British Pirates

[The_Dude 1,142]

BSA study finds dramatic rise in pirated software

Industry losing billions of pounds a year, says Business Software Alliance

David Neal

vnunet.com, 12 May 2009

More than one in four software installations in the UK is illegal, according to a new report from the Business Software Alliance.

The organisation's 2008 Piracy Study (PDF) said that the amount of pirated software on PCs in the UK had risen to 27 per cent over the past year, clocking up its highest chunk of the market ever. The BSA estimates that the cost to British industry is £1.49bn.

AdvertisementPiracy also affects the end-user because it raises a number of security issues, and increases the risk of cyber crime, the report said.

"The recent global spread of the Conficker virus has been attributed in part to the lack of automatic security updates in unlicensed software," said the BSA.

"And in a 2006 study IDC found that 29 per cent of web sites and 61 per cent of peer-to-peer sites offering pirated software tried to infect test computers with Trojans, spyware, key-loggers and other tools of identity theft."

However, the BSA claims that it has increased the value of the punishments it metes out on behalf of its members by a factor of 25 since 2008.

"With more than one in four software installations categorised as illegal in the UK, we cannot afford to give up the fight against software piracy," said Alyna Cope, a spokesperson for the BSA UK country committee.

"Much more needs to be done by the industry and the government to warn businesses and consumers of the risks associated with under-licensed software from a legal, financial and operational point of view.

"Software piracy hurts our knowledge-based economy by weakening the very foundation on which it is built: respect for intellectual property and innovation."

The BSA is urging the government to establish a body that will focus on enforcement and education, and a code of practice that will encourage ISPs and rights holders to work together to stop piracy.

However, the BSA's suggestions were met with disappointment by Martin McNulty, client services director at the Forward Internet Group.

"The BSA's response to file sharing is at best naive and at worst dangerous, " he said. "File sharing is an enabling technology that is fast, efficient and here to stay."

Globally, the BSA found that 41 per cent of all installed PC software is pirated, and that the loss to companies is around £35bn.

Software piracy is bad mkaaaaaaaay.

Edited May 12, 2009 by Rob and Mel

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

One in four? Try 3 in 4 bichez.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

You can't justify it - but everyone does it.

The 2 PCs I have now all use registered or open-source software, but my old Pentium 2 was basically all pirate.

I you know where to look you can get everything from complex photo-editing software to full office programs to antivirus software for free. And I'm not talking about pirated stuff - free to download and use independently developed open source versions of programs that are the equivalent (or better) of what you can buy commercially.

If anything you'd think this would drive down the costs of the commercial software - but no.

Buying software is a rip-off.

Edited May 12, 2009 by Private Pike

[The_Dude 1,142]

Buying software is a rip-off.

Hence why piracy is so rampant.

[scandal 951]

Do Somali pirates also use unlicensed copies of Windoze?

Or do they run Ubuntu?

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Buying software is a rip-off.

Hence why piracy is so rampant.

You don't need to "steal" these days. And with the hassle of getting programs that can't update because of the online activation - you're better off going open-source, which is legal, won't ####### up your machine and costs nothing.

[rclouse 0]

Pick your poison:

[The_Dude 1,142]

Buying software is a rip-off.

Hence why piracy is so rampant.

You don't need to "steal" these days. And with the hassle of getting programs that can't update because of the online activation - you're better off going open-source, which is legal, won't ####### up your machine and costs nothing.

I've heard that there are quite a few work arounds with regards to the activation. Most of those pirated software packages come with key generators anyways so i've heard

[trinket 30]

Do Somali pirates also use unlicensed copies of Windoze?

Or do they run Ubuntu?

They used Windoze with eenternat ezpolar, that's why they got caught in phising.

[scandal 951]

Buying software is a rip-off.

Hence why piracy is so rampant.

You don't need to "steal" these days. And with the hassle of getting programs that can't update because of the online activation - you're better off going open-source, which is legal, won't ####### up your machine and costs nothing.

I've heard that there are quite a few work arounds with regards to the activation. Most of those pirated software packages come with key generators anyways so i've heard

www.crackportal.com (Disclaimer: I DO NOT recommend or encourage any use of crackz or other illegal activities. I run Ubuntu + OpenOffice)

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Depends which publisher it is. ####### like Winzip or Winamp generate unique activation codes based on the user information you enter into them. There are key generators for those programs.

