12 Companies Caught Stealing Software in 2007

buzzardsbay writes "Already forgotten Major League Baseball's Mitchell Report? Here's another kind of 'cheaters' list that folks will want to avoid. Baseline Magazine has compiled the top 12 companies fined by the Business Software Alliance last year for not playing by the rules of asset management. According to the report, many of the BSA's busts are made possible through a BSA Reward Program, which offers up to $1 million to individuals who report offending companies."

Comments

Reward Money not that Great

[ironwill96]

The "up to $1 million" that they always talk about is such a misleading advertisement. The BSA bases the amount of reward money based on the amount of fine that they level against the offending company. Don't think for one second that the BSA is going to give you $1 million for reporting a mom and pop corporation that has 10 copies of Windows XP stolen and faces a fine of $10,000 or so. The $1 million reward is only for cases where the fine levelled (and collected) is in excess of $15 million dollars! The BSA also reserves the right to not pay you anything if they don't feel like it.

Just some thoughts for any greedy ex-IT people on Slashdot..selling your soul may not be worth as much as it first appears!

Re:Reward Money not that Great

[cliffski]

Amazingly, as a software developer, I don't consider it to be 'selling your soul' to report a business that gives itself an unfair advantage over the competition by using software they refuse to pay for. I consider it levelling the playing field.
There is free software out there if you are on a budget. I didn't realise there was a secret code amongst IT guys to encourage your employer to just steal Microsoft office instead.

Re:Reward Money not that Great

[jacquesm]

Amazingly, as a software developer I don't see any reason to further help billyboys empire along any further than they already are.

Also I have a bad feeling about ratting out people, if gates-et-al want to make more money licensing they'll either have to lower their prices or increase the quality of their anti piracy measures. These right now have the amazing side effect of locking out legitimate customers which costs those legitimate customers probably a multiple of what the BSA rakes in annually.

I can see your point, if you live from developing software it makes sense in principle but I feel that software licenses have had their longest time in the sun, and the sooner licensed software for basic functionality dies off the better.

There will always be a market for quality software sold under license by professionals willing to maintain that software past the point of sale but the windows-word-excel-powerpoint lemon has been squeezed enough I think. It's just customer lock-in and more or less forced upgrades that are driving that now, nothing to do with real software development.

Re:Reward Money not that Great

[ludomancer]

I completely agree. To me, piracy stops when you leave college, or alternatively, when you are in the position to make a profit by using it. It's great for learning all the available options on the market, and educating yourself with each one, but once you're working at a company who is going to use it to support their business, they need to shell out the cash to support the OTHER guys business. It should be a no brainer. I'd estimate the majority of revenue companies make on software sales come from corporations in the first place. So when companies start stealing from companies, they've undermined the stability of the whole system.

Re:Reward Money not that Great

[Todd Knarr]

Possibly, but remember that by the BSA's rules it's irrelevant whether you've paid for the software or not. If you got Microsoft Windows XP included on a computer from Dell, have the COA for the installed copy of XP, have an invoice for the computer but don't have a line item on the invoice for Windows XP, you're a pirate and may get included on this list. Ditto for Adobe. Notice how the same software companies show up on the list of "pirated" software, and the majority of them are companies whose software is included bundled with computers from major makers. How many of those settlements are for real piracy, and how many are just for missing records for bundled software that the BSA knows full well was paid for when the computer was bought but it'll cost the company more to prove it than the BSA is asking in settlement?

This is fantastic news....

[zappepcs]

said sarcastically of course, but the next time someone asks me why I think they should just go with the F/OSS alternative to Windows, I'm going to hand them this list..... It basically offsets the cost of learning new programs UIs.

Say what you want about Linux fanbois, but they do have this one point going for them.

stupid advertising

[farker haiku]

Not to be a karma whore or anything, but if these pages bothered you like they did me, here's the info you wanted:

Company: Chef Works, Inc.
Headquarters: San Diego, Calif.
Type of Unlicensed Software: Adobe, Microsoft and Symantec
Settlement Paid: $102,000

Company: Roger's Gardens
Headquarters: Corona Del Mar, Calif.
Type of Unlicensed Software: Adobe, Microsoft and Symantec
Settlement Paid: $73,368

Company: Datatec Systems, Inc.
Headquarters: Alpharetta, Ga.
Type of Unlicensed Software: Adobe, Autodesk, Borland, McAfee, Microsoft and Symantec
Settlement Paid: $69,000

