Turning Chinese Piracy Into Revenue

itwbennett writes "Weak penalties and a lack of enforcement have made China a hotspot for software piracy, but it is possible to turn some pirated software into sales, says Vic DeMarines, vice president of products for V.i. Labs, a company that helps makers of engineering and design software track the unlicensed use of their products. Forty of V.i. Labs' clients use code to track when an installed application shows signs it's a pirated copy. The data collected makes a record of what organizations in China are using unlicensed copies across how many different PCs. They can then use the data to reach out to those organizations, who might not be aware they are using unlicensed software. 'We think that's a better way to reduce piracy overall,' says DeMarines. 'You need to target the organizations that should have the ability to pay license versus going after individual users or the people who crack the software.'"

Comments

"Reach Out"

[CSFFlame]

Like the BSA?

Re:"Reach Out"

[LordLucless]

BSA is a good organization.

So's your local mafia strong man.

Many of the victims of the BSA aren't people who maliciously copied software - they're people who paid for it, then lost the docket. Seriously, look up the requirements the BSA have for your software to be deemed "legitimate".

Re:"Reach Out"

[The_mad_linguist]

If you're profiting, you need to pay for the tools and software you use in your work

And keep every receipt (dated receipts - undated ones don't count) for every piece of software you possess, along with records on each individual computer linking that particular license to that particular receipt.

Once you've done that, you're ready to start getting ready for the BSA.

Re:"Reach Out"

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

And don't even think about losing the receipt for your fancy new licence tracking and compliance software 'solution'. Getting busted for pirating one of those is just adding insult to injury...

Re:"Reach Out"

[LordLucless]

Change of tune much? Firstly you said that the BSA are the good guys because they only go after nasty, evil pirating companies. Now you say that they're the good guys because they only go after the nasty, evil not-conforming-to-EULA companies.

Sorry, no. BSA are an extortion racket, and EULAs are the tools they use to squeeze unearned money from their marks. They are in no way, shape or form "good guys".

Re:"Reach Out"

[Anonymous Coward]

And hope to hell that nobody has installed anything on their systems.

Now try doing that in a small business, especially an IT-related small business. Good fucking luck.

The BSA should be driven from the land, their offices razed, the ruins burned, the very earth salted; their children cursed, their souls damned, their ill-gotten gold melted and poured down their throats.

Re:"Reach Out"

[devphaeton]

The BSA should be driven from the land, their offices razed, the ruins burned, the very earth salted; their children cursed, their souls damned, their ill-gotten gold melted and poured down their throats.

I'm pretty sure I used that spell once or twice back in the DnD days.

Re:"Reach Out"

[Kagetsuki]

I'm the guy who wrote the Ask Slashdot about the BSA about a month ago. This sounds very reminiscent of that. In my case I had no unlicensed software and the BSA gave up, but just being approached in this way really pissed me off. The BSA approached me because they thought I had money and assumed I was using unlicensed software - the were wrong on both counts but had they been right being cornered like that would in no way earn my favor for the software or companies they represent.

If they think this is a good way to reduce piracy, they may be correct. If this is a way to earn more than one sale of their software they're dead wrong. As soon as they win a case in China and force some company to pay (good luck assholes) I hope they see their software fall out of favor very quickly.

Good to see V.i doing well

[bugs2squash]

I'm sure emacs could have done this too, but no-one can remember the right keystrokes to make it happen.

The best thing against piracy is:

[drolli]

Reasonable prices and don't threat your customers like shit.

Re:The best thing against piracy is:

[kamapuaa]

No, no it is not. Legitimate DVDs/software released are almost impossible to find in China, just because bootleg DVDs are selling for around sixty cents. The various sellers reduced the cost of them greatly for the Chinese market, for less than $5 (often with a few ads in front), but they're only available in the Potemkin downtown stores made to impress foreigners (every major Chinese city has a Potemkin downtown to impress foreigners).

