Software Pirate Given Harsh Sentence - Ordered to Use Windows

A man convicted of illegally unloading a movie to the Internet has been told he can no longer use Ubuntu Linux on his computer.

Scott McCausland, a former administrator of the EliteTorrents BitTorrent site which was shut down in 2005, plead guilty last year to 'conspiracy to commit copyright infringement' and 'criminal copyright infringement' by uploading Star Wars: Episode III illegally.

He served five months in prison and is now on five months probation, but with a couple of restrictions.

First, he is under home confinement, so he has an ankle bracelet. Monday to Friday 08:30 AM to 9:00 PM movement is unrestricted; weekends 08:30 AM to 5:00 PM. Otherwise he has to be at home.

Secondly, he will have to have monitoring software installed on his computer, and there is the rub. From his sk0t.com blog (he also uses the handle sk0t) - note that emphasis is his -

So, I am getting shafted by the Justice Department again ...

Here goes: I had a meeting with my probation officer today, and he told me that he has to install monitoring software onto my PC. No big deal to me, that is part of my sentence.

However, their software doesnt support GNU/Linux (Which is what I use). So, he told me that if I want to use a computer, I would have to use an OS that the software can be installed on.

Which basically means: MICROSOFT AND MONITORING SOFTWARE or NO COMPUTER. I use Ubuntu 7.04 now, and they are trying to force me to switch.

First they give me 2 felonys, then they throw me in prison, and now this ...

For a hardcore Linux user, this would be worse than the prison sentence. Since he's currently unemployed, he's started a donation program through his site. I'm unclear if the monitoring software is to be there foreever, or just for five months.