Software piracy: More tell on bosses
Eight times more employees blow whistle on their firms compared to last year
By Chua Hian Hou
SOME do it out of guilt, some because they're afraid of getting into trouble. Others are disgruntled and out for revenge. A few do it simply for the money.
Whatever the reason, there has been a big increase in the number of employees squealing on employers who use pirated software.
This year, an average of 56 whistle-blowers a month have been reporting employers to the software piracy watchdog Business Software Alliance (BSA) - an eight-fold rise from the seven a month it received last year.
The year before that, three reports trickled in every month to the BSA, which represents software companies such as Microsoft and Adobe.
BSA's director of anti-piracy (Asia) Tarun Sawney attributes the rise to increased public awareness that using pirated software in the workplace is a criminal offence, as well as the introduction of a toll-free hotline coupled with a doubling of the maximum reward to $20,000 in February.
Singapore's Copyright Act was tightened in January, making the intentional use of pirated works by companies for commercial advantage a criminal as well as a civil offence - with correspondingly stiffer penalties, including six-month jail terms and $20,000 fines for company officers responsible for violations.
Previously, only the company - not the individual - could be fined.
Mr Sawney said typical whistle-blowers are employees who feel guilty about using pirated software, those afraid they might get in legal trouble for using it, disgruntled employees who want revenge on current or former employers, as well as those who do so for the monetary rewards.
Only one whistle-blower, however, has received the maximum $20,000 reward, back in 2001.
Mr Sawney declined to elaborate on the rewards BSA pays its informants, 'as some recipients...insist on non-disclosure'.
Most of the cases BSA deals with involve 'under-licensing of software, and less commonly, use of software they do not own in the first place'.
Under-licensing refers to the installation of more copies of software than a company has purchased.
A BSA study last year estimated that 42 per cent of all software used here is pirated, a slight drop from 43 per cent in 2003.
Mr Sawney said once a lead is received, BSA staff try to verify as many details as possible and obtain a 'statutory declaration' from the whistle-blower that his report is true.
'What happens after that depends on the individual case - it could become a civil case where we sue the company, a criminal case where we pass on the information to the police, or both,' he said.
Whatever happens though, 'we always respect the confidentiality of the informant'. --
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