Search:  

 
 
   News
newer
Vonage Hits a Speed Bump
Company may be using $5 mil in pirated software
(old news - 03:00PM Thursday Mar 20 2003)
tags: business · trouble
Apparently things were going too well for broadband Internet telephony company Vonage, whose VOIP service has recently been praised by critics, and rebranded by Earthlink as an added service for their broadband customers. Vonage's founder, Jeffrey Citron, helped establish online stock trading outlet Datek, and was subsequently fined $22.5 million by the SEC for illegal trading activity, and told he couldn't work in the sector again. If Citron was looking to stay out of the spotlight, suggests the New York Post, he certainly isn't doing a good job of it; his company now under investigation for allegedly using roughly $5 million worth of pirated software.

Related:
  1. Fairpoint Accused Of Faking Network Readiness Test
  2. Bankruptcy Judge Slams Charter Founder Allen
  3. AT&T's 'Blogger Guy' Faces Public Backlash
  4. CallCentric Suffers National VoIP Outage
  5. Slate Wants You To Pay More For iPhone Data
  6. Sidekick Users Get Outage AND Total Data Loss
  7. Unions Blame Verizon For Fairpoint Disaster
  8. CRTC Blocks Canada's WIND Wireless Network
Forums » Vonage Hits a Speed Bump
view: topics flat text 
Post a:

FLECOM
Bay Networks Freak
Premium
join:2003-03-03
Miami, FL

ow!

thats gotta hurt?!?

i would really like to know how ~100 people can use $5 MILLION dollars in software???

i mean, damn, thats a lot of money... :eek:
[text was edited by author 2003-03-20 15:12:33]
RayW
Premium
join:2001-09-01
Layton, UT
clubs:
·XMission

Re: ow!

said by FLECOM See Profile:
thats gotta hurt?!?

i would really like to know how ~100 people can use $5 MILLION dollars in software???

i mean, damn, thats a lot of money... :eek:

Have you not learned by now that they inflate numbers to look good? Remember those CD burners in the NY(?) bust?
--
I am not lost, I find myself every time.

FLECOM
Bay Networks Freak
Premium
join:2003-03-03
Miami, FL

Re: ow!

dam so lets see... i have a cd burner, and a dvd burner... my mom has a cd burner, my laptop has one, my dad has one...

thats $37quintillion dollars?!?!

=)
RayW
Premium
join:2001-09-01
Layton, UT
clubs:
·XMission

Re: ow!

Close, but they might say you have 10 burners stealing software.... (10 burners / 10 min/disk = 1 disk/minute * 1440 min/day = 1440 disks/day * $25/disk = $36000/day)

So every day you have those insidious devices you are probably ripping off the RIAA&company coffers to the tune of USD36K or 13 billion a year. Just ask them .
--
I am not lost, I find myself every time.

FLECOM
Bay Networks Freak
Premium
join:2003-03-03
Miami, FL

Re: ow!

hey i try to do my part

Teckels
Tracy L Eckels
Premium
join:2003-03-14
Lompoc, CA

Mr T.

I'm sure that when he gets to Federal prison he
won't have a problem finding a "Vonage Et Trois".

Agent_haito

join:2002-09-20
Winston Salem, NC

OOOOOPS

Using those burned copies of Windows 2000 Server and Professional?

Alright who snitched!!!
russotto

join:2000-10-05
Collegeville, PA

Anyone for a conspiracy theory?

Company starts challenging The Phone Company --- successfully --- and suddenly they're under investigation?

