Survey Finds 33% Respondents Supporting Pirated Software

The software giant Microsoft from Redmond recently conducted a survey titled "Attitudes to Piracy," according to which, 33% of all United Kingdom citizens are convinced that there's no harm in using pirated computer programs both at work and at home.

The study covering 1,000 respondents revealed that it is just as popular to use pirated software at workplace as at home. Microsoft stated that it is dangerous to have this as every year huge amounts of revenue are lost because of pirated software.

The survey, during its conduction, found that one adult worker of every eight acknowledged using counterfeit computer program at work especially because 57% of the survey participants thought that the practice was agreeable to their boss.

But, Microsoft was ardent at highlighting the risks associated with using illegal software. It said that such software resulted in 62% instances of infection through a computer virus, 31% of instances of personal data loss, and 38% of instances of system crash.

Julian Swan, the Director of compliance marketing at Business Software Alliance, an anti-piracy body, said that businesses have plenty of excuses for failing to handle software properly. During legal procedures, they frequently mention cost curtailment, unawareness and alterations in IT employees, the Director recalled, according to the statement published by Channelweb.co.uk on April 6, 2010.

Furthermore, Director General Susie Winter at the "Alliance Against IP Theft" said that people must realize that their own online safety is fraught with innate dangers, particularly ID theft, when they employ pirated software, as per the statement published by Channelweb.co.uk on April 6, 2010.

Significantly, the Digital Economy Bill, scheduled for legislation during the forthcoming weeks, offers to solve Internet piracy through multiple ways. These include alert notifications to those found unlawfully taking down copyrighted content as well as imposing technical actions like capping of bandwidth on people who repeatedly commit the offense.

Michala Wardell, Head of Anti-Piracy at Microsoft U.K added that company commissioned the new study as it was determined to constantly create awareness among consumers about the dangers associated with using pirated applications, according to the statement published by Telegraph.co.uk on April 6, 2010.

Related article: Survey Finds 96% Zombie PCs in Malaysia

» SPAMfighter News - 4/16/2010