By Will Sturgeon, 7 July 2004 17:00
NEWS Despite the high-tech piracy of music the Business Software Alliance has called upon users and industry leaders not to forget the ongoing issue of software piracy, which is costing UK businesses £860m.
The latest research from the BSA, carried out by IDC, has found that 29 per cent of software in the UK is pirated and while that is lower than the European average (37 per cent) and the global average (36 per cent) it is a figure which concerns the BSA.
A spokesman for the BSA said the resulting lost revenues stifle innovation within the software industry and can have a direct impact on levels of employment within the sector.
Users are also putting their networks at risk using software which potentially has not been subject to the same rigorous testing and legitimate packages, according to the spokesman. Software bought illegally on- or offline could be poor quality or could even contain a virus on infected media such as a CD.
The BSA spokesman said the figures shouldn't be interpreted as a sign that 29 per cent of companies in the UK only use illegal software but more an indication that 29 per cent of software across all organisations is illegal.
"I believe the vast majority of companies in the UK probably have a problem of some magnitude."
As such the BSA encourages all IT managers and their businesses to look at exactly what software is being used on their networks and employ more stringent software asset management.
The highest areas of software piracy globally are in Eastern Europe and parts of the Far East where piracy is "endemic" according to Duncan Browne, a consultant at IDC, and the rate is often in excess of 90 per cent.
And the rates of piracy don't look like getting any better in the near future.
The BSA spokesman said: "These figures give every indication that piracy is not going to diminish any time soon, but there are measures and initiatives in place which we hope will start to bear fruit in two, three, four years' time."
Among its initiatives the BSA is working with software users as diverse as big businesses and schoolchildren to educate people about the issues of software piracy and the damage it does as well as instil "respect for people's intellectual property".
Also helping its battle against piracy is the accession of several Eastern European countries who must now take strides to fall into line with EU copyright laws.
Comments
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1. Jamie Bishop
As usual the BSA is looking for someone else to blame. When car theft became a problem manufacturers installed locks on the doors.
However, this was to protect the benefactor of the service, ie the car user, and also to stop them running to the competition.
But the BSA on the otherhand need to find a justification for their existence so once again they are dragging the same mind numbing rubbish around in the hope that they scare someone somewhere into not using pirate software rather than fixing the problem - which of course would mean they would have to look for another job. Yak yak yak SNAFU!
2. anonymous
Reading this document gives the impression that the reason why piracy is hurting british business is that we are not doing enough of it, or at least as much as the rest of the world.
3. anonymous
"The BSA spokesman said the figures shouldn't be interpreted as a sign that 29 per cent of companies in the UK only use illegal software but more an indication that 29 per cent of software across all organisations is illegal."
The above quote from the BSA spokesman seems to be a pretty poor / negative / broad sweeping opinion to me. This would indicate that the BSA themselves have a problem then!?! We are members of FAST (Gold Award now) and are 99.99% certain that we have no illegal software on our network. We have procedures and processes in place (audits running every 7 days with reporting via exception i.e. anything the system does not recognise gets reported daily) to ensure we are legally compliant. My experience of the BSA is not training users, but rather attempting to bully them into submission with letters etc. which try to give the impression users should comply with the BSA's request to possibly incriminate themselves.
In my opinion, the BSA approach things all wrong and need to change themselves, if they are to get more support etc. from UK businesses to tackle this problem.
4. anonymous
I think the route we need to take is one of education. This needs to start in schools and continue through university. Many vendors assist educational and charitable organisations to "stay legal" through special pricing.
FAST, as an organisation, works with its members to put in place effective processes to ensure compliance. It also works with educational establishments to raise awareness. I am not sure what the BSA does in this area beyond somewhat threatening letters.
I would love to see silicom.com seek a response to this article from FAST.
5. Teresa Green
Once a business gets used to using s/w it hasn't had to pay for it's a pretty hard habit to break. The man who signs the cheques needs a lot of convincing that this 'victimless' crime is a crime at all, especialy when the company who would benefit from buying this s/w is based in Redmond and appears to be vastly more profitable that yours is already!
Doesn't make it right but you can understand the logic...
Also, what does the BSA think the split is between dodgey CD's bought on the black market and businesses with legitimate copies installing more seats than they've paid for? I reckon the latter is probably the higher proportion.
6. anonymous
I wish the BSA and FAST would stop hyping some of these issues when all they really seem to want to do is to get their feet under your table and sell you some very expensive consultancy days.
7. anonymous
When I was Technical Director of a Multi Million Pound UK Software Company we made sure that we protected our assets by using protection dongles. One dongle=one legal copy of our software.
If software companies don't value their product enough to use security then why should anyone get upset if it gets copied?
If they don't stop you from copying then they are giving you permission to copy ;-)
and YES every bit of software on this Mac is licensed.
8. anonymous
BSA sent out a request for my business complete an online survey of software to ensure we are compliant. They did this and hassled us for a response insisting it be completed by some date at the end of March. Have they NO IDEA just how busy small businesses are at the end of the tax year which, for many, is also the end of their company tax year.
I KNOW we are compliant! As for their survey .... I "just couldn't be arsed!"
9. Bill Monk
Strange that many audit and compliance organisations now claim savings of 20-30% through implementing software asset management. So, if the average level of underlicensing in UK organisations is 29%, then we must really be in a terrible mess. I can only add that from our experience, most(90% plus)of organisations we have reviewed are paying more than they need and are (in effect) over licensed.