Recently, even bootleg DVD sales have been hurting, because sixty cents for a disk is too much. People prefer free downloads. When quality DVDs are available on the street corner in front of your house for sixty cents, displayed in attractive packaging, and people still don't want to pay that much, obviously there isn't a mentality of paying for software because you "like" the company. There's a mentality that it would be stupid to waste the money when you can get a free version that's just as good.

By the way, these sixty cent DVDs are either straightforward copies of the legitimate DVD but with added subtitles, or maybe they'll contain a complete season of a TV show on just a few disks. Quality is great, and even street sellers will accept returns with no questions asked if there is a problem with it not playing or the quality is unacceptable for whatever reason.

Talk bad about MS and vista, but a great case study in how little software is actually bought is Windows Vista, which after a huge marketing campaign sold 244 copies. Sure Vista sucked, but it was good enough that everybody still installed it. Linux and Mac are basically unused in China. Every single computer is running Windows.

Re:The best thing against piracy is:

[FooBarWidget]

I used to sell a software product for $11. Customers got lifetime free upgrades and lifetime free email support. Licensing terms were very relaxed and it was allowed to install the software on multiple computers and even to share it with family members. People still pirated it.

spyware

[kylemonger]

The "data collecting" code isn't just collecting data from unlicensed users but licensed users as well. So in exchange for paying the license fee you get software that phone's home about how you use it. In other words your computer now works for them in addition to working for you.

Re:This makes a ton of sense

[MightyYar]

If only the RIAA paid attention

Or lawmakers! There is a quote in the summary:

'You need to target the organizations that should have the ability to pay license versus going after individual users or the people who crack the software.'"

This basically sums up how copyright law should be enacted. Make it commercial-only. There would still be plenty of incentive to create for artists, and regular people wouldn't need to have a deep understanding of the law to find out if they are legally entitled to sing happy birthday to their kid or not.

Re:This makes a ton of sense

[mangu]

There would still be plenty of incentive to create for artists

Artists already have plenty of incentive to create, the do what they love to do and, if they are good, they can earn a comfortable income from live performances.

The big mistake is assuming that every artist deserve to become a millionaire. Let them earn their daily bread from their daily work, like everybody else.

Tracking code?

[TubeSteak]

My programs should only be talking to the internet when I ask them to.
I block software that phones home at the router.

Re:Its China.

[rubycodez]

we're not talking of stealing, merely making copies of information. That's "copyright infringement", if you happen to live in a place that believes in it. Historically, the notion would be considered absurd until very recently in history.

RIAA did their job.

[anubi]

RIAA did their job well.

I have no idea who Avril Lavigne is or what she sounds like.

Even if I could pirate a copy, the name does not stand out enough to me to make it worth the time to download.

RIAA, you wanted us to not share. I did not. Nor did anyone share with me. I am quite ignorant of the music scene these days.

I still enjoy my old stuff, but its been several years since I have spent a dime on music, cause quite frankly, buying music these days is like me going into some strange ethnic restaurant and being offered various bowls of goo, most of which taste bad.

Re:Rubber Molds

[Ihmhi]

...what? Have we finally gotten spambots actually tailored to Slashdot? (I don't know about you, but as a 6' 5" white guy I'm not all that into "cheap Ugg boots".)

What's next?

CHEAP Geiger Counters DISCOUNT beakers BEST QUALITY bread boards HIGH AMPERAGE lasers (sharks not included)

Re:This makes a ton of sense

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure, for 7, 14, or even 20 years.

Up to 200? Fuck that. There's something seriously wrong with a system that won't release copyright on anything before my great-grandchildren are dead (and I don't have kids yet!).

Re:This makes a ton of sense

[bzipitidoo]

Stop talking as if copyright is the only way to compensate authors. Compensation, in order to encourage creation, is what's important, is what we want, not copyright per se. Performance may be impractical for authors, but that and copyright are hardly the only ways to compensate artists. There's patronage. There's ad revenue, endorsements, merchandising, commissions. And there are donations, prizes, awards.

We really need better alternative systems. We can certainly do up a new, improved patronage system that is far better than the one that supported art in the 19th and earlier centuries. With alternatives, people would see that we could live without copyright.