BSA Says 41% of Software On Personal Computers Is Pirated

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BSA Says 41% of Software On Personal Computers Is Pirated

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday October 12, 2009 @12:59AM from the only-half-of-that-is-any-good dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Individuals are turning to P2P networks and auction sites in staggering numbers to acquire or transfer illegal software and in doing so are harming the economy whilst exposing themselves to malware, identity theft and criminal prosecution, according to a report from the Business Software Alliance. Beyond P2P and auction site piracy, the report also draws correlations between Internet piracy and the spread of malware such as viruses, trojans and spyware, which often exploit vulnerabilities in illegal software that does not benefit from security updates provided by manufacturers. Although the correlation is not universal, geographies with high instances of software piracy suffer from high instances of malware."

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Two of the three letters in their name... by ValentineMSmith · 2009-10-12 01:02 · Score: 4, Funny

are true. We'll leave it as an exercise for the reader to decide which.

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Karma: Chameleon - mostly influenced by bad '80s New Wave music
1. Re:Two of the three letters in their name... by ByOhTek · 2009-10-12 01:07 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  BA? None of them have Master's or PhDs? It's all arts, no sciences degrees? None are left with only high school diplomas or GEDs? None are high school dropouts?
  Next you'll say they all got degrees in the same subject!
  
  --
  Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
2. Re:Two of the three letters in their name... by GaryOlson · 2009-10-12 01:16 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Speaking of two letter actions in TLAs:
  I'm curious....Was the BSA formed as a result of any actions by IBM?!
  
  --
  Every mans' island needs an ocean; choose your ocean carefully.
3. Re:Two of the three letters in their name... by Sockatume · 2009-10-12 01:47 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  "BS Alliance" doesn't sound right to you?
  
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  No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
4. Re:Two of the three letters in their name... by Odin's+Raven · 2009-10-12 02:08 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  I'm doing an informal survey of Godwin posts, [...]
  
  You know who else did informal surveys? Hitl-*whack* <OW!> *thud*
  
  --
  A marriage is always made up of two people who are prepared to swear that only the other one snores.
5. Re:Two of the three letters in their name... by NotBornYesterday · 2009-10-12 03:29 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  I was wondering what the hell the Boy Scouts of America had to do with software.
  
  --
  I prefer rogues to imbeciles because they sometimes take a rest.
Well, if that's how they want to think about it... by Pollux · 2009-10-12 01:04 · Score: 3, Funny

Then far be it from me to not meet their expectations.
"Hey kids! Remember that new game you wanted? Well, I need to get us up to quota!"
Oooooo pretty graph! by NoYob · 2009-10-12 01:04 · Score: 5, Funny

Speaking as an MBA, their unsubstantiated numbers and pretty graphs is good enough for me. I'm going to delete 41% of the software on my machines to make sure I'm not a crook!

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It's NOT me! It's the meds! I'm on 1000mg of Fukitol.
Bloat by rant64 · 2009-10-12 01:17 · Score: 5, Funny

The other 59% of disk space occupied by legal software consists entirely of Adobe Reader.

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MMO Vampire Role Playing
Re:41? by suso · 2009-10-12 01:18 · Score: 5, Funny

While you're guessing with such precision, why not choose 42% and grab more nerd eyes?
Because pirating software is not the answer to life the universe and everything.
The proprietary centerpiece.... by drjuggler · 2009-10-12 01:20 · Score: 2, Funny

"...is the Online Auction Tracking System" previously used to prevent piracy of online FPS titles, software pirates have come to fear Quakers' OATS.
Re:Piracy on home computers by TimSSG · 2009-10-12 01:26 · Score: 2, Funny

I am a student of life. So, all my student copies are still legit. Tim S.
Re:Hmmm... by conureman · 2009-10-12 01:27 · Score: 2, Funny

Why, yes, I distinctly recall, when I bought my last mainboard on the hotbed, er, Ebay, the pirates that sold it to me tried to offer me a CD of stolen drivers to go with it. Righteousness and morality took the field and I chose to download them legally from the manufacturers website. Thank the Gods.

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The cost of that cleanup, of course, will be borne by taxpayers, not industry.
Re:Hmmm... by Tony+Hoyle · 2009-10-12 01:28 · Score: 2, Funny

A guy I knew in college did this and made a couple thousand on eBay before getting a seriously nasty letter from Microsoft.
Whoah I'm in the wrong business.
He made a couple of thousand on ebay and the only downside was a *letter*???
Re:BSA by nitehawk214 · 2009-10-12 01:29 · Score: 3, Funny

Bull. Shit. Artists.
In. William. Shatner's. Voice.

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I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
Re:41? by Calydor · 2009-10-12 01:31 · Score: 3, Funny

I disagree.

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-=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
Re:I have 0% also by DevConcepts · 2009-10-12 01:34 · Score: 2, Funny

Not one single program on my computer is pirated.
Not one single program on my computer is paid for.
Vista 64 Ult/Win7 64 Ult, Office 2007 Pro, VS 2005-2008 Std, MSSQL 2005-2008 Std-Etc.
If you can get it all for free why steal it?
And no I don't have a MSDS or other paid subscription, that would be paying for it.
Re:Hmmm... by conureman · 2009-10-12 01:52 · Score: 3, Funny

Close. FA means "Friendly Article" and TFA means "The Friendly Article". RTFA means "Read The Friendly Article". RTFG

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The cost of that cleanup, of course, will be borne by taxpayers, not industry.