For something like MS Office, Adobe Photoshop or Quark Express - you basically have to crack the program. You still have to enter the program license code (and they keep a better track on those these days) but you have to mess with the code to remove the online activation requirement and the stuff that only lets you use the same licence code on 1 machine.

Usually someone's either tinkered with the source code - or written a separate .exe file that you run after you download. Those .exe files are potentially very dodgy (in terms of compromising your system's security).

Edited May 12, 2009 by Private Pike

[DeadPoolX 9]

What pisses me off is when some people believe it's their right to pirate something if that product is too expensive for them. No one has the "right" to any piece of software. Time, effort and money went into creating that product and if it's closed-source, that means you either pay up or don't own it. There are plenty of open-source products available today (some of which are quite good) and therefore, there's no excuse for piracy.

Take Photoshop for instance. That program is damn expensive. I have versions 5.5, 6.0, 7.0 and CS2. I believe CS4 is out now, but it's a little too pricey for my tastes right now. Do I pirate it? No. I do one of three things: wait for the price to go down, get enough money together to purchase right now or I go without it. No one is going to die if they don't own Photoshop. If your profession demands it, then it's a worthwhile expense; if you're looking for a hobby, I'd strongly suggest GIMP, GIMPshop or even PaintShop Pro (the latter of which is around $100 USD).

I know some people with self-entitlement issues will disagree with me. But owning a movie or a piece of software is not a right. It's not something that will prove detrimental to your existence if you lack it.

The one area in which I almost agree with software pirates is when it comes to the issue of DRM (digital rights management). If I legally download an MP3 or purchase software, I shouldn't be restricted in how and where I use it. Mass Effect, a highly popular computer game from BioWare and EA, only allows for THREE activations. So if your computer crashes or you need to wipe the hard drive or even if you replace an important piece of hardware, the game will require re-activation. Once all of you're activations are used up, you'll need to call EA and convince them to give you another activation or use your game as a handy doorstop or paperweight.

In those cases, I can see why piracy occurs. It's one thing to illegally obtain the game, but it's another to seek a way around limited use of the game you legally bought.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

With DRM - I think its more of an issue with movies that seem to be very behind the times in terms of what you can and can't do with them. Thanks to the iPhone and other PMP players most DVDs now come with an additional digital copy (though I really don't understand why that justifies an additional $3-$5 charge), but with the older ones - you're technically breaking the law if you use a conversion program to rip the video to use on a portable device.

Presumably the manufacturers want customers to double dip on the re-releases so that they can get a "legit" digital copy, but it all seems shady to me.

With games - I read an article in a UK games magazine that demonstrated that it was actually illegal (under European law) for Software manufacturers to install coding into their products that prevents the user from making a backup copy. So there's a bit of a grey area over what is legal and what is not - though law suits seem to follow the principle of "money walks..."

GIMPshop and GIM Photo do pretty much everything you'd want to do with Photoshop (hence the only reason to buy photoshop now is if you are a professional photographer or a graphic artist).

And Open Office 3.0 is easily equivalent to MS Office 2007.

Edited May 12, 2009 by Private Pike

[pedroh 21]

i like openoffice

[DeadPoolX 9]

With DRM - I think its more of an issue with movies that seem to be very behind the times in terms of what you can and can't do with them. Thanks to the iPhone and other PMP players most DVDs now come with an additional digital copy (though I really don't understand why that justifies an additional $3-$5 charge), but with the older ones - you're technically breaking the law if you use a conversion program to rip the video to use on a portable device.

With games - I read an article in a UK games magazine that demonstrated that it was actually illegal (under European law) for Software manufacturers to install coding into their products that prevents the user from making a backup copy. So there's a bit of a grey area over what is legal and what is not - though law suits seem to follow the principle of "money walks..."

GIMPshop and GIM Photo do pretty much everything you'd want to do with Photoshop (hence the only reason to buy photoshop now is if you are a professional photographer or a graphic artist).

And Open Office 3.0 is easily equivalent to MS Office 2007.

For a long time, StarForce (a very intrusive form of DRM that could actually harm your system in some cases) was utilized in Europe. It also occurred in North America, but it seemed to have a higher prevalence in Europe for whatever reason.

As for GIMP, I don't know if I'd agree that it can do "pretty much everything you'd want with Photoshop." If that was the case, professionals wouldn't bother purchasing Photoshop -- everyone likes a deal and who'd want to pay tons of money when they could use a legally free product?

Edited May 12, 2009 by DeadPoolX