The BSA is sending out software audits to UK companies that is intended to remind companies that they should use legal software according to the BSA.
But according to a major corporate law firm , anyone who returns the form in good faith "could simply be providing the BSA with the evidence it needs to take action against you". So be warned !
The BSA strongly denies that it has any such purpose in mind. Mike Newton, campaign relation manager, says the information collected from the software audit is for database purposes only. "It will not be used for lead generation purposes." |
The BSA recently sent all UK organisations with 20 or more employees a "2001 Software Audit Return". It has a deadline of 30 November for responses and includes a notice to treat the document, "as seriously as a tax return".
The organisation is not legally allowed to pass on the information, however damning it may be, to its member companies (Microsoft, Symantec, etc.), as this contravenes the Data Protection Act, and it is the member companies that hold the key to further legal action, not the BSA, Newton says.
DLA, in a newsletter to its clients, says the approach taken by the BSA makes the document look like an official, even statutory, process which companies are required to comply with. But the BSA has no power to force companies to complete the form, being a private body, not a regulatory one.
Do you believe our friends of the BSA, or do you think they are collecting evidence ?
Source: TheRegister
