New student file sharing horror
p2pnet.net News:- More than half of US college and university students think it’s OK to swap or download digital copyrighted files, says the BSA (Business Software Alliance).
Owned by major corporations such as Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, Avid, Bentley Systems, Borland, CNC Software/Mastercam, Internet Security Systems, Macromedia, McAfee, Microsoft, PTC, SolidWorks, Sybase, Symantec, The MathWorks, and UGS, the BSA is to the software industry what the RIAA and MPAA are to the entertainment cartels.
Canadian BSA clone CAAST (the Canadian Alliance Against Software Theft) recently used an “independent survey” to suggest that (you guessed it) half of Canada’s university and college students are hard-core thieves who are “stealing” music, movies and computer programs.
Quoting from another “independent survey” it had commissioned from Ipsos Public Affairs, the BSA, “reveals that 52 percent of the student respondents and 25 percent of academics believe that, even in the workplace, it is okay to download and swap files, no matter the software value. The survey results also show that two-thirds of students see nothing unethical about swapping or downloading files illegally without paying for them.”
There’s nothing like adding a hefty drop of English to the spin so even the dumbest lamestream media reporter can’t fail to get the message, speaking of which, “it needs to be sent to businesses, particularly those that hire new graduates,” quoth BSA spokewoman Diane Smiroldo.
“Educate your new employees. Communicate clearly that illegal file-sharing and downloading carries serious legal, financial and security consequences.”
‘BSA or just BS?’
Another BSA spokeswoman, Beth Scott, recently became really upset with Britain’s prestigious The Economist which, in BSA or just BS? had the temerity to suggest the BSA’s statistics may be somewhat less than accurate.
It had claimed losses due to counterfeits had increased from $29 billion to $33 billion, but, “The association’s figures rely on sample data that may not be representative, assumptions about the average amount of software on PCs and, for some countries, guesses rather than hard data,” said The Economic.
“Moreover, the figures are presented in an exaggerated way by the BSA and International Data Corporation (IDC), a research firm that conducts the study. They dubiously presume that each piece of software pirated equals a direct loss of revenue to software firms.
“To derive its piracy rate, IDC estimates the average amount of software that is installed on a PC per country, using data from surveys, interviews and other studies. That figure is then reduced by the known quantity of software sold per country-a calculation in which IDC specialises. The result: a (supposed) amount of piracy per country. Multiplying that figure by the revenue from legitimate sales thus yields the retail value of the unpaid-for software. This, IDC and BSA claim, equals the amount of lost revenue.”
“Sir,” responded Scott indignantly
“Your article on software piracy was extreme, misleading and irresponsible (‘BSA or just BS?’, May 21st). The headline was particularly offensive. The implication that an industry would purposely inflate the rate of piracy and its impact to suit its political aims is ridiculous. The problem is real and needs no exaggeration.”
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See:-
BSA – More Than Half of Students Surveyed Say It’s Okay to Share Digital Copyrighted Works on the Job , August 22, 2005
independent survey – Thieving Canadian students, August 9, 2005
really upset – The Economist angers BSA, June 15, 2005
August 23rd, 2005 at 9:32 am
The BSA is full of BS. The reason why Beth Scott was indignant was probably that the Economist hit the nail on the head.
August 23rd, 2005 at 10:28 am
Beth Scott — BS — hmmmm. Ironic.
August 23rd, 2005 at 2:59 pm
“More than half of US college and university students think it’s OK to swap or download digital copyrighted files”
Tsk, tsk. Advocates of filesharing clearly need to work harder on the other half.
Chris
August 23rd, 2005 at 3:54 pm
When calculating the estimate of the ‘losses’ (They say ‘losses’
instead of ‘unrealized revenue’ because it sounds like one dark night, someone in black clothing broke into and stole things out of their warehouse.) they use the MSRP for the software in question, not the price you’d pay at Staples when it was on sale, plus you also got a rebate, nor would they factor in any kind of volume licensing plans that all of the large software vendors have available. So every copy of Windows XP Pro that gets keygened and cracktivated is duly recorded as $299.00 in the sacred “Piracy Loss Ledger” that’s taken out and ceremoniously waved at the media, government officials, and school children in a most pompous and indignant manner.
Furthermore, their calculated ‘installation base’ does not take into account all of the ‘give away’ product that’s distributed to the development community through channels like MSDN and TechNet by M$, for example. Most of Big Software have something similar. I’m sure many of these wind up getting counted as ‘pirated’.
Basically it’s what you’d expect from the BSA: A big load of crap, indignant protestations not withstanding.
August 23rd, 2005 at 6:55 pm
The BSA has always been frowned upon in France, bad manner, they try to piss off public (state-owned) companies (and private ones too of course) but here cops don’t like some private company to “steal” their work
Now, I wonder _only_ “half” the students ??? Damn, the other half is surely billionairs’ kiddies rich enough to spend $1000 a month on 0’s & 1’s, be it software/game/music/video/books
My money still goes better to hardware manufacturers (it’s expensive enough thanks to the patent/IP system…)
August 24th, 2005 at 12:51 am
every student knows its illegal they just dont give a damn. just like the cartels dont give a damn of how many people they put out on the street because of their lawsuits.
August 24th, 2005 at 4:45 am
I swear these knuckle draggers amaze me. Every one of them is out to count up the totals of “damage” to their particular little niche. Any sort of way to fluff the totals, pad the bill, or inflate the damage is fair. I think everyone of these groups learned their basic techinque from the public relations of the police. You know the ones you read about in the paper, hear about on the news; that such and such happened and netted a million bucks of drugs or whatever. Now-a-days these inflated figures are a victim of their own splash effect. No one pays any attention to the lowly several thousand dollar bust. Doesn’t get any notice, has no splash, doesn’t justify the police’s pay off the taxrole, isn’t sexy enough unless it is in the 7 and 8 figures.
So honesty is never figured as part of the deal when estimating how much the total is. It is understood that it is inflated figures from the get go. Funny thing is when called on about it, all of a sudden there is nothing inflated. What? Lie to the public? How about we put it in the right context and just go ahead and say these same erronous figures and false studies are presented to lawmakers around the world when the corporations demand that something be done to protect every last nickel of profit. That bills and laws are written based on the data provided to show that some sort of damage is occuring. Lets face it, saying that a college student made off with a college promotional software at $20 value instead of the inflated price of $300 just doesn’t have the same sex appeal of a social software Robin Hood.
August 24th, 2005 at 8:01 am
Maybe the other lie to pollsters.
August 24th, 2005 at 8:03 am
Probably illegal (hasn’t actually been put to a legal test anywhere, AFAIK), but definietly OK.
August 25th, 2005 at 8:34 pm
They aren’t putting the people who inflate figures (both losses as well as actual retail of products) on the street. They should be.