Voyager2K2

join:2001-10-04
Wayne, PA
·Verizon FIOS

Re: Anyone for a conspiracy theory?

said by russotto See Profile:
Company starts challenging The Phone Company --- successfully --- and suddenly they're under investigation?
You mean "Criminals starts challenging The Phone Company", right Russotto?

morbo
Complete Your Transaction

join:2002-01-22
00000
clubs:
·Charter Pipeline
·AT&T Southwest

said by russotto See Profile:
Company starts challenging The Phone Company --- successfully --- and suddenly they're under investigation?
my thoughts exactly.
--
R. Kelly = child molester/ child pornographer
Frohike
Premium
join:2000-07-23
Waxahachie, TX

A conspiracy?? Man, thats just too funny to read.
You must blame everything on ILECs then?
"Oh look, my car won't start"
"Hey, whats that SBC Maintenance truck doing here??"
"My car won't start, SBC truck by the curb, Oh my god, SBC has sabotaged my car!!!"

The above was just a dramatization, any correlation between this and your reality, is purely coincidence and totally unrelated.
bored_in_nh

join:2003-01-04
Stamping Ground, KY

Re: Anyone for a conspiracy theory?

ROFL! I once overheard a CTO at a company I worked at say he'd rather see a fire truck out front when he got there in the morning than a telco truck. Damn telcos ... they canceled Star Trek you know ...

sporkme
drop the crantini and move it, sister
Premium,MVM
join:2000-07-01
Morristown, NJ
·Optimum Online

Re: Anyone for a conspiracy theory?

said by bored_in_nh See Profile:
ROFL! I once overheard a CTO at a company I worked at say he'd rather see a fire truck out front when he got there in the morning than a telco truck.
Sounds like a smart guy. Whenever an ISP opens a ticket with Covad for a downed-line, there's an area to specify whether any telco trucks/employees were seen in the area previous to the outage. It is genuinely a needed piece of info, because many of those monkeys like to take out their aggression on pairs tagged for SDSL. Sad, but true.
vic102482
Premium
join:2002-04-30
Upper Marlboro, MD

said by Frohike See Profile:
"Oh look, my car won't start"
"Hey, whats that SBC Maintenance truck doing here??"
"My car won't start, SBC truck by the curb, Oh my god, SBC has sabotaged my car!!!"


LOL

But I also assume it coincidence that the Municiple Broadband startup that Comcast admittedly hates was hacked and the email addresses of their customers sent to spam addresses?
--
I tie a rope around my penis and jump from a tree, don't you wanna grow up to be just like me!!!!

what phone companies

@192.76.x.x
You mean start challenging the long distance companies

pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast

said by russotto See Profile:
Company starts challenging The Phone Company --- successfully --- and suddenly they're under investigation?
Of course its very easy to win that battle if you don't pay for the tools you use to wage it. Whether this investigation was started by SBC or not is irrelevant, Vonage has no business using unlicensed software to make money. Let them pay to play like everyone else has to, or go with some open source solution instead.
--
Pissed off at traitorous, ungrateful musicians? Don't just boycott them! Trade their MP3s and really screw them over!

DHRacer
Fire Survivor

join:2000-10-10
Lake Arrowhead, CA
·Charter Pipeline
·Verizon west (ex G..

Just wondering...

Maybe that's why they were doing so well? If they didn't pay for $5 mill of software when they started up, that's a lot less startup capital they needed and profits come all that much quicker.

I think that it could be probable that they were sold down the river by the phone companies who are desperate to get rid of Vonage by turning them in to the Software Piracy commission.

However, it should be noted that they are "under investigation" which means that they may be the subject of a vicious rumor...and it isn't true. Have to give them the benefit of the doubt until it's proven one way or the other.

akristov

join:2001-01-31
Tampa, FL
clubs:

Re: Just wondering...

The CEO Citron was fined $22.5 million dollars. He has obviously made a ton of money of of E-Trade. I am sure he will have no problem swallowing another $5 million.

fact verifyer

@cable.earthlin

Re: Just wondering...

Not ETrade, Datek.

pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD

Idiots

Should have used Linux They deserve to get burned.

murdok6100
Avatar. Get It, Avatar?

join:2002-06-20

Re: Idiots

said by pnh102 See Profile:
Should have used Linux They deserve to get burned.
Absolutely, big business need to realize that running Linux is a sure fire way to keep piracy down.

