So long and thanks for all the fish

robr

robr

Legendary Member
Joined
31 July 2001
Messages
5,194
Location
Boston, MA
I just wanted to say so long as in about 36 hours I become a guest of our lovely federal prison system for the next 15-18 months. Thanks for all the friendship and support and help and whatever else I've gotten from Lud's forums and the maillist the past four years of my NSX ownership. I'll be looking forward to hearing about all the new products and hopefully nextgen info when I get back, and of course taking my baby out of storage and attending NSXPO 2004.

Lud, I may have a great pic of the month for you soon. I was married about 10 days ago and I came out of the reception hall at one point to find our photographer taking pics of my bride with my NSX. Hopefully they come out nicely, I'll have her forward one once she gets them
smile.gif
.

I think most of you know about my situation but if not, you can read up on it here: http://www.nema.com/wsj

and if anything great happens that I can't miss, feel free to write me or email my wife at shannon AT nema DOT com. My dad is watching Doug's page and will be forwarding me his exploits as he continues to flog the NSX into the ground.

Robin Rothberg
Inmate #22987-038
FMC DEVENS CAMP
PO BOX 879
AYER, MA 01432

Second star to the right and straight
on 'til morning....see you in 2004.

- Rob
 
Holy crap.......I had no idea what you have been goig through! It's a bit ridiculous that one person seems to be getting the most punishment. From what I understand, you made no profit and did not sell the material. I don't quite understand the criminal charges, but I guess a law is a law. I presently know people working in the computer industry that have copies of movies that are presently in the theater that they download from FTP sites. Shouldn't they be prosecuted for having them in their posession??

Anyway, at least you'll still have the NSX, and hopefully you can get an early release. Can we write to you at the address listed?? Maybe we can sneak you some NSX parafanalia (sp?).

Take care.



[This message has been edited by Dr.Lane (edited 31 August 2002).]
 
Robr, I had seen your posts where you talked about having to do some time but am not nosey and didnt want to ask why.i just now read the articles you posted.and am really pissed.I am in the industry also and you are being made an example by federal and local.what a thing to do time for.they could put most of corporate america away for what they got you for.I know that for a fact as I do the security end of things as part of my gig.the company I work for now is obssesive about compliance and is the first that I have not seen blatant infractions on a hughe scale.I am well familar with groups like core, frozen crew..on and on.I truly am sorry this happened to you and hope your stay is best is can be expected.congrats about getting married..sounds like you have a real keeper.keep your chin up.
best regards and look forward to your posts in the not so distant future
David
 
robr,

Very sorry to hear of your dillemma (I was really looking forward to pictures of that painted alternator). Good luck & Keep your nose clean!

------------------
'91 Black/Black
 
Sorry to hear that, bro. Take care
De
 
best of luck dude. i remember spending time behind the slammers, it was only a few days because of a stupid mishap. but in any case, stay strong cause it only makes you appreciate life soooo MUCH more once you are out. Take Care and see you soon.

khue
 
I tried accessing the link to the story, but couldn't get it to load up.

Could somebody paraphrase what is happening, or point me to a version of the story that does work.

I'd like to get clued into the situation.

Regards.
 
Originally posted by robr:
I just wanted to say so long as in about 36 hours I become a guest of our lovely federal prison system for the next 15-18 months. Thanks for all the friendship and support and help and whatever else I've gotten from Lud's forums and the maillist the past four years of my NSX ownership. I'll be looking forward to hearing about all the new products and hopefully nextgen info when I get back, and of course taking my baby out of storage and attending NSXPO 2004.

Lud, I may have a great pic of the month for you soon. I was married about 10 days ago and I came out of the reception hall at one point to find our photographer taking pics of my bride with my NSX. Hopefully they come out nicely, I'll have her forward one once she gets them
smile.gif
.

I think most of you know about my situation but if not, you can read up on it here: http://www.nema.com/wsj

and if anything great happens that I can't miss, feel free to write me or email my wife at shannon AT nema DOT com. My dad is watching Doug's page and will be forwarding me his exploits as he continues to flog the NSX into the ground.

Robin Rothberg
Inmate #22987-038
FMC DEVENS CAMP
PO BOX 879
AYER, MA 01432

Second star to the right and straight
on 'til morning....see you in 2004.

