating’ Windows" was another headline from the same publication. Putting aside the propaganda term "pirating", this isn't what actually happened. For a lot of people who look up "the facts", however, defamatory material like "the facts" from Microsoft on the Issues will become visible. Are they reading about a recycler looking to reduce waste on this planet? Or a pirate who attacks ships/boats, possibly holding as hostages (or killing) crew members?

"The truth is in the details," Lundgren told me this weekend. "I did NOT copy or distribute MSFT [Microsoft] License."

See Hackaday's "The Eric Lundgren Story: When Free Isn’t Free" or "E-waste warrior slapped with 15-month sentence for flogging Windows restore discs". These aren't installation CDs but "restore discs".

"Nothing was sold," Lundgren insisted. "It was just the freeware Restore-CD that no-one sells."

The last version of Windows that I used was Windows 98 and I remember receiving such CDs, twice even (the vendor sent me more). So I had two sets of CDs for the same laptop, which had come with a licence to use Windows. "It did not cost MSFT a dime," Lundgren continued. "They already sold the product that I was trying to help consumers legally use." This isn't even a new practice! Compaq gave me that laptop with the restore CDs, even several times (they sent me more later). This was perfectly legal. The purpose of these CDs was crystal clear. Having more restore CDs does not imply having more copies of Windows. It's like a 'factory reset' utility.

Over time it seems increasingly clear that Microsoft just decided to bully a person and make his life miserable. Microsoft violated and corrupted the process at many levels and each represents a major scandal on its own (or in its own right). We're increasingly convinced that they made an example of Lundgren in order to, at the very least, scare other recyclers (who think of doing something similar). More than a decade ago we wrote many articles on how they did similar things in other countries such as Oman and China. Now they do this in the US, at risk of the media getting hostile. They make 'examples' of people, sending them to jail for years just to set some legally-unsound precedent. This whole case is totally insane!

"Dell wanted nothing to do with this," Lundgren told me. "They refused to be involved. (These were Dell Restore CD's) I went to those in charge at Dell, I was told that if anything I helped provide free tech-support."

Herein we see another strand of scandals; the very person who was spreading Windows and providing gratis support is being thrown in prison by the very same companies/people he was helping. We wrote about the absurdity of it several times a decade ago (in relation to other countries). Microsoft is ascribing value to 'freebies' -- to the point of criminalising those who legally pass these around and maintain the network effect, cementing the Microsoft monopoly/monoculture.

"There are many more points to discuss," Lundgren stressed. Perhaps the simplest analogy that can be used here is putting people in prison for passing around discount vouchers/coupons; people who use these merely give more business to the shops, which still make a profit (in spite of discounts).

How was this court outcome reached?

"Judge threw out my expert witness and retired right after my case," Lundgren told me. "Judge T.K. Hurley."

It gets yet worse. "My lawyer shut down his practice and became a Judge Magistrate right after my case," he continued.

We've seen it before in other cases and places. Appointment of judges isn't always a 'clean' process and the 'reward' system does not necessarily reward legal success or absolute integrity. We have examples that were covered in the patent realm (so-called 'IP'). Live and learn...

There's a reason why someone like Bill Gates can commit so many crimes and never spend a night in prison. His father is well connected; he runs one of the biggest law firms in the country. He helps super-rich clients. Lundgren? Nope, he just mostly helps poor people. In future parts we'll shed light on Lundgren's positive contribution to society and thus the injustice of this persecution (bogus claims, defamation, and prosecution by the firm of pseudo-philanthropist Bill Gates).

"My legal battle cost $870,000 USD. (+) $50,000 Court Fine (+) 15 Month Prison Sentence (+) Felony," Lundgren explained. So unless you're a millionaire it renders you a prisoner for life. Financially indebted, unable to pursue work and so on.

Now that he's out of jail (for a non-crime), Lundgren is trying to put back pieces of his life. His grandfather who had raised him died several days ago, so he is grieving with relatives. "I am currently creating an AI Platform to offer 'National Free Home Recycling'," he told me. " It will be completed within the year and should aggregate & recycle more eWaste than all recyclers today. (Currently 18% of eWaste is Recycled & 82% is Exported or leaching toxic chemicals into our water table via landfills)..."

This is what Lundgren has done (almost) his entire adult life. He lives to do this. "I recently found an article done when I was (17) years old in "Business Pulse Magazine" where I am saying the EXACT same thing that I am saying today!

"It's crazy," he said. "It's been 17 Years and my story hasn't changed.. Still fighting for the same thing." ⬆