The US Army got caught pirating $180 million in software. It’s settling for $50 million.

For the Army to function, it needs to keep track of where its soldiers are deployed. So in 2004, it hired a software company to help locate its units down to their exact positions, even if they were in a moving transport vehicle. The Army allegedly liked the solution so much that it wound up installing the program thousands of times more than it was supposed to -- and didn't pay for it. Oops. Now the government is handing Apptricity $50 million to settle the developer's copyright infringement case, a fraction of what the government would actually owe based on the number of missing licenses. (Nov 29)