Referring people to use Spybot

B

Breaker

New member
I was talking to a friend of mine that told me that if an employee installs spybot on a company computer it is illegal and could go to jail for it. (dont think JAIL is correct but there are other ways to be in trouble) I have been suggesting my client download spybot for a long time as the best free spyware protect in the world. I have been all over your website and see it as free all over the place except for a small area that talks about a web server for updates. I need to know if I need to inform a number of people that they should uninstall spybot until they purchase a license. Personally many networks 5 – 9 computers don’t really need the webserver, but if it is required and that is the only way there are allowed to legally own it I really need to know so that I can inform my clients NOT to download spybot unless they order it from your site. Also can you give a a link to a purchase area for just the edition for a company computer that just wants one where the client can use their credit card or pay pal. Or can you setup a way that I can preinstall it for clients that want to buy the license and how much it would be (without the use of a network webserver) but still legally licensed for use on their computer. Thank you for your time in advance.

Joseph M. Boy,CPC
President
Your Computer Solutions Inc.
www.YourComputerSolutions.net

AKA

Breaker
Executive Director
SolgamesUSA Foundation
www.solgamesusa.com
 
Breaker said:
I was talking to a friend of mine that told me that if an employee installs spybot on a company computer it is illegal and could go to jail for it. (dont think JAIL is correct but there are other ways to be in trouble) I have been suggesting my client download spybot for a long time as the best free spyware protect in the world. I have been all over your website and see it as free all over the place except for a small area that talks about a web server for updates. I need to know if I need to inform a number of people that they should uninstall spybot until they purchase a license. Personally many networks 5 – 9 computers don’t really need the webserver, but if it is required and that is the only way there are allowed to legally own it I really need to know so that I can inform my clients NOT to download spybot unless they order it from your site. Also can you give a a link to a purchase area for just the edition for a company computer that just wants one where the client can use their credit card or pay pal. Or can you setup a way that I can preinstall it for clients that want to buy the license and how much it would be (without the use of a network webserver) but still legally licensed for use on their computer. Thank you for your time in advance.
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I'm not a member of the Spybot staff, but I am quite sure that the program is 100% freeware for home and commercial users, so paying for copies of the program is completely voluntary. You can read the public license here. They also make a corporate/network version that is sold, but it isn't required to purchase if you are a business user.

So, Spybot doesn't have a specific license, like the GPL, but it's just defined as freeware by the developer. If I'm wrong, hopefully someone will correct me. :)
 
Spybot on the office computer

I did get a response from the licensing department of spybot directly. One of their staff members in Ireland informed me that Spybot Search and Destroy is only free for private use. Corporate users are required to purchase a yearly license. Single licenes are $47.50 and for small networks it is $60 for the first one and $12.50 per station on the network. Then every year afterward it is half the price to continue to receive the updates. This is VERY IMPORTANT. If you have this INSTALLED on an OFFICE computer you are breaking the LAW. Since it would fall under the software piracy, you could be fined up to $150,000 per computer you have it installed on. You should UNINSTALL it right away and visit thier corporate site. www.safer-networking.ie You can download a 30 day trial while you wait to order it. There is not automatic way to order the software and you have to request to be invoiced in US dollars. So again if you are using Spybot on your office computer or your home office computer, or any computer that you do business on for your or anyone else company, that is COMMERICAL USE. (ie laptops) You need to uninstall the free version and BUY the license to be legal. I wish this imformation was better placed on their website because I have to apologize to a number of clients and inform them they have to uninstall Spybot unless they want to pay a annual license. And no any donations you have made toward the free version does not get applied to a corporate purchase.
 
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