No matter how good the intentions are of big business, there will always be piracy. Employees dont give a rats fat one about it, and wouldn't think twice about burning a copy of Windows for "personel" use.

murdok610

pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast

Re: Idiots

said by murdok6100 See Profile:
No matter how good the intentions are of big business, there will always be piracy. Employees dont give a rats fat one about it, and wouldn't think twice about burning a copy of Windows for "personel" use.
Yup... most software vendors don't give a rats butt about people copying software illegally for personal use... but using it to make money? Heck if they were my competition and I was paying out the wazoo for legal software licenses I'd turn them in too.
--
Pissed off at traitorous, ungrateful musicians? Don't just boycott them! Trade their MP3s and really screw them over!

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

said by murdok6100 See Profile:
Absolutely, big business need to realize that running Linux is a sure fire way to keep piracy down.

No matter how good the intentions are of big business, there will always be piracy. Employees dont give a rats fat one about it, and wouldn't think twice about burning a copy of Windows for "personel" use.
Anyone thats ever tried to get something to compile on the *nix platform and wasted a whole day fiddling with it knows why unix/linux will never be the main os used in business. plus there just isnt the application base for linux like there is for windows. THAT is what is truely holding linux back in the business world. i prefer BSD myself
--
You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much Bandwidth

pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast

Re: Idiots

said by dvd536 See Profile:
Anyone thats ever tried to get something to compile on the *nix platform and wasted a whole day fiddling with it knows why unix/linux will never be the main os used in business. plus there just isnt the application base for linux like there is for windows. THAT is what is truely holding linux back in the business world. i prefer BSD myself
I use Linux every day at work and have had no such problems. Of course it did take time to learn all the fun tweaks, but that happens in any environment. But that's besides the point... if they didn't pay for the software and they got busted then tough balls. They made all this money, the least they could do is pay for the tools that they used to make them that money.
--
Pissed off at traitorous, ungrateful musicians? Don't just boycott them! Trade their MP3s and really screw them over!
vic102482
Premium
join:2002-04-30
Upper Marlboro, MD

said by dvd536 See Profile:
said by murdok6100 See Profile:
Absolutely, big business need to realize that running Linux is a sure fire way to keep piracy down.

No matter how good the intentions are of big business, there will always be piracy. Employees dont give a rats fat one about it, and wouldn't think twice about burning a copy of Windows for "personel" use.
Anyone thats ever tried to get something to compile on the *nix platform and wasted a whole day fiddling with it knows why unix/linux will never be the main os used in business. plus there just isnt the application base for linux like there is for windows. THAT is what is truely holding linux back in the business world. i prefer BSD myself

That was true in 1996.

This is 2003:).
--
I tie a rope around my penis and jump from a tree, don't you wanna grow up to be just like me!!!!

LoonRadio
Tranquility Base
Premium
join:2003-02-13
Erewhon

Wait...

I thought it as Datek being investigated, not Vonage. In spite of having the same founder, the two may not be related.
--
Klaatu, Barada... Necktie!

murdok6100
Avatar. Get It, Avatar?

join:2002-06-20

Re: Wait...

"Klaatu, Barada... Necktie!"

Yeah yeah, I got your damn words.....

That made my day.

murdok610

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK

Re: Wait...

YEAH, I SAID 'EM!!!! ... basically.

I mean, maybe not every little syllable, but I said em!

jhboricua
ExMod 2000-01
join:2000-06-06
Minneapolis, MN
clubs:

hmm...

I wonder which Vonage employee got pissed off.

David
No,there is another.
Premium,VIP
join:2002-05-30
Granite City, IL
clubs:

OOOOOOOOPPPPPPPSSSSSSS!!!!

Damn, that is why they did not buy more software...
DH01

join:2003-03-20
45407

SBA=Confederacy of Snitch Enablers

...and about as useful as teats on a boar.:(

Does anybody think these clowns do anything other than waiting Gestapo-style for phone calls from disgruntled ex-employees and the like?

