The Business Software Alliance (BSA) has met with criticism from
another major anti-piracy organisation, the Federation Against
Software Theft (FAST), which questioned the motives behind a survey
recently sent by the BSA to every UK organisation with 20 or more
employees.
The BSA’s “annual software audit return” asked companies to
provide information on the software they used. FAST is speculating
that the BSA will use the information it gleans to demand punitive
fines from companies who cannot prove they have valid software
licences. Richard Wilmott, managing director of FAST described the
practice as “unprofessional.”
The BSA is a private company founded by numerous software
suppliers including Microsoft, Adobe and Macromedia. FAST is the
lobbying arm of the British Computer Society with 2,500 members,
including most FTSE 100 companies.
Although both organisations agree that software piracy ought to
be stamped out, FAST disagrees with the punitive measures advocated
by the BSA. “We don’t persecute companies who have lost control of
their systems or have strayed. Our job is to help them get
compliant and bring in controls to keep them operating within the
law,” said Wilmott.
