According to a survey of over 3000 Canadian students, 47% admitted to downloading pirated software from the Internet and 53% said they regularly swapped software with their friends (including serial numbers and keygens).
The survey also showed:
A: 60% believe that using shared software is not a serious issue.
B: 84% do not consider software sharing to be an illegal activity that warrants punishment.
C:69% disagree that sharing software is unethical
Regarding Canadian web users as a whole, only 12% said they were concerned about downloading computer software, of which 17% feared software malfunction, 22% were afraid of hackers and 23% were worried about spyware.
2. Dangerous! or not?
A white paper from the market-research firm 'IDC' reported on the downloading of Keygens and No-CD/No-DVD cracks from websites and P2P Networks.
Main findings:
A: 25% of the websites visited attempted to install potentially unwanted software, or malicious code such as a virus, trojan or spyware
B: 11% of the keygens and cracks downloaded from these Websites contained viruses, trojans or spyware
C: 59% of the keygens and cracks downloaded from P2P networks contained a virus, trojan or spyware
All terrifying stuff eh, but doesn't this data also show that 75% of these websites didn't try to install malicious software, and are therefore safe? With a huge 89% of keygens and cracks downloaded from the websites, and 41% from P2P networks also safe?
Experienced downloaders would simply suggest that the best policy is to only use the cracks or keygens supplied with your downloaded software, and to avoid obtaining them separately from any other source.
3. Corporate pirates
A significant rise has been reported by the market-research group Ipsos in the amount of pirated software being downloaded by employees over the last few years. This has been attributed to the increase in employee access to the Internet, unwary staff being duped into downloading software, deliberate risk-taking and bad software management. To try and tackle this phenomenon, 80% of businesses are now monitoring their employees' Internet use.
Software compliance is reportedly an issue in the UK with close to 27% of installed software being pirated, and with unlicensed software found on the majority of corporate computer networks.
4. Spy game
In a proposal by the British government, Internet users suspected of unauthorized downloading of copyrighted material will receive a warning e-mail from their ISP for the 1st offence, be suspended for the 2nd, and permanently banned for the 3rd.
Around six million broadband users download files without permission every year in the UK that software companies claim is costing them billions, and the UK's four biggest internet providers: Orange, Virgin Media, BT, and Tiscali have been in talks with distribution companies over a voluntary scheme in the hopes of avoiding legislation.
