Have you ever heard of theorganization called the Business Software Alliance (BSA)? If you haven’t thatmight be a good thing. If you have heard of them, you might not be so lucky.
The Business Software Alliance(www.bsa.org) is the foremost organization dedicated to promoting a safe andlegal digital world. BSA is the voice of the world’s commercial softwareindustry and its hardware partners before governments and in the internationalmarketplace. Its members represent one of the fastest growing industries in theworld. BSA programs foster technology innovation through education and policyinitiatives that promote copyright protection, cyber security, trade ande-commerce. BSA members include companies such as Adobe, Apple, Borland, CA,Cisco Systems, Dell, EMC, HP, IBM, Intel, McAfee, Microsoft, SAP, Sybase, andSymantec.
The BSA’s job is to protect theproperty and financial interest of members by identifying and recoveringdamages from organizations using the unlicensed property (software) of theirmembers. And they are aggressive – often working to encourage disgruntledemployees to blow the whistle.
Virtually any business, includinga Tire Dealer, is at risk. Even with good intentions, you are likely to havesoftware installed and in use on your computer equipment for which you do nothave a license or do not have the BSA’s level of required proof of purchase.
The BSA’s definition of piracyleaves no room for gray – it is a black or white issue. They define piracy as“The illegal use and/or distribution of software protected under intellectualproperty laws.”
Software piracy is theunauthorized copying or distribution of copyrighted software. This can be doneby copying, downloading, sharing, selling, or installing multiple copies ontopersonal or work computers. What a lot of people don’t realize or don’t thinkabout is that when you purchase software, you are actually purchasing a licenseto use it, not the actual software. That license is what tells you how manytimes you can install the software, so it’s important to read it. If you makemore copies of the software than the license permits, you are pirating.
The BSA encourages people to “blowthe whistle” on software pirates. In fact they offer up to a $1 million rewardfor turning in offenders. A disgruntled employee could easily andconfidentially turn you in to the BSA. They can do it online in a matter ofminutes, resulting in legal costs and fines that easily could far outweigh thecost of operating the software legally.
So the next time you think aboutusing software illegally or pirating it, you should think twice. You may getaway with it for a while, but when you get caught it will be much more costlyin the long run.
