It seems we are no longer a nation ruled by law, but rather one ruled by lawyers. No, it's not the presidential race -- or should I say cases -- that makes me say this. It's something that happened in Virginia Beach, Va., and may be happening today in your hometown.

Do you remember a basic principle of law that says we are presumed innocent until proven guilty? As George W. Maschke pointed out in a brief essay on the subject (see Resources for a link), the heart of that phrase is not about presumption, but the burden that presumption implies. In other words, the burden of proof rests with the plaintiff, not the accused. But even that underlying principle is not written in stone. It appears that you can sign away that protection of law, and of due process, merely by signing a contract with Microsoft.

The story of what happened in Virginia Beach is sure to strike fear and dread into many organizations. Fear and dread are happy partners with Microsoft's global "anti-piracy" campaign; the campaign is orchestrated by Redmond, but mainly conducted by the Business Software Alliance (BSA), which acts as Microsoft's private police force.

The gospel according to Gates must surely contain a verse that avers, "The only good customer is a frightened customer." The Virginia Beach story is, from Microsoft's point of view, the best of all possible scenarios: it contributes to the general level of fear -- which makes the BSA campaign that much more effective -- and to Microsoft's sagging revenues.

Storming Virginia Beach

If you missed the Virginia Beach saga, here is a brief recap gleaned from reports published by PilotOnline, the Internet edition of the Virginian-Pilot. (See Resources for a link.) In September, the city received a letter from Microsoft demanding that it produce an inventory and proof of purchase for every Microsoft product on every computer the city owned. Virginia Beach was given 30 days to comply. I've been told unofficially that the letter did not even specifically address the city -- it was a form letter.

Form letter or no, Virginia Beach took it very seriously. It soon realized its chance of completing the task in the allotted 30 days was roughly on par with that of a Democratic county in Florida having sufficient time to do a manual recount. The city requested a 30-day extension, then dedicated five people -- one-fourth of its IT department -- to the task, which was finally completed in late November at a cost of over $80,000. The city had searched its roughly 3,900 computers and identified more than 800 Microsoft products for which proof of purchase could not be found.

That heinous crime was likely

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