By Andy McCue, 27 April 2006 16:50
NEWS
Anti-software piracy group the Business Software Alliance (BSA) is offering a £20,000 reward to anyone who informs on their employer using illegal or unlicensed software.
The BSA already has an online hotline for people to report the use of illegal software within UK organisations but it has now doubled the reward from £10,000 to £20,000 until the end of June this year.
The BSA said it opened 420 investigations in the last year as a result of these tip-offs, the majority of which came from people in IT.
Siobhan Carroll, regional manager for Northern Europe at the BSA, told silicon.com that with all the software auditing tools and advice available organisations no longer have any excuse for being caught using illegal software.
She said: "We are doubling the reward to make software licensing a priority for managers. It might seem harsh but at the end of the day there are 27 per cent of businesses who think they can get away with it."
Carroll said disgruntled staff are often the source of tip-offs and a YouGov poll commissioned by the BSA found that three-quarters of workers would consider reporting their company if they felt their boss had treated them unfairly, while a quarter said poor pay rises would also spur them to grass on their employer.
Comments
There are 7 comments. Join the discussion
1. Richard
UK or the old East Germany:
Do we really want the UK to become a nation of spies and informers?
The Government tells us to snoop and inform on our neighbours.
This grubby industry pays us to inform on our employers.
"Cool Britannia" is a cold, nasty place.
2. Ian Livermore
Software prices remain too high when compared with the Music and DVD Film market. So lower the prices and sell more software!
If employees are telling on there employers when they are upset or disgruntled surely they are liable for software piracy as well!
I would also suggest any person reporting software piracy should have there personal PC's, DVD and Record Collections examined just toke sure that they are sqeeky clean. Wouldn't like double standards would we?
Be careful out there you don't get £20k for nothing!
3. anonymous
"all the software auditing tools and advice available organisations no longer have any excuse for being caught using illegal software"
Ha ha - try asking any two experts at microsoft about Terminal Server licensing and compare the answers
4. anonymous
I totally agree with anons comments on Terminal server licensing. I recently had a similar issue on trying to renew one of my customers Mcafee antivirus licences. I became increasingly frustrated at being fobbed off at each intersection - albeit speaking to someone in a call centre in Holland; being told that I must have registered the software and have all the correct documentation before I can arrange new annual licences! Don’t these folks understand that not all IT companies are with the program and it might fall to others to fix up the mess? As it was, it took a few low activity days before I had the patience to tackle the problem and the company was in breach of licensing for over six months- a fact that didn’t bother them or me after trying many times to get them subscribed. The worse part is that it finally took one phone call to the same call centre where some intelligent person finally understood the chicken and egg scenario and used the grey matter to actively search for past directors in the company that might have been used to register the software on installation. Luck on that occasion but the company would of had to purchase the AV software from scratch again if this hadn’t of worked out and I'm sure that would not have happened since they had the boxed product and original CD not to mention the really pretty licence certificate!
There is an inherent problem with copyrighting ones and zeros - there always will be.
5. anonymous
For BSA read Waffen SS!
How long before these fascists have the right to break down your door and carry you of to a camp where work liberates us all ( using licensed software of course!)
If software wasn't so outrageously priced people wouldn't rip it off!
If they can afford to dole out £29k lumps as bribes it just shows how much profit there is in software licences!!
6. TongueTied
Yes, there are firms knowingly using software illegally and there are firms unknowingly using software illegally. There are also firms that aren't using software illegally at all and pay for everything that goes onto their machines or use free alternative. It is unconscionable for those firms that are knowingly and deliberately using commercial software and not paying for it. However, the approach of the BSA and the high handedness of their effort is offensive. It can only be compared to a modern day 'witch hunt'. I'm sure in the UK the BSA is not given the freedom to be a law into themselves but in some places they are. Where I am, the BSA has the governments blessing to direct police raids without warrants on firms it suspects of using software illegally (note "suspects", no proof is needed and a disgruntled employee can make the business go through the hassles of a raid for a lark!). If raided, they 'require' the proprietor to produce an software audit report in the format they dictate, not what suits the proprietor for their own business activities. However, (and here is the kicker) you can avoid being
raided (ie avoid the police from raiding your place of business and effectively shutting you down for a few hours to days during their search) by supplying the BSA with an Audit report for them to approve. I wouldn't mind supplying an audit report to a government agency or to the police themselves if mandated BY the government but not to what amounts to a trade association who is being handed the power of law and there is nothing we can do about it!
7. anonymous
Has anybody audited the BSA?