BSA's Latest Piracy Claims 'Shockingly Misleading,' Says Geist

An anonymous reader writes "This week the Business Software Alliance published a new study which purports to estimate the economic gain from a ten percent reduction in piracy of business software. For Canada, the BSA claims that the reduction would create over 6,000 new jobs and generate billions in GDP and tax revenue. But Michael Geist says the BSA claims are based on nothing more than the economic gains from a ten percent increase in proprietary software spending. The BSA now admits its estimate is based on the presumption that every dollar 'saved' by using unlicensed software would now be spent on proprietary software." Glyn Moody pointed out more flaws in the BSA's report.

Comments

Re:The Business Glass Alliance Announces

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, the lengths you sick people will go through to justify your thievery. Listen up, douchebag: if you don't want to pay up then don't use my software. Period. It's not that fucking hard. I work my ass off day in and day out to make a product and you fuckers just think you can come in and take food out of my and my family's mouths. You are a pathetic human being. Why don't you try working for free? You think you would spend five minutes behind that fry vat of yours if your manager stopped paying you? You'd be out of there faster than you could hop over the cashier and the counter. I personally think that the penalty for stealing software, music, etc., should be prison. Obviously, civil penalties aren't working.

Seriously, people work hard on software. Please don't steal it, man.

Re:The Business Glass Alliance Announces

[snowraver1]

When I was a kid, I dug a hole for fun. I didn't get paid anything, but it turned out to be a pretty big hole. It was about 6' across and maybe 4' deep. Despite my efforts, my hole had no value. In fact, it had negitave value, as the city came in one day to fill it. Moral of the story: The (w)hole analagy sucks.