Arrest half the world: More than 50% of computer users pirate software, study finds

[Corey]

More than half of computer users admit that they pirate software according to the findings of a recent study. The Business Software Alliance, a software industry lobbyist group dedicated to combating digital piracy, released its ninth annual Global Software Piracy Study earlier this month. For the first time, the new edition of the trade group’s report includes the results of a survey involving 15,000 computer users from 33 countries around the world where respondents were directly asked, “How often do you acquire pirated software or software that is not fully licensed?”

According to the results of the survey, 57% of global PC users pirate software, up from 42% in 2011. The BSA says that this rampant digital piracy now costs the software industry $63.4 billion annually. Piracy rates are highest in emerging markets according to the study, and young make computer users pirate the most software.

“This year’s survey finds that frequent pirates — people who admit they acquire unlicensed software all of the time, most of the time, or occasionally — also are the most voracious software users,” the BSA wrote in its report. “They report installing 55 percent more programs of all types on their computers than do non-pirates. This gives them an outsized impact on the global piracy rate.”

The report continued, “Even more striking is the difference in behavior between users in emerging economies and users in the developed world. Frequent pirates in emerging economies install nearly four times as many programs of all sorts per new PC as do frequent pirates in mature markets. Among infrequent pirates — those who say they rarely acquire unlicensed software — there is a greater than two-to-one gap in the total number of programs they install.”

Despite acknowledging that instances of digital piracy increase dramatically in emerging markets, the BSA does not explore the correlation between the cost of software and digital piracy rates.

The Business Software Alliance, a group with members that include Apple, Microsoft and Adobe, is calling for new legislation that would double the fines levied on digital pirates. It also supports new laws that would make it easier to impose jail time on people found guilty of software theft, as well as those found to have pirated copyrighted material.

 

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[icky?/]

57 procent? Thought it would be a lot more to be honest

[asp]

It's the first thing kids learn how to do haha!

[SinfulRaevyn]

57 procent? Thought it would be a lot more to be honest

 

It probably is

 

Only a small percentage of people took that survey, so their numbers are wrong.

 

 

And honestly, in my opinion, it's not piracy that's costing them billions. It's the pure and utter crap being put out that's costing them billions. Why am I going to fork out $60 for a bad pc game that I can't return? Why am I going to go to a movie theater, to deal with line-ups, bad service, and over priced tickets/snacks.. for a movie that might blow? (80's remakes anyone?) What about $20 CD's ...that have maybe 2 good songs?

 

If these industries put out better products, people may be inclined to pay for them. For instance, I 'obtained' copies of CoD 4 and Amnesia, and tried them out. I liked both games enough that I bought the actual copies. I'm not paying for garbage.

[rolf]

57 procent? Thought it would be a lot more to be honest

Depending on in which country you are. In the US it's probably less, in Europe its quite a lot and in Asia everyone uses some weird cracked windows

 

It depends on the punishments, and in Europe it's acceptable to take the chance of using illegal software.

 

 

It probably is

 

Only a small percentage of people took that survey, so their numbers are wrong.

With a large sample, the statistics state they're close enough.

 

 

And honestly, in my opinion, it's not piracy that's costing them billions. It's the pure and utter crap being put out that's costing them billions. Why am I going to fork out $60 for a bad pc game that I can't return? Why am I going to go to a movie theater, to deal with line-ups, bad service, and over priced tickets/snacks.. for a movie that might blow? (80's remakes anyone?) What about $20 CD's ...that have maybe 2 good songs?

 

If these industries put out better products, people may be inclined to pay for them. For instance, I 'obtained' copies of CoD 4 and Amnesia, and tried them out. I liked both games enough that I bought the actual copies. I'm not paying for garbage.

I have good friends which say they will not pay for "garbage like windows", yet -guess what- they use windows. Testing, still illegal, I don't make a problem of it personally and I tolerate it. It's using day after day I detest.

 

 

And yes, if it's utter crap, feel free to not use it.

[asp]

Depending on in which country you are. In the US it's probably less, in Europe its quite a lot and in Asia everyone uses some weird cracked windows

 

It depends on the punishments, and in Europe it's acceptable to take the chance of using illegal software.

 

 

 

With a large sample, the statistics state they're close enough.

 

 

 

I have good friends which say they will not pay for "garbage like windows", yet -guess what- they use windows. Testing, still illegal, I don't make a problem of it personally and I tolerate it. It's using day after day I detest.

