Why are the actions of CERN and the University cowardly? Neither institution decided to use unlicensed software, the student did. He, as an adult, should be held accountable for his choices and his actions. I do agree that "AllSIM" are being heavy handed...
The student made a bad choice and I agree that they should take responsibility for their actions. I described a way to do that. The software vendor has a right to make a living from selling licences.
But. Students are usually young, relatively inexperienced, and have limited resources. A $31k fine would probably end their academic career and have a long-term effect on their life. And to what end? Why do this to someone at the start of their adult life?
CERN and the university - without agreeing with the student's actions - should recognise the power imbalance between the student and the software vendor, and the absence of any real damage caused, and they should look after their people. That doesn't mean siding with the student, just using their position as respected institutions to bring about a just settlement. Their failure to do that makes them cowards.
Not only did they not fight the claim the actively helped them enforce it, arrogantly declaring that "[...] he was forced to acknowledge the facts" and "[...] CERN passed all costs to them who, in turn, passed them on to the student". This was supposedly because the student had "placed the Organization's reputation at risk", but they apparently it was fine to blog about it, and "created a financial liability for CERN", which would have been true if they hadn't just passed the cost onto the student.
Bottom-line, if you're active in an organization like CERN you come in contact with a lot of expensive equipment. The student made a mistake, but did so as a result of the involvement with CERN. If you can't even protect your students from virtual claims what happens if you mistakenly do some actual damage at CERN, do they send you a bill for millions?
It seem like they are more interested in enforcing their own rules than anything else. Mindlessly writing things like "CERN offers a variety of commercial software and has all the corresponding licences you'll need for your professional use", when they've just concluded that "However, the CERN AllSIM installation would not allow for this, as roaming usage is not covered by CERN's AllSIM licence".
The student should of course refuse to pay, forcing the license holder to either sue or settle. Probably for far less of an amount. At least if CERN hadn't published the whole thing, increasing the risk of the student being made an example of.
