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Under The Surface Of The BSA Anti-Piracy Campaign
cloudscout writes: "The Business Software Alliance has been sending out threatening letters to companies across the US hinting that they may be audited for licensing compliance. This article on Yahoo, tells the complete story. First, the letters are really just a marketing tool to sell more software. The BSA has no intention of following through with their threats. Second, and possibly even more importantly, the tactics are often resulting in a switch to open source software. It seems that nobody likes a bully. Play hardball and people will start taking their business elsewhere." My mom was genuinely frightened when she got The Letter, precisely because of the threatening tone this article discusses.
He who accuses must prove guilt. Note that "silence of the accused" cannot be used to infer guilt.
"Legal Piracy will prevent people from creating IP". Nope. Taiwan has many LOCAL cool bands, many of them quite wealthy. So much for the theory that they aren't making money because of a lack of IP protections.
Now if someone puts Office 2000 on a Tqiwanese ftp server, what law is being violated?
Get over the idea that that "IP" is a universal concept and quit foisting your own believed "right think" onto others. Copyright is your religious beleif and it is not universally right. Other concepts on IP are equally valid.
Yankee go home.
http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph/?host=www.bsa. org
Yousa think *BSD gonna DIE?!
Apparently BSA deliberately ignores the simple laws of economics. The difference between the number of copies sold and the number of copies installed does not equal to the number of lost sales. Furthermore, both numbers are estimated, so there is lots of room for creative accounting.
Let's analyze this further. Another claim I often hear is that pirated software causes the loss of jobs: the loss of X revenue due to piracy causes the loss of Y jobs. I really wonder where they got the Y number from. Did they just divide X by the average wage or something? If a software company employs 1000 people and sells 100,000 copies of their software per year, does that mean they'd employ 2000 people if they sold 200,000 copies? How many man-hours does it take to produce another copy of said software? (To be fair, they'd probably need more assembly line workers if the software was packaged in boxes and sold retail, but you get the idea.)
And here is the kicker: pirated software hurts the economy. Surely X dollars lost due to piracy means X dollars less in the GDP (in fact more than X due to the multiplier effect). Here is a newsflash: money does not appear out of thin air. X more dollars spent on software means X less dollars spent on other things. Therefore, if all the piracy was ever erradicated, the software industry would benefit at the expense of all other industries.
Now, let's analyze the last point further. As I showed above, more copies of software sold do not translate into more jobs, since the marginal cost of making another copy of software is virtually zero. However, less units of other goods and services sold would mean less jobs in other industries (example: if people start buyin fewer cars, Ford, GM, et. al. will have to fire workers). Therefore, elimination of piracy would result in a loss of jobs and would make the economy weaker.
I just love debunkning the BSA propaganda.
___
___
If you think big enough, you'll never have to do it.
...when the BSA annoucned it was riding into town.
I work at a local computer/software store, and I've been hearing the ads (I live near one of the cities mentioned in the article).
And all last week, we've had people buying multiple copies of Office XP (now with new anti-consumer^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hpiracy features!) and Windows. All thanks to Der Gestapo at the BSA.
Interstingly enough, we got a huge shipment of Office XP and the Windows trinity (98/ME/100), enough to cover our recent spike in sales. Lucky us, huh?
Fortunately, as the *koff*koff*"Linux expert" at the store, I was able to do my part to make sure a few people walked away with some penguin-themed boxes...
Jay (=
They have an MP3 of the New York radio ad online here.
Like another comment said, this is almost like Joseph Stalin telling kids to turn their parents in.
I find your lack of receipts disturbing.
.NET and Passport.
The bugs you refer to will soon be propagated via
--
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
On the surface, the BSA has a purpose for existing. Piracy does happen. Some businesses do cheat on licenses. More software is being used than companies are being compensated for. To investigate cases where piracy is occuring is more than likely justified. However, that is where the line is drawn.
