Piracy Whistleblowers Paid $57K In 2010

alphadogg writes "In 2010, the Software and Information Industry Association received 157 reports of alleged corporate end user software piracy. Of the 157 reports, 42 (or 27%) were judged sufficiently reliable to pursue. Of these, 16 qualified for rewards totaling $57,500. The profile of sources reporting software piracy indicates that most reports come from former IT staff – these are the people who typically witness the illegal use of software. 75% of all reports come from IT staff or managers, 11% from the company's senior management and 4% from outside consultants. More than 59% of those reporting are no longer employed by the target company. In fact, many of SIIA's sources report that their primary reason for leaving the target company was the company's lack of ethical behavior related to software compliance."

Comments

good

[mrphoton]

pirated software also hurts open source take up too.

Don't be surprised, it's a scam.

[eddy]

You shouldn't be surprised, because typically these bounties state that you get some percentage of the money collected as damages through a court, but most cases are never reach that state, they're settled out of court. The idea that you can "turn someone in and become rich" is but a dream; in all likelihood you'll never see a dime. You'll just be that guy.