This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of BSA | The Software Alliance for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.
The uses of computers have increased greatly over time. We use different software to accomplish various tasks. The software can be installed and used in PC or any other digital device. As you know, some software are available for free and others can be acquired by paying some fixed amount of money. But due to the increase in software piracy, many of the people don’t follow rules. Did you know that 1 in 5 pieces of software used in US are pirated? Let us go through the whole system and see how to report unlicensed software use.
What is software piracy?
When you purchase software, you become a licensed user of the software and not the owner. So if you violate the terms and condition of the License, you are doing software piracy.
Types of Software License:
* Free for personal use only
* Free for personal and commercial use
* Paid for personal and commercial use
* To be used on single device
* To be used on multiple device
According to the above types, one can follow the guidelines and avoid software piracy. It is important that you stop software piracy as the software is made by the developers, and they need monetary earnings in order to provide future support. The money that you pay for purchasing a software license goes to the company, and helps them to make much better product or improve the existing one in the near future. You can always report instances of software piracy. There are non-profit organizations like BSA working hard
to stop software piracy. They provide you with the means of reporting software piracy, and takes actions against the company or individual. Let us see how to report software piracy using BSA’s online service.
How to report software piracy?
1. Visit BSA’s online outlet.
2. You can simply fill up the form on homepage that includes company/individual you are reporting, details of the company or CEO, software that is being pirated and used, what makes you think the software is unlicensed.
3. One important thing to remember is all the details you provide would be confidential so you need not to worry about anything backfiring on you.
With the use of BSA’s online outlet, it is very easy and convenient to report software piracy. BSA also offers cash rewards as a benefit for reporting software piracy for qualified software leads, though it is not guaranteed and may take up to 1 year to receive the reward. BSA’s report shows that they provided $99,000 in cash reward in January 2015. Now what’s better than doing something noble and getting rewarded for it?
So stopping software piracy is at the tip of your hands and you have a chance to benefit from it. We would like to know your views on how to stop software piracy, and when are you planning to report one. You can submit the feedback using the comments section below.