To harrass or accuse anyone of a crime when there is no evidence that such a crime ever committed is a very BAD idea from a service point of view. You don't harrass your customers to make sure that they're not cheating you out of a few pennies. In a large corporation, even one that spends a lot of time making sure they're 100% compliant, there probably is 1-2% of noncompliant software installed, including software that was installed more times than the licenses allow for, or software for which the licenses were purchased but no supporting documentation exists.
So the BSA threatens this huge corporation. Even at 1%, there is a lot of money to be lost even if the only fees the company will be levied with are the cost of the licenses. Its worth their effort not so much to get thier licenses up to date, but to reorganize their systems so that extra installation of photoshop that nobody uses is uninstalled. If they'll have to spend the money anyways, they don't necessarily have to send it in to the software company that is harrassing them.
It makes perfect sense to move to open source in light of these events. At least you will know that no matter how many times you reinstall that one copy you purchased, nobody will ever bother you about it.
-Restil
Play with my webcams and lights here
People who are whining about how they don't want open source to gain ground because of something the BSA is doing remind me of people in the military who didn't want the US to have snipers. In both world wars and in Korea we had to throw together a sniper training program when we realized that the enemy had snipers and that they were highly effective. The reason we had to throw a program together each time is that the brass would do away with the sniper schools as soon as the wars were over. It wasn't until Vietnam that our armed forces finally got it through their thick heads that any advantage you can get over the enemy by any means is a good thing. Moral victories don't mean shit. If you see an opening, you go for it. If you have an advantage, you press it. Playing "fair" is fine for sports and other competitive activities. When it comes to combative activities however, you don't play around and you leave your sentimentalism at the door.
Muslim community leaders warn of backlash from tomorrow morning's terrorist attack.
... Red Hat should do it for them. Great marketing scheme. :-)
I send you this letter in order to have your revenues!
What the hell, I just graduated, so here's my shot at it. (Besides, I gotta do something to make up for my shameless "Hi! How Are You?" posts!)
In the spirit of fairness, I'll address these to a Windoze audience. Obviously, going open source is the solution that allows you to avoid BSA harassment and remain legal. But since the BSA lives in a non-Open world, for purposes of this argument, I'll fight their arguments on their turf.
> 9. Proper software management saves time, money and makes employees more productive.
Arguably true. If you have processes in place for this, you've probably got decent process in place elsewhere in your organization. But that's a benefit to process, not to legal software :)
> 8. Illegal software is one of the prime sources of computer viruses that can destroy your company's valuable data.
ROFLMAO. Those goddamn "Elf Bowling" games are a prime source of viral infection. Warez aren't. Any warez group with sufficiently poor QA that they release warez with viruses will be hax0red into oblivion by their fellow pirates within seconds ;-)
> 7. Illegal software is more likely to fail, leaving your company?s computers and their information useless.
Not. See #8. I pay for my games, and then I apply the cracks/patches. Why? Because they're often more functional when cracked - for instance, I can use my CD-ROM drive to play background music, rather than having the disk in the drive.
(And back to the more likely case -- in what way does installing the OEM version of Windoze from CD onto a freshly-FDISK'ed drive, compared with Joe Sixpack, who gets his installs from D3LL with an extra 100 megabytes of vendor-supplied bloatware, half of which doubles as spyware, decrease the reliability of a system?
Indeed, I've seen far more data loss from "legal" vendor installation practices, such as "recovery CDs" that really mean "reformat and start over". Ghosted drive images (combined with partitioning strategies, such as a 1-2G partition for the OS, and the rest of the drive for data) provide real recovery, licensing be damned.
In this case, being legal (i.e. owning a license for a Windoze install and Norton Ghost, rather than pirating both products), could be every bit as good (from a data loss perspective) as piracy, but the BSA types have chosen that the default way to "be legal" (i.e. "recovery CDs" keyed to BIOS and/or PSNs) is the less-reliable option.
In their infinite wisdom, BSA has encouraged OEMs to make "piracy" (remember the controversy over Ghosting images being a violation of the EULA?) the better option from a reliability/reproducibility point of view. (Or as one sysadmin put it: "Yeah, right, like fuck I'm gonna install the same damn OS from the same fuckin' CD 10 times on 10 identical machines, especially since I just paid for 10 fuckin' OS licenses!!!")
