The e-waste warrior, 28,000 copied Windows restore discs, and a fight to stay out of jail

As an e-waste warrior, Eric Lundgren wished to see discarded computers fixed up and reused rather than crammed into holes in the ground. To encourage people to refurbish and continue using unwanted Dell PCs, he burned and distributed 28,000 copies of the IT giant's Windows XP and 7 restore discs.

Arguing that a copy of Windows is essentially useless without a product key, and that all of the recycled machines had their own valid keys, Lundgren's lawyers suggested what he did was merely make it easier for the owners to get something they were already entitled to for free.