Fake Raspberry Pi Shops Pop Up 119
An anonymous reader writes "It seems that there are the first fake Raspberry-Pi sites out there: 'It's just been drawn to our attention that there's a Russian site (www.raspberrypi.ru) purporting to be an official reseller, which is already offering preorders. [..] If you see a site offering preorders or claiming to be an official reseller at the moment, it's a fake. Please don't send them your money. Initially, this site will be the only place you can buy a Raspberry Pi, and we are not offering preorders.'"
Uhm (Score:5, Funny)
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yeah, but they added Cheese to the Sausage and Bean bake and I've not been back since.
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ahem........RTFA
The......ahem......summary might be more helpful if it told me enough about Raspberry-Pi that I could decide if it was worth the trouble of RTFA-ing. Otherwise, why bother with a summary?
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Every article that in some way is about a product does not classify as a "slashvertisment". And if you don't know what the Raspberry Pi is, you don't read slashdot very often, as it's been covered here extensively from day 1. It would get a little repetitive if they described what it is for every single article. Should they describe what an iPhone is on every article? How about Linux, does that need a description on every article? Since there are vendors that sell Linux, does every Linux article classi
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There are some rudimentary publishing rules and adding one sentence in the beginning should not be a problem for those who already know the subject. How about:
Raspberry-Pi [raspberrypi.org], a start-up promising to sell $25 Linux boards in the near future, already has a knock-off site.
The concept would be easier to grasp if you read some articles written by professional writers once in a while.
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It does. It includes the name of the product in question. You can then use that information and enter it into your preferred search engine [lmgtfy.com], which will provide further elucidating information.
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... is a Raspberry-Pi?
Every other day, for weeks, there's a /. story, complete with at least one mandatory "whats a raspberry pi?" post. That calls for a rickroll. Just check out goatse.ru for a photograph of the board...
Re:What the hell... (Score:4, Insightful)
I have read slashdot everyday for nearly 10 years and I have no clue what "Raspberry Pi" is. Seriously how hard would it be to have the article say "Raspberry Pi, the $25 dollar PC" or something like that?
More important, why is this article even posted? I mean we could post dozens of articles a day if we follow the formula "site found selling fake [technology]."
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I have read slashdot everyday for nearly 10 years and I have no clue what "Raspberry Pi" is.
One of these claims must be false. There have been loads of Raspberry Pi stories in recent months.
Or you have some sort of memory disorder.
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Four month ? Here you go
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/11/02/1715218/10k-raspberry-pi-units-available-in-december [slashdot.org]
http://linux.slashdot.org/story/11/10/30/006256/25-pc-prototype-gets-award-at-arm-techcon [slashdot.org]
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/09/07/1353258/ask-director-eben-upton-about-the-raspberry-pi-foundation [slashdot.org]
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/09/02/0156214/details-about-raspberry-pi-foundations-25-pc [slashdot.org]
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/08/28/1259236/raspberry-pi-running-quake-3 [slashdot.org]
http://hardware.slashd [slashdot.org]
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What the hell... (Score:2)
...is Google for? [google.com] Maybe it's so you can find this site? [raspberrypi.org] Hint: it's a tiny $25 computer.
Raspberry Pi has been covered numerous times at slashdot. I'm surprised you haven't seen it before.
Unfortunate bias (Score:1)
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This calls for an Arduin of Ivrea joke, but I just can't find one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arduin_of_Ivrea [wikipedia.org]
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Investment in obscurity (Score:2)
It's an investment in obscurity.
Didn't you get the memo? We've run out of descriptive terms in the language, now we have to resort to made up terms like "Revo", "Ninite", and "Blaxor"; or subvert existing terms which have a completely different meaning like "Apache", "Chrome", and "Panty Shot".
All the good terms are taken, like "Dev" and "Board".
Having a name which completely hides the function is seen as an advantage - it's a great selling point which will draw in customers. Just wait and see!
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Open source gets trashed a lot for its silly names, GIMP being probably the most cited. But lots of non-FOSS products, even non-electronic products, have stupid names.
