April 19, 2007
Software piracy doesn’t worry UK businesses
Software vendors beware. The UK’s small to medium-sized businesses appear to have the most lax attitudes in Europe to using illegal software. According to a new study by the Business Software Alliance, 41 per cent of UK SMEs believe there is no risk from using pirated software. “No risk” in this case, means they fear no risk of either prosecution or computer problems that pirate programs might cause.
The rest of Europe appears to be more law-abiding. Only 7 per cent of French SMEs believe illegal software is risk-free. This rises to 10 per cent in the Netherlands, 18 per cent in Germany, 21 per cent in Italy and 26 per cent in Spain.
Even in Russia, commonly seen as a Mecca of software piracy, only 9 per cent of companies believed there was no risk. Russian companies most commonly felt there was a great risk of legal prosecution or criminal charges from using pirate software.
Actual piracy rates tell a slightly different story. The latest research from the BSA shows that in 2005, 27 per cent of UK software was pirated. This is lower than the global average of 35 per cent, and far below Russia, where 83 per cent of software is illegal.
In other words, Russians may use illegal software, but know its wrong, while in the UK ignorance is bliss.
The BSA couldn’t explain the UK’s freebooting attitude, but said that clearly a lot more work needed to be done to educate companies and tighten up software ownership laws. Perhaps a few more software-related prosecutions coming up?
