IT firms biggest pirates in the United Kingdom, 24 per cent

February 2, 2004

Thanks to GristyMcFisty we know that in the United Kingdom, IT firms are the biggest pirates. Last year there were 50 settlements with the Business Software Alliance (BSA) regarding piracy. Of these 50 settlements, 24% were made with firms in the tech sector.

Cue much disapproving rhetoric from the BSA: the tech sector should understand software piracy issues better than anyone else, it says. And of course organisations within the IT sector should realise the "effect of piracy on software innovation and the development of the IT sector as a whole".

Siobhan Carroll, regional manager Northern Europe of the BSA, said: "We are particularly unhappy to see the lack of diligence within the IT sector. We would like to see the IT sector as a guardian for our mission but this clearly isn't the case."

The BSA aims to increase software compliance through various educational initiatives. For example, in an effort to help companies deploy successful software asset management strategies the BSA has set up a UK advice site, called justasksam.co.uk.

According to The Register, other regular software pirates in the U.K. include the construction/engineering sector (17%), architecture design sector (10%) and educational organisations (8%).

Source: The Register