You would name your car company Killed In Action? No war veteran would drive a KIA! How about a Saab *sob*.
How about Windows? Did they give it that name because it breaks easily?
How about the Dodge Startus; er, Stratus? USA Toady; er, Today?
iPod? Sounds reasonable? Er, not to me. TWAIN scanners? WiFi (to my mind an incredibly stupid name)? Blu
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WiFi is even funnier if you're a native English-speaker living in a Spanish-speaking country. The natural pronunciation is somewhat closer to whiffy than wye-fye.
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Really? How awful for you.
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Trademark (Score:2)
Did they register a trademark? I didn't see one on TESS. Not that that would really help them in Russia anyway.
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You can't prove any of that at this point, though. They said they issued a take down but I am questioning on what basis. If they didn't register a trademark then they really have no thing to go on.
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Yes the raspberry icon would violate their copyright but they could get a C&D on that icon only - not on taking down the entire site.
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And honestly, if you're dumb enough to send Russians good money to preorder a device made by a startup company based in England, you don't deserve that money anyway.
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You don't need a trademark to get a site taken down for fraud. If they haven't been in contact with the project and are claiming to be official resellers, then they are committing fraud whether or not they ultimately deliver the goods.
I'm betting that when all is said and done that none of the units are sent out.
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What fraud are they committing? I don't see them claiming they are official resellers.
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If you read the friendly link they're pretending to be official. But official or not either way they aren't authorized resellers of the devices and the only place where you can buy them new is directly from the project. Claiming to be resellers of any sort to get people's money is definitely fraudulent.
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I read the whole site and nothing there made it sound official. They said they are a Russian community around the Raspberry pi project and were taking pre-orders for the product (although the page has since taken that down). They never called themselves "authorized" or "official" resellers. They were just plain old resellers.
Based on your definition pretty much everybody company in the world that doesn't manufacturer a product themselves is fraudulent.
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If you bothered to read the post here: http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/312 [raspberrypi.org] It's abundantly clear that they aren't a reseller of any sort.
And no, my definition isn't loose, it's within the standard definition of fraud. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraud [wikipedia.org]
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I did read the post and I don't agree that they are purporting in any way to be an official reseller. You can be a reseller without being "official" or "authorized". Those are special terms reserved for companies that make special bulk agreements with a vendor. I did not see that claim made anywhere on the Russian site.
The Raspberry Pi people are overreacting and the only thing they have legal recourse against is the unauthorized use of copyrighted images.
Selling vouchers that can be redeemed (Score:2)
Trademarks don't matter if a company is taking pre-orders and delivering nothing.
Even if one tries the legal theory that they're selling vouchers that can be redeemed for the product in question?
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They don't have to prove anything right now. They said they expect sales to begin by the end of 2011 so if they fail to deliver AND fail to refund your money then it is up to the buyers to go after them.
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There are a couple of scenarios:
- No trademark - means screwed all around. They have no case (except for copyrights on images/icons/logos as mentioned above).
- Trademark but on different business segment. If raspberrypi.ru was selling raspberry cupcakes shaped like a pi symbol then there is no recourse to the American company.
- Trademark on the same business segment. Then the domain name issue is irrelevant. It's a trademark violation and good luck enforcing it in Russia. Your only hope is that the hos
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fwiw it's a UK charity not a US company.
Doesn't make much difference to your points, but it changes what the company is and the legal recourse and the attitude if the people involved quite a bit.
Bad news/ Good news (Score:1)
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Or maybe they think the target audience is particularly gullible.
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I was just joking of course, but the target audience isn't your average computer programmer. A computer programmer would just buy a regular computer, or, more likely, already own several.
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I'm a computer programmer, but I'm also a skinflint. I have my eye on Raspberry Pi as a really cheap, low energy Squeezebox server.
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Client-side, you probably want a screen and an input device. Something based on those super-cheap Chinese Android tablets might be a better bet.
I'm not confident enough to get one for myself, because I read reviews of the WiFi being awful on them -- but if you have a research budget, it would be worth a go.
