that one out of every four pieces of business software used in the United States is illegal, but the fact that it is commonplace does not meanit isn’t criminal. Software piracy is not a victimless crime, says SPA Anti-piracy, a division of the Software & Information Industry Association (SITA), which is active in antipiracy efforts. Experts estimate that the software industry loses billions of dollars every year due to software piracy. Organizations that use illegal software run a high risk of being caught by SITA and having to pay substantially for violating copyright law. In addition, companies using illegal software lose technical support, upgrades andfixes. Theillegal software may also contain viruses, which could harm other content on a computer. Software piracy hurts all companies, even the ones playing by the rules. That’s because software companies sometimes have to raise prices to make up for their lost revenue, resulting in higher software prices for all companies. Keith Kupferschmid, head of SPA Anti-piracy, says that use of pirated software is easily preventable. Here are somesigns to look for: eIs software installed on many PCs from a single disk? If so, the business may not have enough licenses andis installing the softwareillegally. Is there a lack of documentation for installed software?If so, it may notexist. e Are employees told not to call the help desk for certain software? \ \ |
