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Flaws In a BSA Software Piracy Report?
Ian Lamont writes "The Business Software Alliance has just released its state piracy study (full PDF also available). The BSA says that one in five pieces of software in use in the United States is unlicensed, and notes that piracy rates are highest in Ohio (27%). However, as noted by the Industry Standard, there are problems with the state study, and the way the BSA is presenting the data: the study only includes eight states, and it is making some questionable connections, including the claim that lost state and local tax revenue from piracy would have been enough to 'hire nearly 25,000 experienced police officers.'"
Well, they're not as bad as the RIAA, but they certainly don't support customer interests.
The only use I've ever had for the business software alliance is to report a bad employer to them, and get 'paid' for the tip.
Everyone merely selects facts that support their position and tosses the rest.
You presume they even bother to find facts rather than just make up some impressive sounding nonsense.
upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
yup, last year. use www.nopiracy.com
... but eventually, I got to sit back and wonder what my boss was going through in the office, and when he finally stormed out and demanded the licenses from me, I asked him what he was talking about, and said 'Hey, I'm just a sales guy, I don't know!'
... I figured he'd be just a little upset.
I didn't get paid one paycheck, and got told I'd get it on the next one. Since I had unofficially done some of their IT fixing (basic networking stuff), when I offered to upgrade the office to Vista (from XP) for the boss, he jumped on the opportunity. I also switched office 03 to office 07, installed norton and acrobat 8. It was only about 40 computers.
Two weeks later, when they 'forgot' to give me my commission from the previous paycheck, so I cashed the check, called the BSA and reported the problem. When they called to let my boss know they'd be investigating, he asked me if he should be worried. I told him that I was sure that our windows licenses were good for ANY version of windows, and not to worry.
A few weeks went by, and another paycheck,
Since it was my word against my bosses word and he couldn't provide the licenses, he opted to have the computers confiscated (maybe because he didn't have the money?). He told everyone that they could work from home, and he'd continue to pay them. I'm not sure how many people got paychecks after that, but I never tried
I guess I could have taken him to court for the backpay, but that wouldn't have been very nice.