Pirated software was used to make components for military radar systems, Blackhawk helicopters, Patriot missiles, and the President's transport helicopter Marine One. Defense contractor Wronald Best has been sentenced to 366 days in prison for purchasing 70 pirated industrial design applications from Chinese and Russian sources. The Department of Defense and Secret Service have been made aware of the breach of security. "We have no reason to believe his use of the cracked software affected the products in any negative way," an Assistant US Attorney told The Associated Press.
Pirated software was used to design parts for Patriot missiles and Blackhawk helicopters
is The Verge’s executive editor. He has covered tech, policy, and online creators for over a decade.
While Best was chief scientist for a defense contractor in Kentucky, he purchased $2.3 million worth of software for just over $600,000. During 2008 and 2009, Best exchanged over 260 emails with Chinese distributor Xiang Li, who pled guilty to selling pirated software worth more than $100 million earlier this year. Li’s clients also reportedly included a NASA electronics engineer who was found to have purchased $1.2 million worth of pirated software between 2008 and 2010.
Li faces up to 25 years in prison. Best, who could have been sentenced to five years, requested a more lenient sentence in part because of his diagnosed obsessive-compulsive disorder, which he claimed compelled him to acquire the software. “Theft is not justified by intellectual curiosity,” said Judge Leonard Stark.
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