> 6. You can expect no warranties or support for illegal software and won?t have access to inexpensive upgrades.
Hands up, anyone who's actually gotten support for products like M$Word or Windows.
And to the both of you who raised your hands, keep your hands up if you think you got better support through the vendor than you would have if you'd called the Psychic Friends Hotline.
Actually, I think this is a great way for people to be brought to open source. If you try to explain the benefits of free (as in speech) software to most people, you get blank stares. When companies start threatening their own customers, people start to understand. Nothing speeds up the learning process like a good real-life example.
An exchange CAL = the right to use Outlook.
You clearly are an amateur at criticizing MS licensing tactics. If you were an experienced MS licensing guy (read=VICTIM) like me, you would criticize things like MSDN. Having attempted to activate 45 MSDN Universal licenses over the past month, I have come to the conclusion that MS is trying to become a services company partially by attempting to completely alienate their most hardcore developers.
ostiguy
Dear Mr. Kruger,
Thank you for bringing to my attention my possible thievery. Enclosed you will find a VHS tape of me wiping my Windows partition, as well as removing all Adobe and Macromedia software from my Linux partition. You will also see that I have burned all of my commercial software discs so that they do not fall into the hands of evil, Nazi-loving software pirates. Since I am no longer a licensee of any of your softare cartel's member companies, I will assume that this matter is closed and any further action on your part will be taken as harrassment and will be dealt with accordingly.
Again, thank you for bringing this urgent matter to my attention.
Sincerely,
$ENDUSER
< voice accent="italian" style="rough>
Dear Mr. Luigi:
It has come to my attention that you might be using software that, shall we say, fell off the back of a truck. The very thought wounds me deeply, as I know you would never show such disrespect to a friend.
I am therefore going to give you a chance to make... amends. I do this out of respect for you, as you have been a loyal customer of ours. I am sure you will want our protection in future, and I am sure that you will do the right thing.
Sincerely,
Godfather Gates.
P.S. I am sure I do not need to remind you of the unfortunate accident that befell Mr. Mario, when he unfortunately allowed our insurance to lapse.
</voice>
www.eFax.com are spammers
That's one of the major points of free software, freedom!
Then there is the fact that everyone can look at the code to, learn, improve the code, simple enjoyment, security reasons...
This is definately a good thing.
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
This is a 150,000% fine negotiated down to a 1,000% fine. (or 1,500x down to 10x) How does the BSA get to levy fines so out of proportion to actual damages? Is software piracy that much worse than discharging toxic substances into waterways (max fine $125,000)? Misbranding a drug in interstate commerce (max fine $100,000)? Violating the Sherman Antitrust Act (the fine listed in Section 3571 (d) is "not more than the greater of twice the gross gain or twice the gross loss" caused by the conduct...)?
Assuming that "hundreds" = 500 copies found, then the LAUSD had found roughly 1 copy per school, or 1 copy per 120 employees ( it has 60k employees total). The BSA got to treat the LAUSD as if it had found widespread felonious behavior rather than a few years worth of a few people deliberately or mistakenly making copies. That is too much power for one relatively small group (sure, $3 billion sounds like a lot, but per capita that's only $30/ working adult). Extraordinary fines should require extraordinary proof, but instead the BSA has you do all the work, and unless you are completely clean, you're faced with that 1,000x fine.
Put another way: if local traffic courts had $100,000 tickets for speeding, you'd feel grateful if the court "reduced" the fine to $666. But should the original ticket be so high? Most people would have to accept whatever the court says, because the original penalty makes it almost impossible to fight- you'll fight a ticket if you can accept the possibility of failure- with the original penalty so high, that risk cannot be taken. Not to mention if *you* had to show that you didn't speed, even a little bit, and lack of evidence = proof of guilt.
