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Study: Software Piracy Up for Second Straight Year

Daniel Fleshbourne Administrator Neowin @dfleshbourne · Jun 10, 2002 08:43 EDT with -1 comments

Thanks YahoKa from our BPN Forum

LONDON (Reuters) - Global software piracy increased for the second straight year in 2001 due to lax laws and the growing availability of bootlegged software on the Internet, watchdog group Business Software Alliance said on Monday.

The alliance said in its annual study, now in its eighth year, that it lost nearly $11 billion in sales to software piracy in 2001. A more telling statistic, it said, was that 40 percent of all new software installed by businesses last year was obtained on the black market, up from 37 percent in 2000.

"In the seven years that we have conducted this study, this is the first time piracy has increased for two years in a row," said Beth Scott, vice president for the group in Europe. This is particularly disturbing in light of the fact that more and more software companies are moving their distribution systems to the Internet."

News source: Reuters.com