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4GB USB thumb drive MP3 players are less than £20. Is that enough hours of music?
Then there's FM radio...
KISS.
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Why not get a beagleboard, then ? It's already available, has better documentation, and an active group of developers. Or a beaglebone, or one of several other cheap processor boards that are out there.
Especially if you're interested in hooking up other peripherals, and don't need 1080p video output, other boards are probably a better choice.
And the web server you can just run on a regular PC. If you have a dozen PCs, chances are that at least one of them is on 24/7 anyway.
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Or maybe "the system" reacts to the new kid on the block, if it turns out that fakes sites are very difficult to remove or oppose, of course. If not we are dealing with normal parasites.
It's not the first time development of more open systems ran into problems with suppliers so they can't deliver even if they have requests. After some months the product is surely less appealing for the inevitable obsolescence.
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'this site' (Score:1)
Initially, this site [googleusercontent.com] will be the only place you can buy a Raspberry Pi, and we are not offering preorders.
Since the summary didn't actually link to 'this site' I thought I would do it and help you all out. It's right here [googleusercontent.com], from the official manufacturers in Korea. Really, I'm not trying to rip you off or anything. I'm just a lowly slashdotter. You can trust me, I even have a sig. Right here [googleusercontent.com], truly I am a prince, I know. It has OpenAPI security.
Nothing fake about the shop, by the way. (Score:1)
And yet again noone bothers to read the actual shop's web-page. Given web-site is nothing but reseller in Russia that is offering to preorder the Raspberry Pi in hopes of making bulk purchases when the product is available and saving a hefty sum on transportation and thus making a quick buck and offering it cheaper to those interested in buying it. But, well, who cares.
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Russia violating IP law? lmao. not a single fuck was given.
Maybe the US should start WWIII to protect its IP interests in china and russia. Good luck bro.
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From rasperrypi.ru (translation mine):
"Expected sales start date - the end of 2011. Until the spring of 2012 you can only acquire RaspberryPi on the official website of the Raspberry Pi Foundation (raspberrypi.org). The first 10,000 units should be on sale in December. We'll buy some part of the 10,000 units (if we're lucky). We will distribute devices at cost, with priority to those who have reserved one."
Nothing scammy or fake. They are just trying to make it more convenient for people in Russia to purcha
Wow. Fake sites for new shinies? (Score:1)
Watch out for the cheap knock-offs (Score:2)
As well as the scam sites- I want everyone to watch out for the cheap fakes coming from China.
The $24.99 Raspbelly Pi, is a cheap knock-off and not a genuine item.
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I want everyone to watch out for the cheap fakes coming from China.
AFAIK one of the creators had said that competing against the Chinese would be a good thing, as it would drive the price of components even further down, and making computing available for everyone is more important than personal profit.
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I want everyone to watch out for the cheap fakes coming from China.
AFAIK one of the creators had said that competing against the Chinese would be a good thing, as it would drive the price of components even further down, and making computing available for everyone is more important than personal profit.
That's what I was thinking. Chinese knockoffs would be a great thing as demand for official units will outstrip supply for up to a year or longer. I would love to see these in retailers for this year's holiday shopping.
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If it's anything like the chinese knockoff of the Nokia N900, it'll look identical (right down to the logo) but be completely different and relatively useless.
Publicity (Score:2)
I appreciate the fake resellers for creating this situation, and Slashdot for bringing it to my attention. Now I am aware of this product and will be keeping an eye out for it and may buy one from the manufacturer when they are available.
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Better fake knockoffs (Score:2)
When the original Macintosh came out,it was crippled by the provision of only one diskette drive, and no slot for a second one. Users were constantly changing disks (since the OS and applications lived on one diskette), or had to get an external drive. There was a knockoff Macintosh, recognizable by the inclusion of two diskette drives. It looked good, like an improved version of the original.
Jobs was furious. There were radio announcements in Silicon Valley warning against the fake Macintosh.
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Do you have a citation for this? I'd be interested to read more about it.
A Russian Scammer? (Score:2)
Fake vapourware? (Score:2)
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Free advertising!!! (Score:2)
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