The BSA's power fails the Categorical Imperative test (i.e. only set rules for yourself that you'd be willing to accept as rules for everyone). Imagine if every association had the BSA's power. Failure to pay overtime can be worth hundreds to an employee. So lets have unions get the power to force self-audits for overtime, with $400k fines per violation. Or not paying a consultant on time... I think $200k is an appropriate fine, and half should go to that consultant, of course.
saw this silly poster in the subway... It's bright yellow, and it says,
If I know my typical, jaded NYC dwellers, I sincerely doubt that they'd be cowed into software subservience by the Boy Scouts of America.
"Provided by the management for your protection."
Every copy of Windows I've ever installed was pirated, so they don't have my address. Phew!
____________________
It's rare that you're presented with a knob whose only two positions are Make History and Flee Your Glorious Destiny.
The great part is that the mere attempt to get into compliancy draws ire from Microsoft. "We note with interest that you recently purchased Exchange 2000 and X amount of CALs, and yet we do not have X amount of Office/Outlook licenses. Please prepare for an audit, as we cannot concieve of you using anything but Outlook, the premiere groupware collaberation tool, with Exchange 2000."
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
Don't try to frighten us with your closed-source ways, Lord Gates. Your sad devotion to that ancient religion has not helped you conjure up more internet server market share, or given you clairvoyance enough to find all of the bugs in Win--
*cough*
*gag*
Fight Spammers!
I always wanted to create my own open source license manager. I'm not quite sure why; I think it was just flat-out perversity...
(It might actually be useful for a Linux distro company to make sure their support costs are getting covered, though...)
/Brian
Shouldn't the quote be: "The tighter you squeeze the more systems will slip through your fingers"?
Microsoft has bought advertising here in huge amounts and they're doing an interesting thing, which is that they have like 5 different posters, and 4 of them mention, casually, that disgruntled employees are the ones that turn in 80% of businesses for software piracy.
Now, if you've ever commuted on the NYC subway, you know that EVERY ONE of the people on the subway in the morning are disgruntled, and on the ride home, those that aren't have become suicidal. I wonder at Microsoft's not-too-subtle play to get people to turn in their own workplaces. It feels (and I hesitate because of this) like a similar idea to violence in the media, but I wonder whether people (80% of the BSA's business, in fact) would know how to tell Microsoft or the BSA about software piracy without the handy URLs provided on every poster.
thoughts?
8. Illegal software is one of the prime sources of computer viruses that can destroy your company's valuable data.
Since that vast majority of illegal software is microsoft, does this mean that microsoft software is more likely to fail, have viruses, and have other defects?
;-)
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
Once done and BSA finds out how many copies of everything you have installed, they must then prove that you have not purchased licenses for all of them. They'll usually do this by issuing a discovery subpoena for all your software purchase receipts. If you cannot show all your receipts, all is not lost... In a protracted court case you may be able to show that based on the preponderance of the evidence BSA has not shown that you were not in compliance. The court case would probably cost a couple million in time and lawyer's fees. However, it would cost BSA just as much... What they will really be looking for is a settlement.
Now what would be more fun is to have the BSA audit you and then be able to prove compliance. You can then sue the BSA for a variety of penalties, and you can have them reveal who ratted you out and sue them. Of course, the BSA knows this which is why they say in the article that they do not seek court orders frivolously. A couple lawsuits against the BSA from companies that were compliant and audited could bring them to ruin.
Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army.
Edward Everett (1794 - 1865)
How many man-hours does it take to produce another copy of said software? (To be fair, they'd probably need more assembly line workers if the software was packaged in boxes and sold retail, but you get the idea.)
Jobs arent just making copies. Jobs are research, jobs are faster releases, jobs are more stable releases, jobs are new programs completely, which equates to more money. etc. The list goes on. This all takes money in the first place.
Here is a newsflash: money does not appear out of thin air. X more dollars spent on software means X less dollars spent on other things
Possibly, but not neccessarily, that money could end up in a savings account, accruing interest for a company, or individiual. I'm not sure how this effects the GDP, but it seems reasonable to think it probably does somehow.
However, less units of other goods and services sold would mean less jobs in other industries (example: if people start buyin fewer cars, Ford, GM, et. al. will have to fire workers). Therefore, elimination of piracy would result in a loss of jobs and would make the economy weaker.
