Andre Yoskowitz
2 Jul 2007 17:25
This morning, the Business Software Alliance (BSA) announced that you can be in for a hefty reward if you were to report a business or individual that is pirating or using pirated software for internal use.
The new ceiling, a special promotion until October, will be a cool $1,000,000 USD. Yes, you read that right, one million dollars. The new ceiling is an $800,000 USD premium from the current rewards ceiling.
The BSA hopes that the new, huge reward will make even the most timid employee into a snitch. "Businesses often have a million excuses for having unlicensed software on office computers. BSA is now offering up to a million dollars for employees who turn them in," said Jenny Blank, Director of Enforcement for the BSA.
The rewards paid out by the BSA is determined by the size of "the settlement paid by the company pirating software, or the size of awarded damages in the instance of a dispute heading into court." For example, if you want to qualify for the million dollar settlement, you will need a settlement of $15 million or higher.
The BSA also revealed however, that $22 million total has been generated from settlements with businesses accused of using pirated software since 2005, when the rewards program began. That clearly means that huge rewards have not been given out so far, but the BSA is certainly hoping more people will step forward now.
The BSA also once again cited that the software industry lost over $7 billion USD thanks to piracy last year but those numbers have been critcized for being based on questionable calculations.
Source:
Arstechnica