AfterDawn: Tech news

700 software piracy probes being persued by BSA

Written by James Delahunty @ 24 Sep 2004 12:08

700 software piracy probes being persued by BSA The Business Software Alliance has over 700 active investigations into software piracy in the United States, according to Robert M. Kruger, chief enforcement officer for the Washington, D.C. based nonprofit organization. He said that the BSA rarely raids enterprise customers with federal marshals and court orders but said that BSA piracy cops aren't easing up on their investigations. The incidence of software piracy worldwide has actually dropped in recent years, being about 33% of software now compared to 50% just ten years ago.
According to Kruger, pirated software by corporate and government employees accounts for the most of the massive $29 billion that the software industry is losing to piracy each year. Software piracy is continuing to be a significant problem in the United States and Kruger estimates that about 95% of all spam emails that offer free software are coming from a location in Russia. Also the amount of pirated software on auction websites and P2P networks boosts the problem dramatically. "People go to a cuddly Web site like BearShare [which features an image of an animated bear], and they figure, 'I must not be doing anything wrong if I'm downloading a $695 photo-copying program for free.'" he said.



Most BSA investigations are triggered by reports to the organizations anti-piracy hotline (888/NO-PIRACY), reports sent to the organizations website and referrals from BSA member companies. Penalties for individuals or organizations found guilty of illegally copying or using software can include the copyright holder suing for damages, including actual damages and any profits obtained by the infringing organization using the pirated software. The copyright holder can also sue for statutory damages up to $150,000 for each pirated good.

Source:
PC World

Previous Next  
Comments have been disabled for this article.

Latest news

Roomba Combo j7+ review - Clever trick allows robot vacuum finally to tackle home with rugs and carpets Roomba Combo j7+ review - Clever trick allows robot vacuum finally to tackle home with rugs and carpets (06 Jun 2023 9:19)
Roomba Combo j7+ is the very first Roomba model to combine robot vacuum with mopping features. And Roomba Combo j7+ does all that with a very clever trick, which tackles the problem with mopping and carpets. But is it any good? We found out.
Neato, the robot vacuum company, ends its operations Neato, the robot vacuum company, ends its operations (02 May 2023 3:38)
Neato Robotics has ceased its operations. American robot vacuum pioneer founded in 2005 has finally called it quits and company will cease its operations and sales. Only a skeleton crew will remain who will keep the servers running until 2028.
5 user comments
How to Send Messages to Yourself on WhatsApp How to Send Messages to Yourself on WhatsApp (20 Mar 2023 1:25)
The world's most popular messaging platform, Meta-owned WhatsApp has enabled sending messages to yourself. While at first, this might seem like an odd feature, it can be very useful in a lot of situations. ....
18 user comments
How to Enable Bluetooth on Stadia Controller How to Enable Bluetooth on Stadia Controller (11 Feb 2023 1:04)
Google shut down its streaming game service Stadia late last month and this means that some people have Stadia controllers lying around that seem to be of no use. That is fortunately not the ....
2 user comments
Guide: How to Kick Unwanted Guests from Your Netflix Account Guide: How to Kick Unwanted Guests from Your Netflix Account (26 Jan 2023 2:14)
Sharing a Netflix account with a person in a different location is possible and indeed very common, although the company doesn't necessarily enjoy this behavior from their customers. However, ....

News archive