This is based on a false assumption. Does more car sales mean less software sales? I argue that it does not. Money doesnt always neccessarily get spent. Sometimes it is saved.
I'm not barking for the BSA. Wait, I am. Kind of. If you use it, you should buy it. If you cant buy it, you shouldnt use it. But an unauthorised copy doesnt equate to a lost sale. But it still does equate to a broken law (copyright) and still is prosecutable.
More software sales means more jobs within that company as it expands to meet new markets. That isnt neccessarily a good thing all the time (read: microsoft) but its no reason to steal software.
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Video meliora proboque deteriora sequor - Ovidius
and nothing ever firmed in my mind more that I would no longer do business with Microsoft than a letter that started off with the following checkbox choices:
A. Big fines from the BSA, or B. Big savings from Microsoft.
(paraphrased)
And they sent it to the mailing label name/address combo I get all kinds of small-business related junkmail at-- which contains a serious typo so I already recognize it.
I do not have a signature
Since when are the Boy Scouts of America so worried about software piracy? I thought they just ran around tying knots and playing with fire...
I think the people above me are having sex - or they're sleeping restlessly and agreeing with each other a lot.
Dear $WHOEVER,
Many people do not know they are using unlicensed software and that it's a violation of copyright law. The Business Software Alliance is currently targeting businesses in the $YOURCITY. If your company is using unlicensed software, it could become the focus of a BSA investigation.
The BSA - an association comprised of Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, Bentley Systems, CNC Software/Mastercam, Macromedia, Microsoft, Symantec, and UGS - works to educate teh public on the importance of software compliance and to enforce intellectual property rights.
The BSA is calling a Truce. You have until $ENDDATE to get legal.
The BSA is offering a Software Truce in Newnan between $STARTDATE and $ENDDATE. Please take this time to review your software installations and usage and, if necessary, acquire the licenses you need. If your organization becumes fully licensed during the Truce, BSA will not seek to impose penalties for any unauthorized copying that occurred before $ENDDATE (unless your organizations has already been informed that it is under investigation). If the BSA contacts you, just show your Truce Participation Number and software purchase receipts to take advantage of the Truce. [Please see reverse side for terms.] Unauthorized copying is the same as stealing. If you're caught, your organization could face penalties totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Not sure if you're fully licensed? BSA can help you find out
Trying to determine whether your organizatio is using illegal software? Visit BSA's web site at www.bsatruce.com for more information and to download our free Software Audit tool, or call our special Truce hotline at 1-877-536-4BSA (1-800-536-4272). If ou find that you aren't 100% locensed, contact your software vendor immediately and but the software licenses you need before the Truce ends on $ENDDATE.
Sincerly,
Bob Kruger
Vice President
Business Software Alliance
I'm going to go back in my box and will think within the limits of my box: MS Sucks Linux Good I read too much Slashdot.
Someone was kind enough to scan one in, I got hold of it and put it on my website at http://fantasticstories.8m.com - you'll have to read down through the text on the page to find the links, I didn't take the trouble to make it very obvious. Actually I got a copy myself, addressed to my "virtual" consulting company (me and a few sheets of letterhead paper), but I don't have a scanner.
Teen Angel - a Ghost Story
The article's primary focus isn't that the BSA is playing hardball or that Microsoft is bad. The article is just talking about how the BSA doesn't follow up on these cases because THERE ARE NO CASES. The ad campaign is just being used as a scare tactic, and they're not going around bullying people like some victims claim (They may very well be, but not as a result of failing to agree to a Truce). Still, it is very unethical for the BSA to mass-market fear and propaganda like this. Should my company ever receive a letter like this, I'll probably end up calling the BSA to order them to take me off their mailing list unless they really ARE going to do an audit.
"Mod, mod, mod...and another troll bites the dust."
You are encouraged, and in fact demanded, to follow through on your threatening letter by the close of business on 01-Dec-2001. Failure to do so may result in the continued use of illegal software /* deletes deCSS archive and mirrors of Touretzsky's server from our quaint little dental office */ and other actions at our discretion. As you may know /* I think I read this somewhere */, it is against the law to knowingly threaten legal actions with no intent on following through on them. /* Barratry? In terrorem? Something... */ Please be sure to come out and investigate us as soon as possible.
