AfterDawn: News

Latest BSA piracy figures: 36%

The Business Software Alliance announced today their latest estimation of usage of illegally copied software. According to BSA, globally 36% of the software used is pirated. In the European Union the number was just a percent higher at 37%, while in the USA the estimation is significantly lower at 22%.

Among key findings:

The piracy rate in the Asia/Pacific region was 53 percent, with dollar losses totaling more than $7.5 billion.

In Eastern Europe, the piracy rate was 71 percent, with dollar losses at more than $2.1 billion.

In Western Europe, the rate was 36 percent, and dollar losses totaled $9.6 billion.

The average rate across Latin American countries was 63 percent, with losses totaling nearly $1.3 billion.

In the Middle Eastern and African countries, the rate was 56 percent on average, with losses totaling more than $1 billion.

In North America, the piracy rate was 23 percent. The losses totaled more than $7.2 billion.

Source: BSA.org

Written by: Lasse Penttinen @ 8 Jul 2004 8:23

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• 13 comments

• Rosco404

  LOL, thought it would have been higher : )
  $19.1 Bilion, better off in our pocket ey?

  9.7.2004 11:51 #1

• Toiletman

  Rosco404, you say that if you think piracy is alright. 36% of the software used on Earth is a lot of software.

  9.7.2004 13:06 #2

• Sophocles

  Rosco
  
  I pay for my software and it bother me that I might be paying more because someone else doesn't. If you're Canadian that's Eh!

  9.7.2004 20:06 #3

• connectr

  Rosco you are probably naive. I greatly doubt that software makers would reduce the price by $0.01 if more people bought their products.
  Of course I may be cynical from spending too much money on software over the years. It really does seem that most of the ?improvements? from one version to another are mostly bug fixes. No wonder people get frustrated and do not want to pay and pay and ??..

  9.7.2004 23:27 #4

• Rosco404

  OK OK you guys are correct! but come on its reality always will be! for example who has got a legit copy of microsoft office? for that matter people still ask does Windows have word, excel etc.. NO i keep saying pay an extra $250 and you will!
  
  Sorry for affending you guys but its just the way i feel and so does 36% of the population.

  10.7.2004 04:38 #5

• j2huggar

  Supply and demand. If someone out there is willing to pay mucho bucks for it thats what they will charge. If the piracy rate went down it could actually result in a higher price, because the demand would be higher and the suppy would stay the same (for awhile anyway).

  10.7.2004 09:16 #6

• Sophocles

  Suppy and Demand
  
  DVD Media used to sell for $8. and now one buy them for $.60 each, burners from $350. to under $100. The 200 mhz Pentim Pro used to sell for $2000. Now the P4 3.4 ghz extreme addition sells for less than $1000. AudioGrabber software used to sell for $39.95 and now its free. It's simple economics, increased demand results in increased supply which almost always drops the price.
  
  I bought my copy of Office XP standard.

  10.7.2004 10:09 #7

• Vular

  I agree, to bad gas prices didn't work like that.

  10.7.2004 17:34 #8

• sunshine0

  My thought is that if retailers didn't charge so much, pirates would be out of business. Let's face it: Who wants to pay $$$$ when a pirate sells it cheaply?

  11.7.2004 04:15 #9

• Toiletman

  Sunshine0, you're forgetting about the term called "free"
  
  People generally think like this. "When I have sources to get free stuff from, why pay?"
  
  I hope you know what I'm talking about ;)

  11.7.2004 12:01 #10

• fckriaa

  Rosco, why appologize for stating what you think? People like you, who don't have the nerve to stand up for what you believe in, are the reason that America is now overrun by tyrant legislators enacting stiffling laws. There are so many people who are so focused on being "politically correct" and accepted that they won't stand up and say "HEY!! What are you retarded?!?! The dmca DOES infringe the FIRST AMMENDMENT! It STRANGLES the voice of every single American!" This continual degeneration of our rights will never stop until we finally have enough nerve to say "Enough is enough". Rosco, you are right. That is $19.1 Billion back in our pockets. (Though its actually $28.7 billion)That means that there is still $79.7 billion dollars of legitimate software out there. Do you have any idea how much money that is?
  
  As for you, Sophocles, you forget that advancing technology GREATLY affects price, but not demand. That is why prices in everything you listed dropped. That is simple economics, go read a book. Technology is what causes price to fall. This holds true in everything EXCEPT software, music, and movies. Technology has made it cheaper for these things to be produced, but prices haven't fallen. Why? Because of money grubbing big-wigs who are filthy rich and only want to get richer.
  
  I will not pity an industry that isn't satisfied with $79.7 billion dollars. If they took the money they've spent filing lawsuits and tracking down pirates and used it to advance their technology even further, they'd be even richer. But they won't. They're like hungry dogs, they don't want to share their bone, not even if the compromise means they will get more. They don't think that far ahead.

  27.7.2004 00:34 #11

• connectr

  Those in the US reading this had better wake up real fast. The BSA is bad, but the US gov't is worse. Their latest effort to ban P2P sharing, could wind up banning CD and DVD writers and iPods.
  Senator Hatch, the alleged singer in the US Senate, thinks that any copying should be banned, and any device that "Infers" the capability (read CD-R or DVD-R) should be banned also.
  Uggh! When will people learn?

  27.7.2004 06:48 #12

• sunshine0

  fckriaa; I totally agree with you (ref my previous posting), especially about over-legislation and the attitudes of "hungry dog" companies.
  
  Toiletman; You seem to have missed my point. I was NOT referring to those who give away others efforts. I am only referring to the fact that many programs are needlessly priced in a range that is simply GREEDY. They sell a few and make mega bucks, and many times with little concern for the small consumers, and their "Disclaimer"s almost always state that no warrantee is provided as to the usefulness of the software, etc. To those who overprice and underservice, I have no sympathy. Maybe pirates have a better service after sale, I don't know, but it doesn't appear to matter anyway, does it?

  27.7.2004 06:53 #13