BSA Claims 35% of Software is Pirated

hdtv writes "Business Software Alliance says 35% of packaged software installed on PCs globally is pirated, and estimates the losses at $34 bln. From the article: 'The countries with the highest piracy rates were Vietnam (90%), Zimbabwe (90%), Indonesia (87%), China (86%), and Pakistan (86%). The countries with the lowest piracy rates were the United States (21%), New Zealand (23%), Austria (26%), and Finland (26%).' TechDirt analysis debunks some of the myths: 'The BSA claims that all of these "lost sales" represent real harm to the economy. It's the same bogus argument they've trotted out before, which is easily debunked. Much of that unauthorized software is being used to make firms much more productive than they would be otherwise -- probably benefiting the overall economy quite a bit.'"

Comments

Wow the US is low

[aychamo]

I can't believe the US is doing so poorly in their rate of piracy. I guess I'll have to start pirating twice as much software just to help us make up the slack on the rest of the world!

Re:Easy answer

[CosmeticLobotamy]

The rest is open source and you can't pirate that.

That sounds like a challenge, and I accept.

too many sheep

[sc0p3]

New Zealand (23%),

Yeah we have too many sheep here in NZ.. of course we have a low piracy rate.. That'd require people to know what a computer was :|

Re: not only NOT a lost sale, but

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

Interestingly, one of the most damning contra-examples was the huge spike in CD sales corresponding to the spike in file sharing at the emergence of the original Napster.

Ahh! But were the CDs blank?

Fight!!!

[s7uar7]

I pirate my software and spend the money I save on CDs. I'll let the RIAA and BSA fight it out between themselves.

What is this productive software?

[brian0918]

"Much of that unauthorized software is being used to make firms much more productive than they would be otherwise -- probably benefiting the overall economy quite a bit"

What is this software, and why isn't it available for Windows?

Re:It's total hogwash

[linvir]

Worse even than choosing to live without their PC, some even turn to MSPaint.

Re:Wrong counter argument.

[linvir]

Now that's a proper proof by contradiction.

Re:Easy answer

[jesdynf]

Hah, already beat you.

I ran #gnuwarez on EFnet for a year or so. Zero-day Debian releases, FreeBSD -- you name it, I had a vast network of affiliate networks capable of getting it out to you. Mad greetz to the SourceForge guys.

Re:Wrong counter argument.

[deathy_epl ccs]

...that's 362.88 million dollars, or less than 1% of the pocket money Microsoft has, nevermind their total assets.

So c'mon, guys! If we're gonna get this job done quickly, we're gonna need your help! Everybody chip in, and we'll have 'em out of business in no time!