In Germany you just purchase an OEM volume license on eBay for 8€
[X]Doubt
Having purchased $8 keys on eBay, they’re more than likely either data center or MAK activation keys that are being resold against the license agreement.
Not that I care, mind, but there’s very little likelihood that a real/legit key being sold for that little that’s actually OEM.
Edit: IMHO, there isn’t much difference in buying a grey market key vs just using the activation script.
“Does this for profit news agency require money for information? Then surely academic research needs to require money to get the info as well! Nevermind that public funds are involved with a lot of research initially where news orgs don’t have that, we need to make a profit cuz reasons!”