Thieving Canadian students
p2pnet.net News:- Seeing the Globe & Mail headline How about a little piracy before that computer class? with Half of students copy software, survey says, as the subhead, one immediately thinks of CAAST, the software industry’s Canadian BSA spin-off.
BSA means Business Software Alliance, a hugely wealthy, self-serving organization owned by corporation giants such as Microsoft, Apple, Macromedia, et al.
It was recently strongly criticized by Britain’s The Economist for offering sample data that “may not have been representative,” assumptions rather than facts and guesses rather than hard data when referring to supposed ‘piracy’ rates.
Moreover, “the figures are presented in an exaggerated way” and they “dubiously presume that each piece of software pirated equals a direct loss of revenue to software firms,” said The Economist.
CAAST is also in bed with the movie and music industry which is in turn entirely dominated by cartels which control the vast bulk of output and which are striving to gain complete dominance of the internet.
Now CAAST is making the outrageous claim that half of Canada’s university and college students are hard-core thieves who are “stealing” music, movies and computer programs.
Its new study shows, “a finding that disturbs software makers who are alarmed by the prevalence of counterfeiters on campuses nationwide,” says the Globe & Mail.
And, “What’s worse, the study by the Canadian Alliance Against Software Theft found that almost two-thirds of computer science students, who are preparing for careers in programming and software development, pirate software, compared with 46 per cent of students in other fields of study,” it says.
It’s hard to decide which is worse – that a publication of the G&M’s stature is seriously presenting this deliberately sensational, and unsupported, material as though it’s factual and comes from a credible source, or that CAAST is making such claims in the first place.
Then comes, “The fact of the matter is it’s stealing” from CAAST’s Debbi Mayster. “Chances are pretty high that once they leave college and enter the business world, they’re going to continue doing these activities.”
That’s quite a claim from anyone, even CAAST,
The Globe then ‘proves’ CAAST’s case by quoting ‘Robert’ for whom “illegally downloading music and movies is a popular pastime in his circle of university friends” and who’s said to do the same with software.
CAAST or, come to that, the CRIA (Canadian Recording Industry Association) couldn’t have done a better job.
According to the Globe & Mail, “The survey of 3,000 postsecondary students found that they have double-standards when it comes to protecting intellectual property rights.”
CAAST then tries to tie the alleged thievery in with stealing someone else’s school work.
“When asked about someone plagiarizing their own work, 87 per cent of students consider this to be serious or very serious, yet only 40 per cent consider using pirated software to be a grave issue,” says the Globe.
This may be because the 40 per cent are somewhat better informed than the Globe & Mail and are aware that it’s never been proven that file sharing has made a modicum of difference to music, movie and software cartel profits, and that it’s never been demonstrated that a download equals the loss of even a single sale.
The same can’t, of course, be said for counterfeiting or duplication with the specific intent of reselling the results on the underground, clearly criminal activities which, thanks to the cartels, are today known as ‘pirating’.
But CAAST is talking about downloading and/or file sharing, which are completely different and which have no relationship to counterfeiting or duplication, although it’s industry policy to always link the two whenever possible.
“Microsoft Corp. recently announced that all users coming to its website for upgrades and downloads must submit their computers to an electronic search,” the Globe goes on, quoting ‘Robert’ as being “aware of the crackdown taking place” and saying “He doesn’t pirate as much these days, acknowledging that he has already downloaded most of the latest software. When he can afford it, he buys software because the pirated copies can sometimes be ‘buggy’.”
He “admitted to being more wary than he used to be of illegally downloading software” and although “I think that very few college or university students would recognize that what they’re doing is inherently illegal” in a lot of ways “it’s a victimless crime”.
Then comes a comment from Arthur Schafer, director of the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba, who says there’s little fear among students of being caught.
Instead, he said, many students believe big companies are overcharging them for software and, “For many of those who use pirated software or pirate it themselves, the mindset would be ‘Well, they’re ripping us off, so it’s not really stealing. We’re getting our own back’.”
Something you think we should know? tips[at]p2pnet.net
See:-
Globe & Mail – How about a little piracy before that computer class?, August 9, 2005
CAAST – CAAST misinformation, p2pnet, June 22, 2005
strongly criticized – The Economist angers BSA, p2pnet, June 15, 2005
August 9th, 2005 at 6:43 pm
What is the problem with a student learning C++ on a pirated version of MS C++ rather than gcc? What is the problem with a design student using pirated Macromedia or Adobe products instead of Linux tools?
Is there evidence that these studence will use pirated software in business? I think no. I am a student myself and most of the people I know think that it is not a good idea to use pirated software when you are earning money from it.
But studying is in fact “studying” – not “using” like a professional. How should a student afford all the software that he might have to know about in his future career?
These are your future customers! They are not on the Linux-train (yet).
I think Microsoft is on the right way with its MSDNAA-programm. I think it increased the number of VC++ developers around here
Even 150 bucks for a software that might cost a thousand bucks for non-students are too much for a student who has to work as a waiter to earn enough money for studying/living.
(And this one piece of software won’t be the only one he will be working with/trying out this semester)
August 10th, 2005 at 2:21 am
The harm is not to CAAST members, but to everyone else. When software is illegally copied these statistics, as bogus as they are, are then abused to make radical changes to copyright, patent and other laws that will favor the CAAST members against competitors. This kills choice for these students who will find it harder to make money supporting alternatives such as Free/Libre and Open Source Software.
Please remember that these studies are part of a political campaign aimed at our governments. If they are successful, all aspects of the economy will be paying the price.
July 3rd, 2007 at 11:50 am
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