Anti-piracy crackdown needed

News Article - Tuesday, May 22, 2007

filed under: Technology

A crackdown of software piracy has been proposed by the Business Software Alliance (BSA), which has called upon the government to lend its support to such a campaign.

The organisation has said that action needs to be taken after a report conducted with research firm IDC showed that piracy levels reached 27 per cent in 2006 at a cost of £1.67 billion.

Julie Strawson, vice chairperson of the BSA UK committee, said: "The government needs to take action because unless there are more deterrents with significant penalties, no business will put software piracy at the top of their agenda."

She added that the industry had a vital part to play in making firms aware of the effects of software piracy.

Resellers must highlight how pirated programs may cause network problems and result in loss of money and time.

"That is on top of the risk of a significant fine and possible jail sentence if caught using it," she added.

Earlier this year, a study by the two firms revealed that globally, 35 per cent of software installed on personal computers was pirated.

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