I liked the message upstream about Linux. Vonage should take a few weeks, swap out all their Windoze systems for Linux, and then invite the SBA in for a good old game of 'pucker up and kiss my a**'.

bhan261

join:2001-02-12
New York, NY

Re: SBA=Confederacy of Snitch Enablers

100% agree!

My company was reported to BSA by a former employee as being "under licensed". Funny thing is, the person who did the reporting was the one responsible for managing all our software licenses. As it turned out, the ONLY thing we were underlicensed on was a quad-processor server that came with MS SQL Server loaded and even Dell didn't know you needed four licenses for it. But the time, energy and legal bills to fight these bastards were enormous.

I guess the snitch accomplished what he wanted, though.
XknightHawkX

join:2003-02-13
Morton, IL
clubs:

5 million dallors?

Can we say someone inflated the ammount. Let's say it was a 500 dollars program (which I don't think any software is worth that much not even close, It would take 10,000 copies. What were they running? 10,000 copies of microcrud office.(don't know the cost now but seen it for 499.99 once.) Hey now I know where the broadband isp's get there prices now. They think just because microcrud can charge 499.99 for software they can charge us a bunch of money for a service that just doesn't cut it. Don't get me wrong I like the speed compared to 56k but it isn't gonna cut it much longer(in some cases it don't cut it now). In the next few years a 5 megabit connection probably won't cut it. Websites are getting more graphical. Sorry got off the subject there a minute. I highly doubt 5 million dollars. And if someone says you have to purchase a license every year for a copy of software they use they can kiss my but. If I have to pay over a hundred dollars for a program I paid for it already.It's my copy, don't tell me I have to pay more money year after year to use it.

tomkb
Premium
join:2000-11-15
Avon, OH
clubs:

Do businesse still use Microsoft products?

$5 mill for what? I thought Microsoft's fisher price software is for businesses with less than 50 employees?
--
clenetworks.net

Depressed

@covad.net

Re: Do businesse still use Microsoft products?

I'm reasonably certain that the author of the article misunderstood the figures presented.

The EULA of the members of the BSA allow penalties of up to $150,000 PER UNLICENSED PRODUCT.

Dividing $5,000,000 gives us a figure closer to 33+ missing licenses. Moreover, many sites don't understand that you MUST purchase a MS license with each PC you have. The MS site license only allows you to UPGRADE licenses you ALREADY OWN.

The lowest amount the BSA has ever settled for (to my best knowledge) is $90,000. And that did not include the cost of purchasing the additional needed licenses - at full retail.

If I was a betting person and the settlement with Vonage follows along the reported figures which I've seen in various trade articles, Vonage will probably end up shelling out between $350,000 and $500,000. Just guessing here and I don't have enough data points to confirm that.

BTW - this is the same EULA all you MS users click through as well.


inciter
Noobie
Premium
join:2000-08-30
Rohnert Park, CA

I've allways said......

If I ever was to make money using software, it would be ligit. The price may be over done, but for a bad check a Biz get's three times the amount.

Even a small biz has compitition, it could be as simple as washing driveways to painting numbers on the sidewalk. Never underestamate the compitition.

It's to easy to startup a biz without having to pay the upfront overhead. Shame on Vonage for doing it, if they did we shall see. Smells like Martha Stewart to me, get the stocks up sell them high and say bye.

Well I guess all the happy VOIP'ers mite be paying to have the SBC lines put back online. Don't burn bridges.....

What a shame such a nice thing gone bad by a few.

MrTangent

join:2001-12-28
Earth

Warez

Old habits apparently die hard.

This guy was probably an old warez-head and didn't think anyone would notice, or see a problem. If you're making a profit (like this bozo), and you're using it for commercial purposes you need to support the programmers/company who wrote the software. Hell, you should buy the software regardless of circumstances if you have the money, and wish to see future versions of the software.
--
"War Is Peace. Freedom Is Slavery. Ignorance Is Strength"

ross96
VIP
join:2000-11-02
Dayton, OH

The CEO Citron

once a criminal.......ALWAYS a criminal.

