Ebay software pirate faces sentence at the Old Bailey

By Munir Kotadia, ZDNet.co.uk, 4 July, 2003 10:30

NEWS

A Pakistani student will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on Friday after pleading guilty to charges that include possessing and selling counterfeit computer programs and dishonestly obtaining money by deception. Lewisham Council Trading Standards and the Business Software Alliance (BSA), an international anti-piracy organisation, conducted a joint investigation into 23-year-old Bilal Khan's activities and discovered that he had been running an illegal software operation for at least two years. Khan has allegedly been using hundreds of aliases on a variety of auction Web sites, such as eBay, to generate sales in both the UK and the US. His main business was built around selling counterfeit copies of Microsoft, Macromedia and Symantec software. Khan has been in custody since 4 March, when he was arrested after being tracked to a South London address. Lewisham's Trading Standards office already had a file on Khan's activities after receiving a number of complaints from his customers. The BSA is expecting Khan to be given a tough sentence. Beth Scott, the BSA's vice president for EMEA, said: "Khan persistently duped consumers into buying illegal and substandard software products and made substantial profits." Scott said the BSA had invested around 1,000 man-hours tracking down Mr Khan's activities and building evidence for the case. The organisation hopes the sentence "will act as a deterrent for other software pirates". Khan is the biggest individual pirate the BSA has come across. On top of the five piracy and dishonesty charges he has already pleaded guilty to, Khan has agreed to have another 11 offences of supplying counterfeit software taken into account before he is sentenced. Khan could receive a two-year prison sentence or be deported. If deported, however, the BSA argued that there would be nothing to stop Khan continuing his illegal enterprise from Pakistan.

For everything Internet-related, from the latest legal and policy-related news, to domain name updates, see ZDNet UK's Internet News Section. Let the editors know what you think in the Mailroom.

Post your comment

In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.

You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below

By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ

ZDNet UK Live

I think WinRT is fantastic. I just wish it was an option for people that didn't want to go through Microsoft's App Store with its attendant...

3 hours ago by 45283 on Why Windows 8 needs architectural hygiene for WOA

Nine people? £30m? Who's back pocket is that lot going in? And IF they say it is for new buildings, what about all the ones the government has...

4 hours ago by Burn-IT on Police set to launch three £30m e-crime hubs

Just to be clear, nobody knows what is in the text of ACTA, here is a photograph of the text of ACTA http://twitpic.com/8h9iju as submitted to the...

4 hours ago by ewallace on ACTA: Facts, misconceptions and questions

Unfortunately main issue is that ASUS is refusing to accept that they make some mistake on this version of asus Transformer prime. 1 - GPS sensor...

5 hours ago by fgvrg56 on Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime Wi-Fi & GPS problems?

@Marcus A fair question. Just talked with Archos which said it was working on an announcement for next week....

6 hours ago by Ben Woods on Archos confirms G9 Ice Cream Sandwich update schedule

Any update on this, considering the claimed "first week of February"?

8 hours ago by Marcus Karlsson via Facebook on Archos confirms G9 Ice Cream Sandwich update schedule

Bill Goodrich : Just as al_langevin pointed out, with Windows Server 2008 there is no Services for Macintosh anymore. It's gone, not available....

16 hours ago by apexwm on Windows Server 2008 drops the ball for Mac compatibility

Replying to an old topic that I'm currently facing with my CEO (who is on a Mac). Our servers are primarily Windows Servers, office is about...

22 hours ago by txtrainguy on Windows Server 2008 drops the ball for Mac compatibility

Sure, that makes perfect sense. Pay wrong-doers money and thank them for breaching your security and pointing out your flaws, that would surely...

23 hours ago by k0tcs3 on US indicts Romanian over NASA climate change hack

I think he's referring specifically to Android apps, as Apple do regulate their App Store, but Google seem to let any old crap onto the Android store!

23 hours ago by Random_Error on RIM: BlackBerry will keep 'garbage' apps out of store