Staff who have lost their jobs are reporting their
former bosses for using unlicensed software, figures released from
the Business Software Alliance (BSA) show.
That at least is the suspicion of the BSA, which is reporting
about 100 leads a week coming from the public, in addition to those
caught in raids.
The number of leads rose 8% in January and February, compared to
the same period last year.
"With the financial crisis in full swing, ex-employees recently
made redundant might be attracted by the financial incentive to
report their former employers for using illegal software
practices," said Julian Swan, director forcompliance marketing EMEA
at the BSA.
The BSA findings follow last week's whistleblower campaign by
the Federation Against Software Theft, which has called on people
concerned that the companies they work for are using illegal
products to tip off those protecting intellectual property.
A version of this story originally appeared on
Microsope.