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The plan from the international anti-piracy group includes extra investment in its enforcement efforts across Europe. Last year the group took enforcement actions against 6,500 European businesses.
The group also said it is using new tools to proactively search for distributors of illegal software on the Web. The BSA is calling for tougher measures and the harmonisation of European legislation, which should in part be achieved by the EU Enforcement Directive, and is pressuring national governments to put software piracy higher on their agendas.
Julian McMenamin, who is chairman of BSA in Ireland and also the country manager for Symantec, said Ireland should take a special interest in stamping out piracy. Ireland's software piracy rate crept up 1 percent to 42 percent last year, despite the fact that the country is now the world's largest software exporter and the IDA is trying hard to attract higher-skilled jobs here.
"What I would like to see, although I don't think it's going to happen, is for the software audit to become a legal requirement the same way a financial audit is," McMenamin told ElectricNews.Net.
For companies who want to ensure they are compliant, McMenamin recommends that software licensing become a boardroom issue.
"It's not reasonable to expect a non-IT senior executive to know about how much software they should have or should not have, but in organisations where a board member asks a member of their IT staff about software licensing, it tends to be looked after," he said. He reiterated the BSA's simple guidelines: companies must have one licence for every piece of software installed on a computer or for every user of that software on a network.
McMenamin said that a particular problem in Ireland was small and medium-sized companies purchasing a licence that is too small, or not upgrading their licence as their companies grow. An offending company might typically have a 10-user licence but allow 50 people to use the software.
For senior management who want to get serious about ensuring they are compliant, McMenamin recommends that they contact the BSA directly. "If companies have a question about or don't know their position with regard to licensing or software use, we're delighted to help."
He said companies who approach the BSA with the aim of getting help don't have anything to fear. "We only use enforcement or legal action as a last ditch attempt. It's typically only companies that have something to hide that have anything to fear in contacting the BSA," he said.
The association can work with a company's IT staff to assess its compliance, and free software tools including the assessment utility "GASP" are posted on the BSA Web site to let companies assess their software assets.
The Web site also has a suggested memorandum to employees, which companies can send to remind staff not to make illegal copies of software, as well as official employee agreements that management could put into force. An entire manual on software management is also downloadable, but Irish companies can also call the BSA helpline on for a free printed version.
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