Among other things, today is BSA Day–the day on which the Business Software Alliance releases its annual Global Software Piracy Study. This year, like every year, the release involves pronouncements about how much the software industry suffers at the hands of software pirates, especially in the developing world. Here’s BSA president Robert Holleyman from this year’s press release:
The software industry is being robbed blind,” said BSA President and CEO Robert Holleyman. “Nearly $59 billion worth of products were stolen last year — and the rates of theft are completely out of control in the world’s fastest-growing markets. The irony is people everywhere value intellectual property rights, but in many cases they don’t understand they are getting their software illegally.
Now, continuing the reforms it introduced last year, the BSA calls these numbers theft and piracy, but studiously avoids describing them as ‘losses’ to industry. Continue reading “Overinstaller Awareness Day”