Software Piracy At the Workplace?

An anonymous reader writes "What does one do when a good portion of the application software at your workplace is pirated? Bringing this up did not endear me at all to the president of the company. I was given a flat 'We don't pirate software,' and 'We must have paid for it at some point.' Given that I was only able to find one burnt copy of Office Pro with a Google-able CD-Key, and that version of Office is on at least 20 computers, I'm not convinced. Some of the legit software in the company has been installed on more than one computer, such as Adobe Acrobat. Nevertheless I have been called on to install dubious software on multiple occasions. As for shareware, what strategies do you use to convince management to allow the purchase of commonly used utilities? If an installation of WinZip reports thousands of uses, I think the software developer deserves a bit o' coin for it. When I told management that WinZip has a timeout counter that counts off one second per file previously opened, they tried to implement a policy of wait for it, do something else, and come back later, rather than spend the money. Also, some software is free for home and educational use only, like AVG Free. What do you when management ignores this?"

Comments

Re:Different Approach

[Enderandrew]

Or, if you are in a position of relative authority (and not as afraid of getting canned) you can quote the $250,000 fines the BSA can assess PER VIOLATION and tell them it would greatly behoove themselves to switch to FOSS alternatives and cover their ass.

Piracy without guns and ships?

[Statecraftsman]

I started this post with the idea that I would make a joke similar to what RMS says about piracy requiring guns and ships but when I stopped to think about the words pirate and piracy, it really is odd that they're used when software is executed outside the limits of a license. It's totally reasonable in the face of ridiculous license terms to want to get past all that and just use the software. That's why we've gone from no product keys to product keys to activation and now to automatic auditing like Windows Genuine Advantage. With invasive tools like WGA that can scan your system and send who-knows-what back to the developer even holding your system hostage against bug and security fixes, I'm starting to feel like piracy is closer to what's happening on the developer side of the equation. Just another reason to shift to free(as in freedom) software...

Re:My job used to be like this....

[oatworm]

Yep - did the same thing at a company I worked for. Similar situation - their former "IT Manager" bought a copy of Office from Best Buy and installed it on all of the computers in the office, then called in to activate whenever it would fail the key check (which was frequently), along with a host of other software. I led with a carrot and a stick - we didn't have to become legit with everything all at once, but if steps weren't taking to become legit, there was "a greater than zero chance" that the BSA would sooner or later come knocking (never mind how they would know to look...). So, since a hardware refresh was coming up, they just bought an initial pack of Office Open Licensing to get started, then purchased an additional one whenever they replaced a PC. After a couple of years, one license at a time, they became compliant and all is good. Best of all, it spread the cost of compliance out so that, instead of shelling out tens of thousand of dollars in Office licensing all at once, they could spread it out over time. As an added bonus, if anybody did ask, they could honestly say they were taking steps to bring themselves into compliance.

That said, in my case, I had an advantage - the owner of the company didn't realize what the IT Manager was doing and wasn't terribly happy about it when she found out. In the original questioner's case, however, that might not be the case. If you can't find someone higher than you and/or your manager that's willing to support your efforts to bring the company into compliance, either through replacing existing software with legitimately free alternatives or through purchasing licensing (or some combination of the two), follow what everyone else is saying here: Document like mad, update your CV, and call the BSA.

7 simple guidelines...

[James McP]

The best case scenario is that you can migrate them to free software and be hailed a hero. Don't expect it though. Here are the best of the many ideas I've seen posted to slashdot on this recurring topic.

1. Consider putting a lawyer on retainer. Not as expensive as you might think and an hour or so's conversation can ensure that you document all the appropriate recommendations to keep you out of the BSA's sights and do so in a legally admissible fashion.

2. Don't make it look like a crusade so avoid being confrontational. i.e. "We need to find out who uses $software_package so we can put upgrades/support in next year's budget" or "Investigate free-for-commercial-use $kind_of_software to avoid budgeting needs entirely"

3. Document any time you bring it up with your boss. Use email or written word as much as possible. BCC an external email address and/or take backups of your exchanges home. (again, see #1 for region-specific laws)

4. Any time you are given a verbal pat on the head, do an email follow up later and if at all possible put the responsibility of license management on them. "I installed Office on the 2 new-hires' PCs. We have $quantity copies of Office installed to date. Let me know when we are getting close to our license limit as I may be able to remove the software from $clueless_user's PC."

5. List any of your little victories as fiscal savings during reviews or status reports. "Have replaced Adobe Acrobate Suite with $freeware_PDF_exporter, which will lower our licensing overhead by $250/user and allowed for widespread distribution"

6. Be prepared to be thrown under the bus. Companies willing to operate unethically are, by definition, unethical. Even if you never report them to the BSA, someone else might and you, as the IT guy, may be thrown to the wolves. Having that documentation of all the times that the CFO/CEO was stated to be in charge of license management and that you had no knowledge of the licensing limits, plus the fact they knew how many instances of software will at least ensure you get your unemployment and that the BSA won't come after you.

7. If you report them to the BSA, make sure to get the bounty and put your lawyer on notice. The BSA has a vested interest in concealing their informants, but stuff can come out and unethical people do unethical things. They often say or do things that are defamatory in the process. Whistleblower laws should ensure you can get compensation for lost wages, compensation for defamation, damage to career, etc.

Re:Bide your time

[spun]

The boss may be a sociopath, but even sociopaths can do the right thing if it happens to benefit them the most. Tell the boss that the BSA offers rewards for turning in companies that pirate software. Tell the boss that anyone can turn the company in. Tell him that, if that happens, based on his response to your initial reports and the fact that you are the software guy, you fully expect him to use you as his scapegoat.

Then tell him you can only see two ways out of this dilemma: one, he does the right thing and gets the licenses. Two, you report the company, collect the reward, and find another job. Tell him you don't want to choose the second option, but if he doesn't do the right thing, it is the only way you can protect yourself. Finally, remind him that option two is by far the more expensive option for the company.

At this point he will either become furious and fire you on the spot, gaining you some unemployment, or he will fix things. If he's a real sociopath, though, he may just fix things and then fire you anyway. It's probably best to pull this after you have another potential job lined up.