Thirty four Saudi students have been expelled from the United States. The threat? Having pirated software.
The Makkah Newspaper reported the news. The paper (via Google Translate) says that the 34 students were not allowed to complete their studies and will be going to study in other countries. In addition, 40 tourists were denied entry into the U.S. and blacklisted because of non-licensed software on mobile devices.
I’ve been searching, but so far have been unable to find information about students from other countries being kicked out for this. As a current student, I would estimate that at least 60 percent of students at any given university have pirated material on their computers.
The European Union has similarly been checking software since 2009. Three Saudi students in Australia were also expelled for the same reason.
TorrentFreak says the Saudi government recently disclosed their anti-piracy efforts from 2013. There were 2,500 inspections at various businesses. 7,590 violations were found. Temporary shutdowns were enforced at some of the businesses, adding up to 3,562 total days.
Nina Ulloa covers breaking news, tech, and more. Follow her on Twitter: @nine_u
Repeat after me:
“I will not steal ridiculous torrentfreak stories anymore.”
I take pleasure in reading these comments, since the only time I read torrentfreak is when Paul shares it with me.
Sorry to inconvenience you by writing about news!
Care to explain why software theft is relevant to a music site?
I feel like the link between piracy (software or otherwise) and the current state of the music business ought to be fairly obvious.
Too bad so sad. Theft of Intellectual property is still theft. No sympathy from here.
“No sympathy from here”
You can’t deny Saudi thieves entry into the US. That would make you a racist.
“As a current student, I would estimate that at least 60 percent of students at any given university have pirated material on their computers.”
wtf? Is that just some guess out of thin air? 60%? Obviously you’re not studying journalism…
Every day here is a new journalistic low.
Definitely not studying journalism.
Glad you read DMN every day
I’d sure like to see additional confirmation on this report.
Another useless, race-baiting POS from DMN.
Creepy “journalism” that is borderline sociopathic. Writer doesn’t feel complete unless the pot is boiling with racist fury.
Friggin sick.
So far you’re the only comment touching on the race aspect, so not very baiting….
See above comments, Einstein. Then, go sit in the corner and try to matter.
1 out of 11. And it was clearly sarcastic (and agreeing with your point of view anyway), responding to another comment that didn’t touch on race. Try to keep up.
But welcome back to DMN. You come into every race-related article and lose your shit like a little fucking girl hhaaha.
I am a little fucking girl. At least you got that right, numbnuts.
Don’t cry, it’ll be ok.
Taking the story at face value, quick question: what are the chances of a foreign national getting expelled from the U.S. for petty larceny?
There’s nothing ‘petty’ about piracy.
I’m sure you’re aware that a stolen song is worth $150,000 — and that goes for software, too.