 

 

And yes, if it's utter crap, feel free to not use it.

 

You must be poor as hell if you pay for every software you use.

I'm not saying I'm using illegal software, but I can get free software via my university.

 

I can understand that if u can't get free legal software, you're temped to download it illegally.

[Chuckun]

I think that statistic is partly a bit closed on details..

 

For example:

I bet a lot of the people who said yes to that survay, also would like to point out that if they like the product after trying it, they will buy it - thats what most people I know do.

[asp]

I think that statistic is partly a bit closed on details..

 

For example:

I bet a lot of the people who said yes to that survay, also would like to point out that if they like the product after trying it, they will buy it - thats what most people I know do.

 

That's not the point of the survey.

The survey focused on illegal downloading, not what the downloader does after he downloaded the file illegally.

[Chuckun]

That's my point entirely though.. This is just the kind of stuff the media will be running over the next months / years until the next SOPA bill comes, to get everyone on-side lol.. Tell one side of a story and it can be shocking, tell the whole side and it would have the complete opposite effect.

[ajnl]

 

 

It probably is

 

Only a small percentage of people took that survey, so their numbers are wrong.

 

 

And honestly, in my opinion, it's not piracy that's costing them billions. It's the pure and utter crap being put out that's costing them billions. Why am I going to fork out $60 for a bad pc game that I can't return? Why am I going to go to a movie theater, to deal with line-ups, bad service, and over priced tickets/snacks.. for a movie that might blow? (80's remakes anyone?) What about $20 CD's ...that have maybe 2 good songs?

 

If these industries put out better products, people may be inclined to pay for them. For instance, I 'obtained' copies of CoD 4 and Amnesia, and tried them out. I liked both games enough that I bought the actual copies. I'm not paying for garbage.

 

That is why you first pirate download it and pay for it if it is worth it. Which is what I usually do

[Vanaraud]

Don´t get me wrong I visit the cinema almost every weekend if I have time, I buy all the good games, actually don´t have time for bad ones. And am for owning legit software even though Im sure Bill would do just fine without my money but..

I guess everyone has in backpocket 10 000$ to try out some scientific\professional programs just for 2-3 projects.

Ofcourse the prices are also well balanced. Here with average salary lower than in most of the "western" worlds MINIMUM salary the software prices are HIGHER.

Theres also the issue with availability, itunes etc sites where you can buy(still overpriced) copyrighted material doesn´t work in Europe and whys that? You could still buy with credit card the same $, but its restricted because of couple of nr in IP doesn´t match?. Also DVD regions were made up by companies to leach out more money from people. And no, ppl won´t buy for every movie they wan´t to watch another DVD player(Happened to me when I wanted to buy best movie in my eyes but the movie had wrong DVD region in store in my town).

If they´d balance out prices\availability and make more learning\demo programs instead of bs-ing with pointless acts and surveys the piracy would be lower also. I mean where have all the game demos gone? Would be totally pointless to waste 60€>60$ game with no chance to bring it back to store only because gamespot has good score and everyobody else likes it.

Also they are talking about pirates "robbing" the money from authors. For example half of CoD programmers- the very people who put their effort in it- left because they were not paid by companies.

And where do they come up with the 60 billion sum? Do really people have so much money in banks? No, there are no jobs, everybody have loans not savings in bank. So even if there weren´t no piracy the companies wouldn´t still get the 60 billion they are talking about, because it doesn´t exist anywhere else than on 1% of the populations accounts. And the 1% are mostly the very people who want to jail half the humanity.

Rant over.

[pronoob]

a skull

[Vanaraud]

Oh just remembered how piracy and profits can coexist. Most pirated movie has the biggest income even with the very high creating cost.

[Ghostwind]

That's not the point of the survey.

The survey focused on illegal downloading, not what the downloader does after he downloaded the file illegally.

 

In many countries (such as Canada or Germany), downloading is not illegal. You can download anything you want, as long as you don't: Share it with others; don't use the software unlicensed in these countries. Music is the same. As long as you are not sharing it, it is not illegal. Even more interesting, in Germany distributing music is illegal unless you record it on the radio. copies of music made from the radio, distributed on the radio is 100% legal. Strange, eh?

[rolf]

In many countries (such as Canada or Germany), downloading is not illegal. You can download anything you want, as long as you don't: Share it with others; don't use the software unlicensed in these countries. Music is the same. As long as you are not sharing it, it is not illegal. Even more interesting, in Germany distributing music is illegal unless you record it on the radio. copies of music made from the radio, distributed on the radio is 100% legal. Strange, eh?

