It’s baaaaacckk… $200,000 from BSA for qualifying reports of Software Piracy.

Some of you may recall our prior posts on the $50,000 and $200,000 rewards the BSA has offered in the past for qualifying reports of software piracy. Well, they are once again offering a reward of up to $200,000 to anyone who provides a qualifying report of software piracy.

In looking at their submission form, the first question asks if you are reporting:

1) An end-user/organization using pirated software on its own computers

2) A company that distributes pirated software and/or computers with pirated software

3) Pirated software being offered over the internet, such as: web sites, FTP, e-mail, bulletin boards (BBS), chat (IRC, ICQ, etc.), news groups, or any other unauthorized distribution of software using the Internet

So as you can see, they are looking for all types of submissions to find illegal software use and distribution out there.

For those not familiar with the BSA or their audits, you can view an online video that they have posted on their site (https://www.bsa.org) as well as look at the “About BSA” and other information they have about who they are and what they do on their site. They also have useful information about protecting yourself from illegal software and more such as:

Ø The, “I was duped,” segment they recently posted

Ø Resources to report if you were a victim of internet fraud

Ø Recent Education and Enforcement announcements

Ø And more…

Thank you and have a wonderful day,

Eric Ligman

Microsoft US Senior Manager

Small Business Community Engagement

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights