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Illegal-software bust leads to seizure of 100,000 titles

A buy in Albrightsville spurs raid on Montco Internet seller. 02/22/00

By FRANK DEVLIN - Of The Morning Call

An undercover purchase of allegedly illegal software at an Albrightsville business has led to the seizure of 100,000 software titles by the Pennsylvania State Police Crime Computer Unit.

After investigating Tangey's Software in Albrightsville, authorities were led to the store's supplier, Stargate Software of Lower Moreland Township, Montgomery County, Trooper Jon S. Nelson said Monday.

Authorities searched Stargate at 11:30 p.m. Friday and carted away software valued at between $500,000 and $1 million, Nelson said.

''We took everything,'' the trooper said.

Nelson declined to name Stargate's owner until pending charges are made official. Stargate's answering machine said the store was closed Monday. No one associated with Tangey's could be reached for comment.

Nelson said Stargate apparently was selling stand-alone software that was supposed to come installed in computers, which is also known as ''original equipment manufacturer'' software. It is illegal to sell such software by itself.

He said Stargate had somehow received large quantities of the software. ''They're getting it before it ever comes to the hardware manufacturer,'' he said.

In other cases, he said, illegal software sellers have acquired original equipment manufacturer software by obtaining the purchasing numbers of computer manufacturers and posing as representatives of those manufacturers.

The state police seized software by Microsoft, Corel and other manufacturers, he said.

Nelson said Stargate did not have a retail storefront. It sold to individuals over the Internet or to stores.

Stargate ''might also be selling legitimate software, too'' Nelson said, but it will take months to sift through the seized property and determine what is legal and what isn't.

An investigator for Microsoft prompted the investigation by telling authorities about the Albrightsville store, Nelson said.

Corel spokeswoman Melanie Rushworth said her company and others actively combat software theft and piracy.

''It comes in so many varieties,'' she said, from a single person ''burning CDs in their own home to a major operation'' like the one described by Nelson.

According Corel, software piracy cost the software industry $11.4 billion in 1997.

In addition to software theft and piracy, the state police's computer unit investigates child pornography, embezzlement and crimes that involved computers, Nelson said.

http://www.mcall.com/html/news/quaktwn/25108.htm

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 22, 2000

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Dee, this was your all-time great headline abbreviation!

-- Daisy Jane (deeekstrand@access1.com), February 23, 2000.