Company: RAIR Technologies, Inc.
Headquarters: Brookfield, Wis.
Type of Unlicensed Software: Microsoft
Settlement Paid: $150,000

Company: J&B Importers, Inc.
Headquarters: Miami, Fla.
Type of Unlicensed Software: Adobe, Microsoft, and Symantec
Settlement Paid: $100,000

Company: Media Lab Ventures, LLC
Headquarters: Tampa, Fla.
Type of Unlicensed Software: Adobe, Autodesk, and Microsoft
Settlement Paid: $125,000

Company: AccentCare, Inc.
Headquarters: Irvine, Calif.
Type of Unlicensed Software: Adobe and Microsoft
Settlement Paid: $240,400

Company: Investors Management Trust Real Estate Group, Inc.
Headquarters: Sherman Oaks, Calif.
Type of Unlicensed Software: Adobe, Microsoft and Symantec
Settlement Paid: $235,000

Company: Global Microwave Systems, Inc.
Headquarters: Carlsbad, Calif.
Type of Unlicensed Software: Adobe, Autodesk, Microsoft and Symantec
Settlement Paid: $231,500

Company: The Waggoners Trucking
Headquarters: Billings, Mont.
Type of Unlicensed Software: Adobe, Microsoft and Symantec
Settlement Paid: $300,000

Company: Burlington Coat Factory
Headquarters: Burlington, N.J.
Type of Unlicensed Software: Microsoft and McAfee
Settlement Paid: $300,000

Company: Payless ShoeSource, Inc.
Headquarters: Topeka, Kan.
Type of Unlicensed Software: Adobe, Autodesk, Borland, Internet Security Systems, McAfee and Symantec
Settlement Paid: $124,057

Many of the BSA's enforcement actions are made possible through the BSA Reward Program, which offers anywhere between $5,000 to $1 million to individuals who report offending companies.

Re:BSA are MS representive

[HeavensBlade23]

You don't know how those guys operate, do you? If you don't let them in they come back the next day with federal marshalls in tow.

And in other news...

[ExE122]

A list of 12 Slashdot Users Caught Whoring Karma in 2007

CowboyNeal
eldavojohn
prostoalex
rpiquepa
theodp
antdude
securitas
freebsddude
Eugenia Loli
Makarand
coondoggie
ExE122

Fines?

[sinij]

Top fine is $300,000 and it is corporate, not to individuals... peanuts when you compare what *AA sues private citizens for simply shifting formats.

Read the Ernie Ball story

[symbolset]

It is here.

Re:BSA are MS representive

[99BottlesOfBeerInMyF]

MS actually donates BSA nice % of their money they use to look for the stealing companies.

This is Slashdot for crying out loud. Can't people get it right by now? It is "copyright infringement" not "stealing." They are two separate laws in two separate categories of law based upon completely different concepts of government. Stealing deprives a person of something real and violates their natural rights. Copyright infringement possibly deprives someone of "potential" revenue and violates a government granted privilege, designed for a specific purpose... motivating the creation and dissemination to the people of useful works.

I'm not saying it's right to steal software, but what I'm saying is, if one day, BSA agent is knocking at your door, DO NOT LET THEM IN without any court order. They have no right to check for your licenses without any court orders. keep that in mind.

There's that word again. The problem is, they can usually get a court order if they have probable cause, including a report from a current or former employee or the results of running their "free" license checking software they give people to "ensure your licenses are in order." In many businesses (especially very large or very small ones) simply tracking the licensing is a difficult task, especially if your employees have any level of autonomy. Employees buy software on their own or install things from home. No, restrictive security policies won't stop this completely because the people a the top do it and can override IT and because people in IT themselves do it.

Realistically, in small businesses where it is too costly to have IT manage everything, you're better off treating your employees well so they are not motivated to cause you pain. In large enterprises, using professional license tracking software and employee agreement that takes responsibility for anything installed and pervasive use of site licenses or open source licensed software is the way to go.

Stealing?

[Anonymous Coward]

You forget that this is the BSA we're talking about. Their idea of "stealing" is that you don't still have your purchase orders for EVERY last computer. You thought that sticker on the machine was any good? Forget it. If you lack a PO, you're not licensed to them. Then they use the "force people to settle or you pay even more" tactic so these things rarely go to court.

But you don't believe me, right? Here's the story of someone who has been through the BSA ringer.

Oh well, at least he learned his lesson: stick with FOSS. No licensing games, no hassle. Just one lousy rule to abide by: distribute the source with the binaries. Not difficult.