- Rob
Click to expand...

Wow...PWA, one of my favorite utility groups. I can't believe that!! I definetly heard about the busts...never would have imagined it was an nsx owner on prime. Also reminds me of the operation bucineer raid that took place. I think mostly DoD guys were the ones getting raided there though. A have several friends that were heavy into that scene...good luck in the pen.
 
I just don't understand it, you're not profiting from this. The punishment here don't fit the crime. No Johnny Cockrin on your side? Take care be safe, and with good behavior we should hear from you very soon.
 
Thanks for all the well wishes guys. Doc, I'm really sorry we couldn't hook up for some scorpion bowls when you were out in Boston, I just couldn't find the time between trying to wrap up all the loose ends here and also my wedding was less than a week from when you were out. Hopefully I'll get to meet you at NSXPO2004.

You know, what I did was wrong, I always knew that, but I always justified it with the thought that everyone else does it. It seemed logical to me that law enforcement didn't care unless you were selling the stuff or using stolen credit cards or hacking phone systems to get yourself free lines to your dial up BBS (ok, I've been doing this for a while
smile.gif
).

A cease and desist letter would have worked just as well to scare me into quitting and the DOJ still could have issued press releases about it. Meanwhile, PWA as a group just merely changed its name to Scotch, and is still doing what it did before, only outside the US borders. Since my arrest in 2000, Morpheus, Imesh, gnutella, and a score of other anonymous file sharing services have begun to take over what formerly was the domain of FTP sites.

A few months ago, I spoke at a local high school to several groups of computer class students, and every single one of them and in many cases, their parents, had pirated music and software at home. This doesn't make it right, but it tells you a lot about public perception. Even the teacher had warez!! The people I was staying with in Chicago while I was out there going to court over this had more warez in their office than I ever had. When I was first busted I tried to get the prosecutor to admit she had warez, but her response was just "I'm not the one here who was indicted."

Anyway, I don't want to turn this into a preaching session, the bottom line is what I did was wrong and there needs to be a penalty, but I don't feel the punishment fits the crime. Unfortunately by law, the judge has to follow federal sentencing guidelines (which is nothing but a hash chart where each offense has a points value associated with it and you just do a look up). The chart says I must serve 18-24 and that the judge has no lattitude that sentence. Ironically, before Dec 1997, this wasn't even a crime.

Anyway, I'm going to go get some lunch and spend the day with my bride. Everyone enjoy their NSX's!!

BTW, Doc you asked if you could send stuff to the address I left, absolutely, that's why I posted it. Thankfully the place I'm going seems mild, no fences, bars, guards, nothing that stops me from walking off other than willpower and knowing that right down the street there's a real prison. There's only 125 people at this facility and I'm told while 85% of them are in for drug related crimes, that everyone is on their best behavior because they know if they're not, real prison awaits. With luck, I'll get three months off for good behavior, and do nine in prison and six in a halfway house, but more likely it will be closer to 12-3 or 11-4. Again ironically, the bigger scumbags actually get MORE halfway house time and less prison because it takes them longer to assimilate back into society.

Cheerios, Rob
 
Hey Robr, very sorry to hear about whats going on. I hope your time is as pleasent as possible and your stay goes as well as it can. We'll be seeing you soon.
Regards
Z
 
If you feel this is an obnoxious and unjust punishment please contribute to the ACLU and especially the Electronic Frontier Foundation http://www.eff.org/

The federal government and businesses are working together to make this sort of thing more common. Rob got targeted first because of running a server. The next target is the general consumer thanks to the massive publicity generated by Napster. That means you. Ever make a mixed tape for a friend? Congrats, you're now considered a pirate by law.

Before you flame me consider that I'm a software engineer by profession, it puts food on my table and an NSX in my garage, and I still think Rob is unjustly being made an example of.

My company hires the best hackers we can find to try and expose security flaws in our products before they go to market. Even these 'white hat hackers' who help companies in this manner are now in danger of prosecution. These laws are not serving the public good. Locking up smart guys like Rob is not to anyone's benefit. If we really feel the need to punish him for doing something that was/is extremely common I'd much rather see him doing public service, making use of his skills.

Rob, I'm sorry that you're being made an example of. This will be a minor speed bump in the larger scheme of your life. Hope to see you in 2004!
 
