47% of computer users around the world acquire the majority of their software illegally. Not surprisingly, the proportion of users affected by piracy is more important in emerging markets. More surprising, however, business decision-makers contributing to this trend as much as the rest of the population, both in emerging markets than in developed countries.
The study, commissioned by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) in a complete dating from May, which focused on the volume of pirated software. The Ipsos study, based on surveys of 15,000 computer users in 32 countries representing over 90% of software market in the world, focusing in turn on the volume of affected users to identify their behavior and the values they believe.
Globally, users involved in the acquisition of software illegally (purchase of software for installation on a computer and more, application downloading from a peer-to-peer, purchase of illegal copies in the street markets air) would then represent 47% of respondents. 13% of them are “hardcore software pirates” who purchase all their software illegally. The remaining 34% tend simply to obtain the software illegally.
Regarding the 53% of global users who are on the side of legality, the proportions are almost identical: 13% of global users acquire their software in a legal manner while 40% tend to be purchased legally.
The BSA noted that many emerging countries have proportions of ‘illegal’ buyers more important than the world average. For example, China, with 42% of “hardcore pirates” and its 44% who tend to favor the illegal acquisition, Nigeria (36% and 46%) or Vietnam (22% and 54%).
Policymakers also concerned and not better informed
Surprisingly, the study shows that decision makers are just as likely as others to illegally acquire software. Decision-makers in companies with fewer than 500 employees seem more affected than those in large groups, and this especially in developed countries. It is also surprising that policy makers share the ignorance of users at large, which sometimes confuse legal and illegal practices.
While nearly half of respondents pirate, 71% of these users for uphold the principles of most intellectual property and sometimes err through ignorance of what is legal or not. For example, 47% of global users mistakenly believe that it is legal to install software on multiple computers for which only one license was acquired. However, their illegal acquisitions are perhaps not so innocent that because most people think of hacking software are unlikely to be threatened. The eyes of the BSA, however, this ignorance of the law shows that the situation may improve if the public is better informed.
