BSA Says Software Theft Exceeded $51B In 2009

alphadogg sends a NetworkWorld.com piece going over the Business Software Alliance's latest stats on software theft around the world. "Expanding PC sales in emerging markets is increasing the rate of software piracy, according to the Business Software Alliance and IDC. The rate of global software piracy in 2009 was 43%, meaning that for every $100 worth of legitimate software sold in 2009, an additional $75 worth of unlicensed software also made its way into the market. This is a 2-percentage-point increase from 2008. Software theft exceeded $51 billion in commercial value in 2009, according to the BSA. IDC says lowering software piracy by just 10 percentage points during the next four years would create nearly 500,000 new jobs and pump $140 billion into 'ailing economies.' ... In the United States, software piracy remained at 20%, the lowest level of software theft of any nation in the world. ... The PC markets in Brazil, India, and China accounted for 86% of the growth in PC shipments worldwide." The BSA president said, "Few if any industries could withstand the theft of $51 billion worth of their products." It's unclear whether that was a brag about the industry's robustness, or a result of the industry's low cost of goods sold.

Comments

Oh, yes, help those ailing economies

[wealthychef]

IDC says lowering software piracy by just 10 percentage points during the next four years would create nearly 500,000 new jobs and pump $140 billion into 'ailing economies.'

Because everyone knows that police and regulation are the best ways to boost productivity and grow your economy! Just as North Korea, the former Soviet Union, etc.

Re:Zero dollars

[zuperduperman]

I'm glad someone else picked up on this (no mod points today, sorry).

The portrayal of copyright violation as theft is one of the biggest lies of our time. I honestly believe that there should be some kind of legal action at some point (the basis of what I don't know what it could be) to call out these people who consistently, on the record, out right blatantly lie about the nature of what is happening (eg: the stupid "you wouldn't steal a car" statements at the start of DVDs, etc). This is actually impugning millions of people with crime they did not commit. Just because they may commit a lesser (civil) infringement does not make it OK to claim they committed a criminal act (theft).

So they "lost" "money" that may not even exist?

[okmijnuhb]

Fascinating!

and teh other side of teh coin..

[3seas]

User frustration and non-productive downtime and repair caused by crappy software, os and bad hardware...
Priceless... uh errr they don't want to know.

Not theft!!!

[xenobyte]

How many times do we need to repeat this?!

Illegal copying is not stealing or theft! - It is copyright infringement!

The only form of software theft is the theft of those plastic boxes you buy at retail stores with a program package, operating system or game inside and I seriously doubt shoplifters steal $51B worth of those...