Crying Foul At the BSA's "Nauseating" Anti-Piracy Tactics

Barence writes "The Business Software Alliance (BSA) has been accused of heavy-handed tactics that could drive small companies to incriminate themselves. The Microsoft-backed piracy watchdog generates a quarter of its cases by offering employees cash rewards for informing on their own employer. 'It is basically harvesting allegations from disgruntled employees and farming them out to expensive law firms,' one small business owner told PC Pro, who said he was 'nauseated' by the tactics. The BSA then sends out a letter demanding the business owner fill out a software audit, or potentially face court action — even though the BSA has no power to demand such an audit and hasn't pursued a court case in five years. 'It's designed to scare the recipient into thinking that they're obliged to provide certain information when, in fact, it's difficult to see that they are,' said a leading IT lawyer."

Comments

Re:Use Linux

[cpu6502]

I use Windows (comes with the PC for free), but everything on windows is OpenSource.

That Cnet article blows. Is that the same guitar guy who has been raided twice, because he's using imported wood (all of which is legal, but they still shut him down)? If it's not RIAA or the BSA, then it's your own government. The owner believes he's being harassed because he gave multi-million dollar donations to the Republicans, but not one penny to Obama in 2008.