BSA raises grass ceiling to £20K

The Business Software Alliance (BSA) has doubled the bounty it will pay to people who shop their employers for using illegally pirated software, taking the upper limit to £20,000 until the end of the year.

Historically, the organisation has paid 10 per cent of the value of recovered software to the person who tipped them off, but the most it would pay out in the UK was £10k. By raising this ceiling, the BSA hopes to generate more tips from people working within larger companies.

Research into staff attitudes to pirated software found that 48 per cent of people would be bothered if their company used pirated software - the majority (57 per cent) of those saying that it was an indication of poor management. Others were worried about breaking the law themselves (21 per cent) while another 11 per cent worried that they could even be prosecuted.

Similar numbers (61 per cent) said that there was no justification for acquiring pirated goods, while 41 per cent said there should be penalties in place for merely using software that was pirated.

Staffers who reckon their company has £200k worth of dodgy software kicking about the place, and fancy a £20k Christmas bonus, can shop their bosses to the BSA on this website. ®

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