Computer users download illegal software unknowingly

Mr Tony Camilleri

Oct 8th 2011, 22:03

If the software prices were kept realistic there would be no need to buy pirated copies.

Michael Flaherty

Oct 8th 2011, 19:17

I find it extremely interesting that this article was published a day after [http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20111007/local/4-4-million-in-illegal-software-installed-on-personal-computers-in-malta-last-year.388150] and is basically a summarised rehash of the content.

So let's rehash the comments, shall we?

Sometimes, people WANT to abide by the law, but cannot, for geographical reasons. It seems that although we are in Europe, as evidenced by our and the unions' mutual contributions, some companies disagree, opting to prefer to include Zimbabwe and Niger on their lists, to the exclusion of Malta (but Mali is ok, even though half the population is below the poverty line).

Other companies take advantage of the end-user. Scare-mongering, such as that by the BSA is pointless. DRM hurts legit users only - pirates skip rope with it, and usually enjoy a superior product, malware spyware and adware free, without registering on site after site and keeping your internet on.

May I just end on this note re: pricing and why people pirate: www.next-gen.biz/features/valve-are-games-too-expensive

Also. A pirated copy does not a lost sale make. Copying duplicates the item, hurting no one; a pirate might not have purchased the software anyway, by pirating it, if it's good, he may then buy it, or even contribute via word-of-mouth advertising. Digital piracy is NOT theft - copies are not STOLEN, they are duplicated.

Darby Allen

Oct 8th 2011, 14:28

"43 per cent of business decision-makers polled thought it was legal to buy a single licence for a software programme and then install it on multiple machines."

I suggest that the 43 per cent are lying or just stupid; the clues are in the phrases "single licence" and "multiple machines".

Whenever one downloads licenced software the vendor makes it quite clear that the purchaser cannot use single-licensed software on more than one computer.

Ramon Casha

Oct 8th 2011, 12:30

"This finding runs counter to the results of a Eurobarometer survey published this week, which found that the majority of Maltese felt there was nothing wrong in purchasing a pirated product."

That's not the only way in which BSA spreads misinformation. It deliberately inflates figures for the cost of piracy by making the assumption that every illegally copied title would have been bought - at sky-high retail prices - if copying were not done. This is an absurd assumption. The type of commercial software that BSA represents are usually at the high end of the price list. How many students would buy, say, $5000 worth of software to run on a computer that cost a fraction of that price? If forced into it, most of these would simply not use the overpriced commercial versions and go for the wide variety of free (legal) software available on the market, and the corporations represented by BSA would not see much of a difference in their profits. What they WOULD see is a sudden drop in popularity. For the same reason, it would not make a big impact on jobs, taxes or the economy. €4.4 million is not a "finding", it is a "fabrication".

If BSA were really interested in preventing copyright violations (in which I'd agree with them), what they should be doing is promoting the use of open-source software. But that's not really what they're after is it?