BSA Software Piracy Fight Smacks of RIAA Crackdown

Ron Paul Dennis Kucinich writes "A Business Software Alliance raid on musical-instrument maker Ernie Ball Inc. cost the company $90,000 in a settlement. Soon after, Microsoft sent other businesses in the region around Ball's a flyer offering discounts on software licenses, along with a reminder not to wind up like Ernie Ball. Enraged, CEO Sterling Ball vowed never to use Microsoft software again, even if 'we have to buy 10,000 abacuses.' Similar BSA raids around the country have been provoking strong reactions from put-upon business owners, echoing similar reactions to music-lovers targeted by the RIAA."

Comments

Dupe

[phayes]

This is the oldest dupe I've seen on slashdot!

Re:Dupe

[RuBLed]

Actually TFS was the "big" dupe, the contents of TFA is at least not.. TFS was extracted from the bottom "past references" because it sounds sensational. (I would even have a hard time finding TFS from TFA if not for Search)

Re:The solution is simple

[Macthorpe]

Yep, if you read TFA, that's what they did. Yep. About 5 years ago.

Seriously, this is old.

2002 News? Really?

[svunt]

Five years is an awfully long time ago. Heads up, editors :)

Re:Authority for raids?

[nacturation]

It goes like this:

BSA: "We have reliable evidence from a confidential source [read: disgruntled (ex-)employee] that you don't have valid licenses to the software you use."
Company: "You don't have any authority over us. GTFO."
BSA: "Fine."

[BSA starts suit against company, submits evidence to a judge, and during the discovery period requests complete documentation of all software being run on company systems, along with licenses and date of purchase. If company fails to provide, BSA files for a motion to compel or some such legal mumbo-jumbo that basically gives the BSA the judge-approved legal right to take apart every computer and really ruin their day.]

BSA: "According to what we found, it appears you're liable for tens of millions of dollars of damages according to current copyright fines."
Company: "Err... gosh, maybe we overlooked purchasing a few hundred software licenses here and there. Our bad. Say, do you have any kind of compliance deal for companies like ours who accidentally used unlicensed software on every computer we own and where we don't have to admit guilt?"
BSA: "Sure, just fork over $90,000 on top of paying our legal bills and purchasing licenses for all that software we discovered, you admit no wrongdoing, but you also agree to annual audits from here on."
Company: "Yeah, again, our bad... hey, who should we make this payable to?"

[Company makes the payment, BSA cashes it, company buys licenses to all software, and BSA files motion to dismiss suit.]

Re:The solution is simple

[Daengbo]

Apparently everyone who knows the case agrees that Ernie Ball didn't intend to pirate. Things like that happen in businesses, especially small ones. Responsibilities move and the software moves with them. People install random stuff without authorization. Receipts get lost (I understand that the BSA requires not only proof of licens but proof of purchase, as well).

Saying "Don't pirate" is easy. Getting a company of any size to reach 100% compliance is utterly painful. It's no different than being autdited by the IRS -- they're going to get you for something.

Re:10,000 abacuses? How about 10,000 Linux install

[ricegf]

a company was rightfully fined for using Microsoft software illegally

No, a company was fined for not being able to prove they were not using Microsoft software illegally.

Although the EULA doesn't state they must provide a receipt for the software, or that the "Certificate of Authenticity" doesn't certify that the software is authentic (go figure), that is the standard to which Microsoft holds its customers on penalty of lawsuit or (more commonly) extortion.

I received two letters from the BSA in 2003, both warning me that I could be liable for "hundreds of thousands of dollars" if they audit my business and I am unable to prove that every copy of their member company's software was legally purchased. They helpfully offered, "Can your business afford that risk?"

Y'know, I couldn't. I switched to free-as-in-freedom software.

Re:BSA Tip Line

[oboreruhito]

Submitter sent in the wrong story, I'm assuming. The Associated Press ran a much more recent story yesterday about two things that have come to light since Ernie Ball: 1. The BSA does have a tip line now, with a $1 million reward for whistleblowers. 2. 90 percent of the BSA's $13 million in settlements came not from larger businesses with hundreds or thousands of employees, like Ernie Ball, but from much smaller firms that don't have the legal resources to even begin to fight the BSA, and who arguably don't have the legal representation to even understand the licenses to which they're agreeing. $90,000 isn't as much to Ernie Ball as $67,000 is to the 10-employee architectural firm in that AP story. What's scary is that the BSA is going after pittances - one or two violated licenses - on anonymous employee tips. From the AP article:

BSA enforcement director Jenny Blank disputes the notion that her group is encouraging employees to exploit mere technicalities and "onesy, twosy random noncompliance." That's why, she said, it focuses on the worst offenders. Yet in 2005, her group pursued Mediaport Entertainment Inc. of Salt Lake City, where an audit revealed just two unlicensed copies of Microsoft software. Retail value: $6,500. The BSA pressed for $16,500; the sides reached an undisclosed settlement.

Bottom line: Don't use BSA software, and don't trust your employees. Even if you do nothing but Linux, there's still ways some disgruntled employee can leave behind pirated, or even legal-but-mismanaged (shared folder, circumvented license administration) copies of a BSA program on a few systems, call the BSA, and get his $1 million while you try to get a $20,000 "fine" down to a $10,000 settlement.