OK, OK, Maybe Piracy Is Bad
Wired News: OK, OK, Maybe Piracy Is Bad: "Software piracy is rampant and hampering economic growth, and it is increasingly in the hands of organized groups which are regarded as legitimate businesses in some countries.
The global piracy rate is currently around 35 percent, coming down only 1 percent a year, research group IDC found in a study commissioned by the Business Software Allliance, which represents around 50 software firms.
The study, covering 70 countries which represent 99 percent of the world's information technology spending, said that a worldwide reduction of software piracy by 10 percentage points to 25 percent could generate 2.4 million jobs and $400 billion of economic growth.
The battle against software piracy has been relatively successful over the last 15 years, with the piracy rate in Europe dropping to 35 percent from almost 80 percent in 1992 when the European authorities adopted special legislation.
Still, a 35 percent piracy rate is more than 20 times higher than the percentage that retail stores lose through shoplifting.
At its worst, piracy runs as high as 90 percent in China and 87 percent in Russia. The United States has a modest 21 percent piracy rate. China is already one of the world's biggest personal computer markets, but does not even make it into the top 20 of software markets because so much software is illegally copied.
The Chinese government has said there will be no illegal software in its institutions by the end of 2005, and that it will ban illegal software from all state-owned companies by the end of 2006..."
The global piracy rate is currently around 35 percent, coming down only 1 percent a year, research group IDC found in a study commissioned by the Business Software Allliance, which represents around 50 software firms.
The study, covering 70 countries which represent 99 percent of the world's information technology spending, said that a worldwide reduction of software piracy by 10 percentage points to 25 percent could generate 2.4 million jobs and $400 billion of economic growth.
The battle against software piracy has been relatively successful over the last 15 years, with the piracy rate in Europe dropping to 35 percent from almost 80 percent in 1992 when the European authorities adopted special legislation.
Still, a 35 percent piracy rate is more than 20 times higher than the percentage that retail stores lose through shoplifting.
At its worst, piracy runs as high as 90 percent in China and 87 percent in Russia. The United States has a modest 21 percent piracy rate. China is already one of the world's biggest personal computer markets, but does not even make it into the top 20 of software markets because so much software is illegally copied.
The Chinese government has said there will be no illegal software in its institutions by the end of 2005, and that it will ban illegal software from all state-owned companies by the end of 2006..."
posted by Ben | 
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