Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Uses the Hire-a-Shill Approach to Remove Guilt of Copyright Infringement

Three Monkeys poster



Summary: In the face of bad publicity and admission of crime, which the British press wrongly describes as "theft" (it's copyright infringement -- not stealing -- as the code gets duplicated, not misplaced), Microsoft blames someone else

A COUPLE of days ago we wrote about Microsoft's latest copyright violation. It is not "theft" or "stealing", but big news sites like The Guardian and The BBC promote the propaganda line that code can be "stolen". Here are the opening words that are misleading:



Microsoft admits stealing code from startup



Microsoft has suspended a new internet messaging service in China, after it emerged that the site was partially based on code stolen from a rival startup.

The site, Juku, launched in November is similar in concept to other online messaging systems like Twitter. But earlier this week the team behind Plurk, a young internet company based in Canada and popular with users across Asia, accused Microsoft of directly copying as much as 80% of the code to run the program.


 

Microsoft admits code theft for Chinese blog Juku



Microsoft has indefinitely suspended its Chinese microblogging service MSN Juku after admitting that it "copied" code used to create the site.

A vendor contracted to work for the software giant was caught lifting code from a rival Canadian start-up, Plurk.


This is a crime, but it is not stealing. The crime is copyright infringement.

As pointed out here, Microsoft is already blaming someone else, a company it hired in this case. Plurk isn't buying it.

Plurk though don’t seem convinced they had this to say in regards to the incident:
we have a very hard time believing, given the size and scope of the undertaking, that there was no active involvement or development taking place directly within Microsoft itself on this service,


The mainstream press may hardly ever cover this, but Microsoft often blames its PR agencies for bribes and misconduct like AstroTurfing or spying on people. This is essentially what's happening here because Microsoft's official response is an attempt at blame-shifting. Microsoft is 100% liable for work it 'externalises'.

"I thanked Rose for all of his trips to Seattle and his willingness to distract a lot of time for the lawsuit."

--Bill Gates

Recent Techrights' Posts

It's Cheaper to Pay Bribes (and Produce Press Releases) Than to Pay Fines (After Lots of Negative Publicity)
Does the UK still have real sovereignty or do corporations from overseas purchase decisions and outcomes?
November 2023 Over With GNU/Linux at All-Time Highs According to statCounter
ChromeOS+GNU/Linux combined are about 7% of the "market"
 
[Meme] Screenshots of Web Pages (Relevant to One's Article) Are Not Copyright Infringing Anywhere in the World
bullying and hate crimes
Cybercrimes and Online Abuse From Extremists and Militants on a VPN/Tor
A straitjacket or lobotomy won't solve this issue
IRC Proceedings: Friday, December 01, 2023
IRC logs for Friday, December 01, 2023
Selling Free Software
by Richard Stallman
A Year of Doing Techrights 'Full Time'
been a year!
Microsoft and Its Boosters Worsen Linux Security
The circus goes on and on
Links 01/12/2023: Facebook Infested With Malicious Campaigns by Imposters, ACLU Gives Advice on Doxxing and Online Harassment
Links for the day
Just Like Its Budget Allocation, the Linux Foundation Devotes About 3% Of Its Latest Newsletter to Linux, Devotes More to Linux's Rivals
It's just exploiting the brand
Links 01/12/2023: Google Invokes Antitrust Against Microsoft
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news
UK Government Allowing Microsoft to Take Over Activision Blizzard Will Destroy Jobs
Over 30,000 fired this year? More?
New Report Provides Numerical Evidence That Google Hired Too Many People From Microsoft (and Became Malicious, Evil, Sociopathic)
"Some 12,018 former Microsoft employees currently work for the search and data giant"
Google: Keep Out, Don't Save Your Files, and Also Let Us Spy on Everything You Do
Do you still trust "clown" storage?
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, November 30, 2023
IRC logs for Thursday, November 30, 2023
Links 01/12/2023: Many Suppressions in Hong Kong and Attempts to Legitimise Illegal and Unconstitutional Fake Patent 'Court' in EU (UPC)
Links for the day
Gemini Not Deflated Yet (Soon Turning 5!)
Gemini numbers still moving up, the protocol will turn five next summer
Links 30/11/2023: Belated End of Henry Kissinger and 'Popular Science' Shuts Online Magazine
Links for the day
Site Priorities and Upcoming Improvements
pages are served very fast
[Meme] One Person, Singular Pronoun
Abusing people into abusing the English language is very poor diplomacy
Ending Software Patents in Recent Years (Software Freedom Fighters MIA)
not a resolved issue
New Article From Richard Stallman Explains Why He Says He and She for Unknown Person (Not 'They')
"Nowadays I use gender-neutral singular pronouns for a person whose gender I don't know"
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, November 29, 2023
IRC logs for Wednesday, November 29, 2023
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news
Links 30/11/2023: Rushing Patent Cases With Shorter Trial Scheme (STS), Sanctions Not Working
Links for the day
Links 30/11/2023: Google Purging Many Accounts and Content (to Save Money), Finland Fully Seals Border With Russia
Links for the day