BSA $200K rewards program
p2p news / p2pnet: In the UK, the BSA (Business Software Alliance), with Microsoft and Apple among its principal owners, is offering employees a mere $36,000 as part of its innovative ‘spy on your boss‘ program.
But residents of US president George Bush’s home state of Texas can earn, "cash rewards of up to $200,000 for qualifying software piracy reports starting May 1 through June 30," says the Dallas Business Journal.
"Texas has accounted for more than 10 percent of the alliance’s leads – second only to California, which weighed in at 17.5 percent," says the story, which has BSA "director of enforcement" Jenny Blank stating:
"While we are pleased that Texas continues to be one of our top states for leads, we are concerned as this suggests a large amount of piracy is taking place in the area."
However, Texans aren’t the only Americans able to ‘earn’ a cool $200K. People across the US, "with detailed information about software piracy in the workplace" are encouraged to, "come forward and report infringement".
And bsa.org/usa or 888-NO PIRACY make it all so easy.
On the web site, bounty hunters will see:
END-USER
I am reporting an organization using pirated software on its own computers. (You may be eligible for a reward.)
DISTRIBUTOR
I am reporting a company that distributes pirated software &/or computers with pirated software.
INTERNET
I am reporting piracy that involves software offered through the World Wide Web, FTP, e-mail, bulletin boards (BBS), chat (IRC, ICQ, etc.), news groups, or any other unauthorized distribution of software using the Internet.
The site also offers free, downloadable rat-fink software.
Over in the UK, BSA Northern Europe regional manager Siobhan Carroll says, “It [the fink program] might seem harsh, but at the end of the day there are 27 percent of businesses who think they can get away with it.”
Also See:
spy on your boss – Need a fast $36,000?, April 28, 2006
Dallas Business Journal - Group: Texas among top software thieves, April 28, 2006
April 30th, 2006 at 8:30 am
Dear BSA:
I have found that there is pirated software on the internet.
Please send me my check for $200,000.
Thank you.
Bobby, age 8
April 30th, 2006 at 9:02 am
What this (and other other article on the same subject) leaves out is that any chance of getting paid to be a software stool pigeon is highly dependant on the BSA’s Modus Operandi.
First of all, any figure that’s tossed about is a maximum ‘up to’ figure. Don’t count on that $36,000 or $200,000 going in the bank just yet. If you are lucky you will get perhaps a fraction of that, depending upon how much money the BSA can shakedown their ‘mark’ (your former employer) for.
If you work at a Fortune 500 or even 1000 company, forget it. They all have in-house corporate legal counsel that will basically tell the BSA to go pound sand and file a lawsuit if they think they have a case. Dealing with and disposing of questionable lawsuits at little expense (other than the lawyer’s salary which is paid out anyhow) allows the corporate attorney to highlight their achievements during their performance review and justify a large raise. Oh, and if the BSA does file suit, guess what the first piece of discovery that is asked for is? Right, “Who snitched?”
The BSA typically picks on small to medium sized companies who AREN’T in what is considered a technically savvy business domain. Don’t look for them to be going after web-design houses, small software companies, etc (except in truly egregious cases). They’ll go after the plastics distributor, the small retail chain, the car dealer, etc, who doesn’t have the experienced staff to do a overnight ‘clean-up’ on short notice.
Upon getting the complaint and ’substantiating’ it, they will then proceed to harass, browbeat, badger, and harrangue the target company into letting the BSA come in and do a complimentary ‘compliance audit’. Refusals are met with language of increasing temperature and threats of lawsuit and the ultimate threat of being ‘raided’ by the US Marshalls with the BSA in tow. The truth is that the US Marshalls are unlikely to be interested in 5 improperly licensed installations of WinXP and Office 2003. If they are going to raid something they want to make sure it at least gets on the local news, so we’re in the neighborhood of 300 XP/Offices OR none of anything is licensed AND the owners/management are selling unlicensed products (true piracy) off the loading dock as well. Then they can have their obligatory pix of the alleged perps in handcuffs being stuffed into the back seats of late model Crown Vics and driven away to await their subsequent perp-walk of shame in court.
Other than that, the BSA relies pretty much on bluster and blather. The best advice to a company is to tell them to contact the company’s attorney and just keep telling them ‘no’. In the end, the only resort they have is filing a lawsuit and guess whose name will come up in discovery again?
Oh, and even if it doesn’t, it’s highly likely that your ex-employer knows EXACTLY who the snitch is, many times without even having to think for more than one second. If you still happen to be employed there, you won’t be for long.
It’s no accident that 2/3 of the BSA is ‘BS.’
May 6th, 2006 at 10:40 am
“Oh, and even if it doesn’t, it’s highly likely that your ex-employer knows EXACTLY who the snitch is, many times without even having to think for more than one second. If you still happen to be employed there, you won’t be for long. ”
No matter what, the snitch will become uneployable in the neighborhood as word spreads around that it was he who snitched on his employer. That is unless the there is a BSA Snitch a protection program, similar to the FBI one and the snitch enters it.
I wonder, is the big house Gates built is a home for snitches under the BSA Snitch a protection program?
Just kidding.
May 6th, 2006 at 10:48 am
Dear Bobby
Based on our statistics and probabilties, you likely have parents, your partents likely have two computers and in then there are probably anywhere between 5 and 10 pirated software titles.
As you can see, you can make a nice bundle if you sqeal on your parents.
If interested, please call our hot line.
BSA