BSA cracks down on software pirates

Companies across Europe face increased risk of prosecution for software piracy this year, according to the Business Software Alliance (BSA).

BSA UK launched Crackdown 98 today - a campaign aimed at getting medium-sized companies to take stock of their software licenses. The alliance will send questionnaires to 20,000 UK businesses, designed to assess their software use. Companies who fail to return the questionnaire will be entered into the BSA SoftwareWatch database - a listing of companies who could be harbouring pirated software.

BSA campaign relations manager, Mike Newton, said the organisation fought one action a week over the first year of the crackdown. Judgements have ranged from hundreds of thousands of pounds to just a few thousand. "There's no limit below which we're willing to pursue things," warned Newton.

Percentages of software piracy vary widely across Europe; in Newton's UK beat, nearly one-third of software in use is illegal. Spain is the worst offender, with a 60 per cent piracy rate.

Newton urged a board-level investigation into software use. "The chief executive can write to each member of staff, saying the company doesn't condone the downloading of software that isn't properly licensed," he suggests. "It can be added to the terms and conditions of employment."

Newton wants anyone who is unsure about their company's position to call the BSA hotline. "The people who come to us with a problem are not the people we're looking for," he explained. "The BSA is after anyone who wilfully ignores illegal software use or encourages it."

BSA UK can be contacted on 0800 510 510, or via its Web site at www.bsa.org.