Depressed

@covad.net

Re: The CEO Citron

In this case, that may be true. However, the BSA's tactics include some rather strange counting methods.

For example:

If you purchase a desktop or laptop computer from Dell, lose the certificate and the invoice, then the BSA counts that computer as being unlicensed and subject to a $150,000 fine as per the MS EULA.

Now, given that Dell still does NOT sell any desktops or laptops w/out a Windows OS of some kind ...

They have some other 'cute' tactics as well. I wouldn't be so quick to prejudge Citron in this one case. The BSA has a lot of commercial businesses blood on their hands.


gober

@direcpc.com

whats that like 5 copys of photoship

whats that like 5 copys of photoship

I bet it one of those 2-3000$ software titles

Playa4life

join:2002-01-13
Carmichael, CA
clubs:

WHAT COMES AROUND GOES AROUND!

That is why YOU CAN NOT BASE A BUSINESS ON PIRATED SOFTWARE!!!!!!!!!! That, and if your making money off someone elses software, then you should pay for it. Shit.. I'm paying an extra $10,000 to $15,000 in software per center if my gaming centers go up, but do I complain, NO! You know why, because if I don't pay the money for it, then I'm not going to be in business much longer because the software companies are not going to be making these games any more..

What this company did is not uncommon, they bought 1 copy of the software and installed it on all of their systems, many companies do it.

I am not willing to risk $250,000 per bad licence compared to $15,000 to make the whole thing legit and take the longer break even points for a couple of more months..

- Ahmed
--
WireRelease.net |WireRelease.net Forums |Mira Loma Football
nbhandar

join:2003-08-24
Cincinnati, OH


VONAGE - AWFUL SERVICE!!

Hello Friends:

I have had the worst service ever!! I shifted from the traditional phone service to VONAGE about 4 months ago. My phone bill has had a ton of problems. Each time I make international calls and end it, some how VONAGE fails to register the disconnection. At times when the call does not connect to the other party overseas, VONAGE bills me for a call. I call customer service and they settle the charges but this police'ing has been a nightmare!!

Connections are hard to get on international numbers, and the clarity is poor. VONAGE's customer service does not compare to any standards set by the TELCOS. When my VONAGE phone service is out (which is almost every 3rd - 4th day) I end up spending time with Customer support on my cell phone using valuable mobile airtime.

Worst of all, customer service is not very knowledgeable; Certainly to their credit they try to make their best effort, they have yet not been able to isolate the recurring problems I have had.

I am a torch bearer when it comes to new technology but in this case I forbid friends from making the move... I guess that either VONAGE fixes their act soon or I am jumping horses to the traditional TELCOS, at a slightly (MIND YOU I DO MEAN ONLY SLIGHTLY MORE EXPENSIVE, WITH ALL THE BILLING PROBLEMS AT VONAGE) higher price they are reliable.

I AM AN INDEPENDENT CONSULTANT WORKING FROM HOME & MY HOME PHONE SERVICE HAS BEEN OUT FOR THE PAST TWO DAYS THIS WEEKEND!! GETTING THROUGH TO CUSTOMER SUPPORT IS A MIN 25 MIN JOB. EACH TIME I CALL, SUPPORT NEVER ANSWERS AND PROMPTS ME TO LEAVE A MSG. PROMISING TO CALL BACK, I HAVE SPENT ALL WEEKEND WAITING ON VONAGE SUPPORT TO RETURN MY CALL AND ADDRESS MY ISSUE.

Well wisher,
Neil Bhandar
[phone numbers removed]
[text was edited by moderator]
Forums » Vonage Hits a Speed Bump


Sunday, 08-Nov 19:18:02 Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Hosting by www.nac.net - DSL,Hosting & Co-lo | feedback | contact
over 10 years online! © 1999-2009 dslreports.com.