It's not as if this man was a true thief or was selling pirated copies of Microsoft software, he is a Russian teacher from the remote Urals (yes the same Urals in Dr. Zhivago). He's not even the one who put the software on the computers:
The computers for the school had been supplied by the regional administration. But in his village of Sepych, about 1,000 miles from Moscow, Ponosov did not know that the Microsoft software installed on the computers was pirated. Now, the bewildered director is facing up to 5 years in prison and more than $10,000 in fines for copyright violation.
Microsoft has decided not to file a civil lawsuit against Ponosov "because we understand well he is just an ordinary school master and he runs an ordinary Russian school," said Potapov. "However, no one has the right to break the law."
Alexander Ponosov insists he is innocent.
"This whole campaign may have started off as a crusade against software piracy. But as time went by, law enforcers realized they were unable to find the real perpetrators of the crime — those who illegally copied and distributed the pirate Microsoft products. And then the solution presented itself: go after an easy target. So, they picked us," Ponosov said.
Given that, it makes the way the story is being reported by CNN not make sense since it is not Gates who is going after Ponosov, it is the Russian Government:
MOSCOW, Russia (Reuters) -- Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on Monday asked Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to intercede on behalf of a Russian teacher accused of using pirated software in his classroom.
In an open letter, Nobel Peace Prize winner Gorbachev said the teacher, Alexander Ponosov, from a remote village in the Urals, should be shown mercy because he did not know he was committing a crime.
Trying to turn this around on Microsoft when they are not even filing civil charges seems to take the focus off of who is really trying to put Ponosov in jail...
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