Employees offered $20,000 to dob in bosses for software piracy, SMEs warned to use open source products

Small businesses should explore free and open-source software instead of pirating programs, the Business Software Alliance has warned as part of a campaign encouraging workers to dob in their bosses for using illegitimate programs.

The new campaign, which will run for two months and includes the use of billboard and other advertisements on public transport, will offer an increased reward of $20,000 for any credible leads given by employees.

Clayton Noble, co-chair of the BSA in Australia which counts giants Adobe, Apple and Symantec as members, says there are plenty of alternatives to pirating software and small businesses don’t need to feel as though they are forced to use big-name alternatives.

“There are all sorts of options out there for small businesses,” Noble says. “And that includes free software. For many businesses, open-source software just may be the kind they need for their particular requirements.”

“If they do think they need commercial software, there are all sorts of pricing models and customer arrangements to suit their needs. As a business you want to be wary about paying extensive license feeds, but there are also subscription models, and many software-as-a-service platforms allow businesses to pay as they go.”

Noble, who also works on Microsoft’s legal team, says the alliance will take action against companies for pirating software, and will offer thousands to employees for credible leads. He says the temporary increase is more of a test to see if the number of reports will increase.

The BSA says informants are usually those employees who have attempted to bring these cases of piracy to the company’s attention with no help. After being notified, companies using pirated material are given an opportunity to settle their outstanding payments.

If a settlement cannot be made, legal action is a possibility. The BSA was involved in a dozen piracy cases last year following several leads, with penalties running into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

However, Noble says the BSA doesn’t want employees to dob in bosses. It would prefer employees notify the companies and then identify a software system that works for them, even it means using free open-source alternatives.
The open-source market has become even more sophisticated in the last few years, with companies able to use free versions of email clients, accounting software and even payroll management tools for free. Several sophisticated content management systems for websites, including Joomla, are also open-source.

“In our dream world we wouldn’t do any enforcement. Businesses need to manage their software effectively, and if that means paying license fees or using free alternatives, it’s just good business practice,” he says.

Noble says businesses shouldn’t necessarily think they will save money by pirating their software. Cracked versions will often miss security updates and can cause problems if they are infected with malware.

“With this campaign, we also don’t want a bunch of leads that turn out to be a waste of time. We only go after cases that are adopting software and are being reckless about it, and management doesn’t seem to care. So we think businesses should get in early and look for alternatives.”