In some countries, for example the Netherlands, downloading of music and videos is allowed for private usage. However, for software that is not the case. Not even downloading.

 

Besides, this topic is about using illegal software, which is illegal in most European countries if I recall correctly.

 

You must be poor as hell if you pay for every software you use.

I'm not saying I'm using illegal software, but I can get free software via my university.

 

I can understand that if u can't get free legal software, you're temped to download it illegally.

I can get software from the university too. But get real; how much software do you really need?

 

In my case, I run Windows (W7Ult, bought myself), 1 game (CoD4, legal), I have Visual studio (free from MSDN:AA, otherwise I would use the express edition) and a lot of freeware projects (mainly for developing). And the apps that aren't free, well, I chose them over freeware, then I'm prepared to pay for it. And I just don't use software if I don't want to pay for it, e.g. MS Office (waiting for the new one...)

 

There is, for me, no excuse to use software if you don't want to pay for it. I always hate it when people buy a 1000$ machine and don't spend 200$ on software, like software is free to develop.

 

And no, I'm not poor, although more money would be appreciated. I'm willing to pay for good stuff. I spend over 8 hours a day behind a computer, day after day, I bought Win7Ult 2.5 years ago, that 200E (or something) was a lot, but it was totally worth it. Same for the FA servers by the way (*wink* *wink*).

 

That is why you first pirate download it and pay for it if it is worth it. Which is what I usually do

And if it's not you delete it? Or only use it occasionally. Because don't forget, the last one happens a lot too. "Well, this product is great, but I'll not pay xx$ for it".

 

Don´t get me wrong I visit the cinema almost every weekend if I have time, I buy all the good games, actually don´t have time for bad ones. And am for owning legit software even though Im sure Bill would do just fine without my money but..

I guess everyone has in backpocket 10 000$ to try out some scientific\professional programs just for 2-3 projects.

Ofcourse the prices are also well balanced. Here with average salary lower than in most of the "western" worlds MINIMUM salary the software prices are HIGHER.

Theres also the issue with availability, itunes etc sites where you can buy(still overpriced) copyrighted material doesn´t work in Europe and whys that? You could still buy with credit card the same $, but its restricted because of couple of nr in IP doesn´t match?. Also DVD regions were made up by companies to leach out more money from people. And no, ppl won´t buy for every movie they wan´t to watch another DVD player(Happened to me when I wanted to buy best movie in my eyes but the movie had wrong DVD region in store in my town).

If they´d balance out prices\availability and make more learning\demo programs instead of bs-ing with pointless acts and surveys the piracy would be lower also. I mean where have all the game demos gone? Would be totally pointless to waste 60€>60$ game with no chance to bring it back to store only because gamespot has good score and everyobody else likes it.

Also they are talking about pirates "robbing" the money from authors. For example half of CoD programmers- the very people who put their effort in it- left because they were not paid by companies.

And where do they come up with the 60 billion sum? Do really people have so much money in banks? No, there are no jobs, everybody have loans not savings in bank. So even if there weren´t no piracy the companies wouldn´t still get the 60 billion they are talking about, because it doesn´t exist anywhere else than on 1% of the populations accounts. And the 1% are mostly the very people who want to jail half the humanity.

Rant over.

It is very simple. The companies say a price, and either you agree or you don't. For scientific projects, I hope you have connections to use it otherwise (e.g., at a university), or you just don't agree to use it.

 

About dvd regions, I agree it's useless, but it's very easy to avoid as well. I know where to get dvds/blu-rays from the correct region for a reasonable price (5~10E, depending on how good a movie is), and even then I know cheaper spots where the dvd region does not match. I doubt

 

You say that none of the money goes to the developer, but a lot of the money is (obviously) in profit. Why profit? Because it's a risky investment. Not all games break even, and the good games compensate for the bad games, such that new revolutionizing games can and will be made.

 

Fourth, 60 billion, I used to think that that was absolutely wrong. Yet, globally, that is about 20$ for each pc user in the world. Compared to the price of a pc (400$), if you can buy the first, you can buy the second as well. Right, pc lasts for ages, yet the 60B is annually. Let's say a pc lasts 3 years, it's 60$ per pc user, that is one pc game in 3 years. Yes, it's a lot, yes, especially in developing countries, but it will not be far from wrong.