Bangkok--22 Aug--veropr
BSA | The Software Alliance has raised its cash reward for a time frame of 60 days. The largest sum of money ever in the history of the Thai anti software piracy campaign to decrease the rate of illegal and unlicensed software use.
BSA | The Software Alliance – a leading advocate for the global software industry - has increased the maximum reward for informants who report the infringement of software copyrights in business operations from 250,000 baht to 1 million baht in an effort to drive a reduction in use of illegal and unlicensed software in Thailand.
The new reward offer is available for informants who report the use of illegal software in business entities with 100 PCs or more and for business entities using high value software worth 1.8 million baht or more. The potential informants will be required to provide accurate and useful information about business entities in Thailand using illegal software. This reward applies for all private sector business organizations using illegal software.
The 1-million-baht reward is a limited time offer, expiring at midnight on 20 October, 2016. The report can be made online at www.bsa.org. The identities of informants will be kept strictly private and confidential.
BSA welcomes reports about all types of businesses using illegal software. Rewards are paid on a sliding scale, with large volumes of illegal and unlicensed software or high value software getting the most handsome rewards with 1 million baht being the maximum reward. Smaller rewards will be paid for companies using smaller volumes of illegal software.
Some large businesses continue to use illegal software. It is not uncommon for software copyrights to be violated in 100 or more PCs within a single company. In some cases, illegal software is used in finance and HR departments, leading to questions about data security and hacking. Large numbers of companies using illegal and unlicensed software are found in Bangkok, Samut Prakan, Chonburi, Rayong, Nonthaburi, Nakhon Pathom and Pathumthani.
BSA members include makers of a large variety of software products. One of the most commonly pirated software products in Thailand is a translation product made by Thai Software Enterprises, a BSA member.
Over the years, BSA has awarded millions of baht in awards to informants and BSA has maintained the privacy and confidentiality for all of the people who report software piracy. Each month, nearly 100 people report illegal software use in companies in Thailand. Some of these informants make reports about illegal software as a result of frustration with the failure of some business leaders to address illegal software usage.
A study conducted last year by IDC, a leading global research firm found that the higher the unlicensed software rate in a country, the more malware is encountered on PCs in that country.
BSA is currently supporting an online advertising campaign via social media channels to promote the new reward offer and entice potential targets to report the use of illegal software in a company. The campaign involves the use of a Facebook fan page, Thai Cybercrime Watch.
More information on the campaign can be found at the Report Software Piracy section on www.bsa.org and Thai Cybercrime Watch Facebook page.