Robr (an unfortunate abbreviation, in retrospect),

I wish you all the best and hopefully this will be the start of a new beginning for you. I'm glad you admitted that you did wrong and understand the nature of the offense.

Somehow we all overlook that software piracy is a real, tangible crime with real victims. And when the victim is a faceless large organization like a Microsoft, it makes it all that easier to justify.

My company develops and sells software and I'm sure in our history, we have had people pirate our products (Heck, we've had people steal our hardware too). I'm surprised that some here still don't understand and claim that as long as you don't profit then there's no crime involved. But for me, when and if someone stole our software, it's no less real than if someone stole my NSX.

Somehow, I wonder if someone stole their NSX and took it for a free joyride but did not profit that these people would have a different opinion.

Perhaps your sentence was heavy-handed, I don't know, nor do I have anything to gauge that by. But, I suspect it does you no good to focus or dwell on that aspect at this time. I guess it's now best to look forward and plow through this and get it all behind you.

Again, keep your spirits up and your thoughts positive and know that you have friends thinking of you.

-Jim

PS: Are you allowed to receive car magazines and such?

------------------
1992 NSX Red/Blk 5 spd #0330
1991 NSX Blk/Blk Auto #3070 (Sold)
1974 Vette 454 4 spd Wht/Blk
http://homepage.mac.com/jimanders/PhotoAlbum1.html

[This message has been edited by Jimbo (edited 31 August 2002).]
 
Robert and Jimbo,

I am not a young person. I've never been the focus of a prosecutor's attention. I work in a college. Without going in to details, suffice it to say that I know that some software "drifts" around a bit without being bought new for every user. Probably should never happen, but software does not reveal its true value sometimes until after it has been used a while and it won't be used, unknown, if there are significant monetary obstacles. Merchants who want purity may find that they are killing the goose that laid the golden egg. That would be justice.

I watched computers sit in offices for many years without being touched. People just did not want the added burden of learning something they did not have to learn to do the job they had been doing. They certainly were not going to do it if there were highly visible legal threats, but there were none then. The internet seduced them, ... slowly. Now all screens are on all the time, but inducing people to learn new software is still hard to do. Easy access to potentially useful software reduces ostacles. The desire to get updated software eventually makes the sale. High priced packages chosen by administrators far from the trenches generally don't. The exception of of course, is MS. Monopolies are great.

I don't know the answer, but I do feel very uncomfortable with these ceremonial sacrifices.

I think Robert is a highly visible scapegoat, which is wrong in my view, but it is how the system currently works. That prosecutor probably is a hypocrite, but maybe that's a job requirement. Good news is, I guess, that it is not hardtime.

Still, I believe we need to build a better system. Too many bright young people get snared in a legal system in which the persons dealing out the punishment seem to feel that wrecking peoples lives is a matter of no great significance so long as the laws permit it. Solomons are far too rare and almost never found in a prosecutor's office, so it is the drafters of the laws that we must hope do the right thing. But then we are depending on politicians for salvation, ... ahhh, ... I think I need a drink.

Good luck Robert. Cheap wisdom: When bullets are flying, keep your head down.

anvil
 
Amazing ..... & Bill Gates still enjoying his Billions after ripping off Apple's concept for Windows, not only for incredible personal gain, but in consequence almost to the point of elimination of Apple completely.

p.s. Good Luck, hope it goes quick & easy for you

[This message has been edited by D'Ecosse (edited 31 August 2002).]
 
I met you for the first time at the Poker Rally a few weeks back and didn't know your deal other than you were getting married shortly after the event. Sorry to hear about your situation. Just do your own time and keep focused on the things that really matter like your bride and family. See you at the Glen in 2004.

Bob
 
It was nice to meet you at the poker rally,and Trish and I wish you a speedy and uneventfull detention.
 
Rob hope to see u at the next poker rally ...... maybe someone can foward you there nsx driver magazines while ur there ... be safe and bring soap on a rope.
 
Good luck, Rob. I know it's been consuming the last couple of years of your life and savings as well. Hope you can get through this okay and move on from there. We'll be thinking of you...

P.S.

So long and thanks for all the fish

What fish?

[This message has been edited by nsxtasy (edited 31 August 2002).]
 

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