$50 Billion Losses due to Software Piracy

With the growing number of computers using illegal copies of software and platforms, the computer and software industry has lost more than $50 billion last year, according to a recent study conducted by IDC and Business Software Alliance (BAS).
 

The report said that some countries, including Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Georgia, and Armenia have the highest percentage of computers using pirated software worldwide, almost reaching 90 percent.

In the US, the piracy remained flat, with 20 percent of software found as pirated. In comparison to most countries, the study suggested that this is considered to be the lowest in the world.

Other countries which posted the lowest rate of piracy are Japan, Luxembourg, and New Zealand, all have almost 20 percent of consumers using pirated software. Generally, European countries and North America have the lowest cases of piracy.

Because of the increase of illegal manufacturers and distributors in China and India, software piracy increased by 38 percent in 2008 compared to 41 percent in the previous year, or 5 percent increase of losses to more than $50 billion, the report said.

In a statement, BSA president Robert Holleyman warned that the prevalence of piracy in the US and in some parts of the world will undermine the IT service companies and will post security risks on computer networks.