Have fun!
Rgds,
Office of Dr. BillX, Family Dentistry
PS. Please ignore guard dog and electrified doorhandle.
(Enc: Cream cheese dildo and helpful usage suggestions.)
--
Caveat Emptor is not a business model.
Here are 10 reasons why companies should participate in BSA's Software Truce Campaign today:
9. Proper software management saves time, money and makes employees more productive.
8. Illegal software is one of the prime sources of computer viruses that can destroy your company's valuable data.
7. Illegal software is more likely to fail, leaving your company's computers and their information useless.
6. You can expect no warranties or support for illegal software and won't have access to inexpensive upgrades.
Now, I agree that if you're going to use software that's licenced, you should pay for it, but these reasons are just asinine! I won't even bother tearing most of these apart, I leave that to a kindergarden class.
90% of software 'copying' (I will not stoop to their level by calling it 'piracy') is using the same CD to install on multiple machines. Who are they trying to kid? Don't they realize it just makes their argument weaker?
www.lucernesys.comHorizon: Calendar-based personal finance
I really hope companies will change to Open Source for its quality and stability and not because of BSAs tactics.
Why is that so bad? Companies don't make software decisions based on coolness or justice. They make decisions based on the bottom line. How difficult software is to use equates to lost money in terms of man-hours and attrition. Difficulty in finding applications also equates to lost money in terms of man-hours in searching and/or consulting fees/salaries for writing their own. Companies choose microsoft software because it's cheap. It's cheap because you don't have to train people (very much) how to use it. Everyone writes applications for it. Hardware comes with it already installed, saving time. And businesses take the entire picture into consideration when considering the costs.
But believe me, as soon as there's a perception that simply having microsoft software will create a bottom-line-related nightmare and possible litigation, companies will abandon it. Partially because it's free (beer), but mainly because it's free (liberty).
That gives total cost of ownership a whole new meaning.
Disconnect your television. Do your own research. Draw your own conclusions. They're probably lying. Don't be a sheep.
Yeah, no kidding. They should have started out the letter with:
"AVAST, YE SCURVY DOGS:"
pr0n - keeping monitor glass spotless since 1981.
My boss insisted after getting a letter from the BSA that I make sure "all software was compliant". Needless to say my boss has no idea how these things work, so I ended up being able to let him buy very expensive applications like photoshop.
The fines the BSA threatens are ridiculous, like in the hundreds of thousands. That would be our entire company's monthly income. My boss made sure that I made sure that we had all legit software.
I tried making a movement to open source apps here at work, because everyone kept opening VBscript viruses and such and making a whole lot more work for me that I wanted. However, My boss refused. It took our secretary, my boss, and a few others months just to learn windows, and they can't escape the idea that files on the desktop actually exist in a folder called "desktop" in the windows directory. So, it's free software but everyone knows learning curves aren't cheap.
Reason, free market capitalism, and individualism
Did anyone else see the irony of an anti-piracy campaign going around and scaring people and threating them with suprise raids unless given money? We live in a strange world, methinks.
"Your superior intellect is no match for our puny weapons!"
I remember something from my freshman English professor. She told us to avoid using the phrase "To be sure," in an article, because that meant you might as well say, "I'm full of bullshit, please believe me."
Piracy does not result in a loss of revenue, because many of those people aren't going to buy the product anyways. I know a lot of people who would switch to StarOffice if it wasn't so easy to get Office for nothing. It's the same problem that comes up every time there is an article in the newsmedia about the RIAA or the MPAA. I'm not sure what a better term for it would be, perhaps unrealized potential revenues? It's not a loss though. Check their income statement, no item for "Losses due to piracy."
Forgive me for not trusting the BSA for the stats on that either. That's like getting your lung cancer stats from Philip Morris.
"It's not a war on drugs, it's a war on personal freedom. Keep that in mind at all times." Bill Hicks