piracy in comment and analysis
Legal Eye: Europe's copyright controversy
Comment The European Commission is to consult on changes to the copyright levy, a surcharge on devices that hold music or video to compensate artists for potential piracy. Rumblings from the EU about the controversial copyright levy suggest this thorny... [18 Jun 2008]
The Brampton Factor: Licensed to bill
Comment Software piracy may well be a very bad thing. There is a lot of talk about the awfulness of software piracy but little seems to be said about the gross inconveniences that vendors seem willing to inflict on legitimate buyers. [07 May 2008]
Legal Eye: Is it wise to hit ISPs over file-sharing?
Comment Certainly, ISPs should discourage illegal activities - and indeed should face financial penalties or other sanctions for letting piracy occur. ISPs and piracy: Key issues Culture secretary Andy Burnham clearly thinks the spread of online piracy... [22 Feb 2008]
Editor's Blog: Ever hear the one about the happy Vista user?
Comment Vista: Piracy rates half the level of XP, says Microsoft I was talking to a friend of mine in the pub after work the other day. And after discussing some of the biggest geo-political issues of the day - Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, the global... [15 Jan 2008]
The Weekly Round-Up: 07.12.07
Round-Up Piracy rates for Windows Vista are half those of its predecessor Windows XP. Meanwhile, an equal and opposite reaction to Microsoft's bold claim is that piracy rates are so much lower for Vista because nobody actually wants to pirate it. [07 Dec 2007]
Dear silicon.com... 'me hearties shun Vista… techies on the move?… bosses out of tune
Comment I wonder if it's occurred to Microsoft that only popular software suffers from high piracy levels? A better explanation for the low piracy rate is that those who would use pirated copies don't want Vista, just like everyone else. [06 Dec 2007]
Brampton Factor: Bringing tech to the developing world
Comment If published figures are at all accurate and applicable to Microsoft products, it follows that reducing global piracy to US levels would almost double Microsoft's gross revenues. Of course, reducing piracy might actually produce a negligible volume... [17 Jul 2007]
Upwardly Mobile: Why mobile DRM must die
Comment Since the Apple-EMI announcement, the naysayers have been shouting that it will mark the return of piracy. The brave new world of DRM-free music is in its infancy but it will surely have implications for mobile music. [01 May 2007]
Minority Report: Should Apple set its music free?
Comment The Apple boss wrote an open missive called 'Thoughts on Music' arguing that DRM technology in online music was neither necessary nor the deterrent to piracy it was considered to represent. But could it also be Steve Jobs' latest masterstroke? [11 Apr 2007]
Leader: Vendors must quit 'bully' tactics
Leader Just under half of silicon.com's CIO Jury agreed with that picture, saying audits are becoming more frequent and are more about increasing revenue than tackling piracy. Clearly no one is advocating piracy or the deliberate use of unlicensed... [12 Jan 2007]
Opinion: China's IPR woes
Comment But is piracy really a problem for China? Piracy seems to be a cheap way of getting the tools that are driving developed economies. Many people who are familiar with China's IPR situation have come to it through Microsoft's campaigns to highlight... [14 Aug 2006]
Leader: Apple off the DRM hook?
Leader Predictably Apple complained about the law before it was amended, saying it would result in "state-sponsored piracy" - but it was not the bill's only opponent. Apple, it appears, has been let off the hook. [03 Jul 2006]
Beating software piracy is easier than you think
Comment Software piracy continues to be endemic in UK businesses. Proper management of software licences can prevent your organisation falling foul of the law. Anthony Plewes explains how to keep track of your valuable software assets. [21 Jun 2006]
Q&A: Microsoft UK head of anti-piracy Michala Alexander
Comment As the head of Microsoft's anti-piracy programme, Michala Alexander has one of the more unenviable posts in the software giant's UK operations. Following the successful settlement with illegal software trader William Ling, silicon.com sister site... [22 May 2006]
Leader: How to cut piracy overnight
Leader This week we've seen McAfee, Microsoft and Symantec bemoaning the problem of software piracy and getting quite aggressive in their efforts to quell it. But if that doesn't tempt companies, then what about the promise of mitigating the attrition on... [19 May 2006]
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