Antipiracy effort targets little guy

The Business Software Alliance is best known for tracking piracy rates and announcing high-profile settlements over improperly licensed programs. But a new study finds that most of its money is not coming from big corporations, but from small businesses.

Associated Press writer Brian Bergstein said his analysis showed that 90 percent of settlement revenue comes from small businesses. Last year the agency, which monitors compliance for companies such as Microsoft and Adobe Systems, took in $13 million in settlement proceeds, according to the AP.

A counterfeit copy of Office 2003, billed incorrectly as an OEM version of the software suite.

(Credit: Microsoft)

Among the other interesting tidbits is a chart showing where the organization's income originates (81 percent stems from settlements, with 13 percent coming from membership dues) and where the money is spent (nearly half went for legal fees, while 16 percent goes to public relations). Also the company has scaled back efforts to offer companies amnesty when they want to come into compliance, while upping the amount offered as rewards to employees who blow the whistle on their employers.

The article questions whether such rewards might encourage a worker in an IT department to report their employer, rather than fix their compliance issue. It also questions the BSA's assertion that it focuses on companies that are flagrantly flouting the software license terms, pointing to a case in Utah where a company had two unlicensed copies of Microsoft software.

One of the interesting issues, I think, is the increase in the technological means built into software, particularly from Microsoft, aimed at thwarting piracy before it occurs.

[duerra]

Should be Obvious

It should be obvious that the BSA's primary fine/settlement revenue would come from small businesses. Large businesses have too much to lose (and make more than enough money to begin with) to risk having unlicensed software on their machines. They also tend to have larger IT departments and policies in which the installation of licensed software or OS images is part of their standard operating procedures. I would be shocked silly if a Fortune 500 company got busted for a knowing and willing software license violation.

[amadensor]

More likely

The fact that large companies have more lawyers.

[furball123A]

It's not obvious at all...

Large businesses have too much to lose (and make more than enough money to begin with) to risk having unlicensed software on their machines.

You would think this...but there are plenty of large companies where it happens all the time. Have worked for several of them. Many of these offenders are in the IT department...along with execs who think it is their god-given right to do whatever they please.

[Renegade Knight]

Built in Anti Piracy Tech

Built in anti piracy tech also thwarts legitimate use. Thankfully the EULA only makes the promise that the software is not fit for any particular use. That way when you can't use your word processer to process words because it won't work, they never said it would actually do that to begin with.

[Penguinisto]

The solution:

Linux, Open Source software, and a strict company adherence to using only these.

Do that, and you can tell the BSA flacks to go fsck themselves when they show up at your door. :)

Otherwise? Who knows if you're truly in compliance or not... usually (as a small to mid-sized business), your options are to either buy way more licenses than you'll need, just in case, or to spend a ton of time and money (read: overhead) just to insure that you're constantly in compliance. You could of course buy "license servers" and the like, which of course cost you even more money.

/P

[JonathanPDX]

Ha ha ha!

I like the part about the reward offered for ratting out your company. Ah, it's great to be in America, where the multitudes fall all over themselves worshiping the almighty dollar.

If software companies would structure their pricing a little more realistically, there would never be a reason to pirate software. Companies like Micro$oft charge ridiculous amounts for upgrades, even though much of it is simply repackaged code from the previous release with a few bells and whistles added. Make software affordable or else support the damn stuff like it should be supported...free. We're tired of paying for Bill Gates' and his cronies mansions by paying exorbitant prices for bloatware and crapware and fixes for stuff that should have worked in the first place.

[daveavery]

Like any other, software is a business and understandably needs have a model of distribution. There are innovations in licensing driven by SaaS and server virtualization but what the rest of the industry needs is a licensing that is both user friendly while also supporting the industry.

[johncella]

Software licensing is evolving. In addition to those dealing with server virtualization and multi-core processors, many companies are deploying strategies that address licensing challenges including license auditing, piracy tracking and viral software distribution.

There are some third-party licensing technologies that allow you to strike a good balance between controlling piracy and supporting casual sharing/viral marketing. My company uses SoftAnchor from Uniloc. Works pretty well, I'm told. Uniloc allows you to use the piracy data, graphically defined by region (country, continent, etc.) and throttle the licensing parameters to adjust for areas of aggressive piracy. This also allows the loosening of licensing restrictions in areas of lower piracy to promote viral product marketing and greater sales