[US] - Republican Tea Party leader arrested for computer piracy
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Republican Tea Party leader arrested for computer piracy
Posted on Jul 27th 2011 by Mike Luttrell
A heavyweight for the political Tea Party movement in the south has most likely just crippled his potential political future.
61-year-old Anthony Trinca was arrested for allegedly selling pirated versions of high-end computer software. Microsoft Office, Windows, Adobe Photoshop, and Rosetta Stone language programs were all listed as software that he sold illegally.
Trinca is the president of the Grand Strand Tea Party, based in South Carolina, which strives to spread messages about how big government is evil and that America needs to return to its conservative roots.
His software piracy scheme came to an end after one of his customers purchased four copies of Rosetta Stone software, and then tried to resell the software himself. The person he sold it to found out it was an illegal copy.
So when he tried to go back to Trinca for a refund, Trinca refused. That's when the police got involved.
Local news station WMBF reports that Trinca kept all sorts of software packages around his home. His sony Michael, 23, was also arrested for the same charge.
Specifically, both face charges of "unauthorized use or trafficking in counterfeit trademarks" are were released on $5,000 bond.
It is another blow to the already crumbling Tea Party, which didn't have as strong a presence in the last midterm election as expected, and is losing favor as the noted leaders of the movement fail to deliver on their promises.
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Just goes to show you that the higher you elevate yourself above "normal" people, the farther you have to fall.
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This is my home state where this mess is happening. :afr: Sickening….............but I hope he gets what he deserves from the law.
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See… There's two mistakes that they made here. The first was trying to make a profit off of counterfeit software, and the second was when they got caught, they refused to refund... Sad... Truly sad how low some people will sink for money. Although I pirate software myself, any of the software and such that I sell are actually legitimate copies so that in the event that anything should happen, I can still have the backing behind my product.
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Agreed.
There's a whole world of difference between pirating for your own use and pirating for profit.
The odd thing is he is a Tea Party member and one of their platforms is special rights for businesses, including extremist anti piracy laws.