Could Whistle Blowers be the Big Guns in the War on Software Piracy?
Wausau Steel Corporation have paid $144,000 in an out of court settlement on 
Software Piracy claims brought by the Business Software Alliance, according to reports in the Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel this week.
According to the report the BSA became aware of potential software piracy issues at Wausau following an anonymous tip off to its anti software piracy “whistle blowing” web address: www.nopiracy.com. This address links to the software piracy reporting section of the BSA site. It offers users the opportunity to report software piracy anonymously and also offer rewards of up to $1 million.
The tip-off claimed that Wausau had unlicensed copies of various software on its computers including programs from Adobe, Autodesk and Microsoft.
Wausau, will pay $144,000 which will go to the BSA, to help continue the fight against software piracy. This is the fourth settlement achieved by the BSA this month. Previous corporates who have settled following BSA claims of software piracy include the Florida based iCan Benefit group, who paid the BSA $61,000, Massachusetts based technology firm Scheidt & Bachmann who paid BSA $156,000 and New Jersey auto dealership Pine Belt Automotive, Inc.who handed over $97,000.
The BSA with its record of constant vigilance plays a huge role in making the US the world leader in fighting software piracy.
With the US software piracy rate still running at 20% and costing an estimated $9bn per year there is still much work to do and it may well be that this kind of anonymous tip off has a big role to play in driving the rate down further. The BSA reports that all 4 settlements made this month were achieved as a result of anonymous tip offs to its website.
So encouraging whistle blowers is clearly working as a strategy for fighting software piracy. SL.tv wonders how much of the whistle blowing is motivated by genuine outrage at software piracy, and how much by the potential $1 million reward? And indeed, if the whistle blowing helps us to stamp out software piracy does the motivation really matter all that much?
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