The Business Software Alliance and Piracy

The Software Alliance, also called BSA, is an international trade association established by Microsoft in February 1988 to represent most of the software producing industry. It is also a member of the International Intellectual Property Alliance. Its primary function is attempting to prevent unfair copyright infringement by its members against other members. It was designed to increase the security of software used in the financial, computer and telecommunications industries.

Currently, there are three main areas in which the business software alliance has been effective. First, it has been effective in raising the standard of software licensing for products that are produced in the industry. Second, it has been successful in ensuring that the audit process for software vendors follows a uniform process. Finally, it has been effective in securing more development funding for new products and processes in the software arena. This last point is important, because the ability of developing firms to obtain additional funding becomes increasingly important in the following years as the industry grows.

The business software alliance has been successful in first achieving a standard level of license fee that is required for software products. Currently, the software license fee charged by customers is between one and two percent of the overall cost of the product. This fee is directly proportional to the level of protection provided by the audit process for the software that is being sold. By requiring a uniform level of audit for all new and ongoing products, the software alliances ensures that its members have sufficient protection to encourage their developers to continue making quality software installed in systems. By requiring a high standard of audit for existing software, the alliance is in effect forcing software vendors to provide the best quality products to its customers.

Unfortunately, this is not an accurate depiction of how the business software alliance handles copyright infringement suits brought against its members. As we have seen with the recent Sony case, software vendors are often unable to demonstrate that there is any evidence of wrongdoing on the part of their customers. In many of these situations, funders have insisted that proof of infringement exists before assessing whether or not to advance funding. Thus, software vendors have often found themselves forced to settle lawsuits without ever receiving any monies due to the fact that their funders refuse to pay unless there is evidence of copyright infringement.

For this reason, the business software alliance was created to ensure that its members have a proper way to demonstrate to potential funders that they have a good-quality IP security program in place. This means that if a company observes a security breach, it must be able to show that it has done everything that it can to prevent such occurrences in the future. Thus, in order to obtain such funding, software vendors must be able to demonstrate to potential funders that they have taken steps to mitigate possible problems. By requiring a security audit of current projects, the business software alliance provides a quantifiable measure of that security. By ensuring that the vendors' current projects are compliant with all industry standards and that they have implemented measures to prevent or detect security breaches, the alliance is helping to foster a responsible, stable, and honest industry by providing a venue through which to evaluate and monitor the integrity of the IP Security field.

One issue that the business software alliance seems to have a lot of attention to is piracy. Many software publishers join the alliance in an effort to fight against piracy, both online and offline. Part of their mission is to create a standard definition for what constitutes piracy, as well as steps that can be taken against people who are engaged in this behavior. In addition to stopping the piracy, the alliance also helps to promote the creation of legitimate online business opportunities and to help support the research and development of new technologies and applications. While these might seem like small things to some, the true importance of this issue cannot be underestimated.

The business software alliance also acts as a mediator between the various players in the software industry, such as software vendors, service providers, network administrators, system designers and hackers. By helping to regulate these different interests and by making sure that the standards set forth by the alliance are strictly followed, the software industry benefits from its membership in the BSA. For instance, by joining the business software alliance, the largest software publishers can ensure that their products don't become pirate versions that are harmful to the consumer. By acting as a governing body for the software industry, the alliance ensures that any and all issues are brought to its attention and that action is taken to prevent pirate activity.

While there are many issues that the business software alliance seems to have an interest in, from copyright infringement to security breaches, it is generally recognized that the alliance is largely needed by the software industry. Without the group, many companies could find themselves at the mercy of pirates who could break their licenses and cause serious financial harm. While it is true that many software publishers are actively working towards building better relationships with each other, it is also true that there are still problems within the industry. It is for these reasons that the business software alliance serves a useful role, keeping software publishers honest and working together to find solutions to piracy. By doing this, the business software alliance ensures that everyone has fair access to software products and that there are no gaps in security that could harm either the company or the consumer.