bsa global survey of pc user...

BSA gloBAl Survey of pc uSer AttitudeS, 2010–2011 1

PC USER ATTITUDES2010–2011

BSA gloBAl Survey of


BSA gloBAl Survey of pc uSer AttitudeS, 2010–20112

If the world’s computer users lived up to their ideals, there would be far less software piracy. But nearly half of them do not. That is the untold story behind the $59 billion worth of PC software theft that the Business Software Alliance found in the 2010 edition of its annual Global Software Piracy Study.1

• More than seven in 10 computer users globally (71 percent) profess support for intellectual property rights and protections, yet nearly half (47 percent) acquire their software by illegal means most or all of the time.

• In developing economies, the figures are even higher. In China, for example, 86 percent of PC users acquire their software illegally most or all of the time. In Nigeria, it is 81 percent. In Vietnam, it is 76 percent.

• These behaviors and attitudes toward software piracy follow a similar pattern among the world’s business decision-makers, a critically important group of users.

• Many of the world’s software pirates may not even realize they are betraying their own principles and breaking the law, which underscores the importance of concerted public-education and enforcement campaigns.

Those conclusions are among the major findings of a groundbreaking research effort conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs for BSA.

Most extensive survey ever

To find out more about the perpetrators behind last year’s stunning piracy trends — including their demographic profiles, their attitudes toward intellectual property rights, and their understanding of software piracy — Ipsos conducted approximately 15,000 in-person and online surveys of computer users in 32 countries that together represent more than 90 percent of the world’s software market.

The surveys — the most extensive ever undertaken on this topic — provide important insights into the global phenomenon of software piracy, a scourge that hurts local IT sectors and undermines legitimate business activity everywhere it is allowed to persist.2 The surveys reveal widespread support for intellectual property principles, but a striking gap in people’s basic understanding about which ways of acquiring software are legal and which ways are not. For example, nearly half of the world’s computer users (47 percent) incorrectly believe it is legal to buy a single license for a software program and then install it on multiple computers in their offices.

Inside a $59 Billion Heist: The Contradictory Opinions and Behaviors of the World’s Software Pirates

1 The 2010 BSA Global Software Piracy Study, released in May 2011, is available at www.bsa.org/globalstudy. 2 For more on the economic impact of software piracy, see BSA’s Piracy Impact Study at www.bsa.org/piracyimpact.


Four types of PC users

When Ipsos asked computer users about the ways they would and would not acquire software, a pattern emerged:

• Thirteen percent of respondents around the world said they would only acquire software in ways that are typically illegal, such as buying programs for one computer then installing them on multiple machines, downloading applications from a peer-to-peer network such as Kazaa or Morpheus, or buying illegally copied disks in street markets. These 13 percent of computer users can be considered the world’s hardcore software pirates.

• Another 34 percent tend to acquire their software through illegal means most of the time.

• Thirteen percent of computer users globally said they would only acquire software through legal means, such as purchasing it in packages from legitimate retailers or having it preinstalled on new computers. This group can be considered the world’s law-and-order PC users.

• The fi nal 40 percent of the world’s computer users tend to acquire their software through legal means most of the time.

The relative sizes of these groupings vary considerably from country to country. In emerging economies, there are much higher percentages of hardcore

pirates and users who “tend illegal” than there are in developed countries. Leading all 32 countries surveyed in those two categories is China, where 42 percent of computer users say they acquire their software by illegal means all of the time and another 44 percent tend to acquire it by illegal means most of the time. (Just 14 percent of Chinese computer users tend to acquire software by legal means most of the time.)

HOW THE WORLD’S PC USERS ACQUIRE SOFTWARE

Law & order

13%Pirates

13%

Tend legal

40%Tend illegal

34%


The developing world’s “tending illegal” PC users

At the forefront of the global software piracy epidemic are the rapidly expanding IT markets of the developing world, where the commercial value of software piracy is growing fastest. According to the survey data, the most influential contributors to that trend — because they represent a large plurality of the PC-using population in emerging markets — are those who tend to acquire their software through illegal means most of the time.

There is nearly a one-to-one correlation between the size of a country’s population of people using illegal means to acquire software most of the time and the commercial value of the software piracy occurring there, as reported in BSA’s 2010 Global Software Piracy Study. China leads all countries by a wide margin, with its “tending illegal” population accounting for approximately 104 million PCs and its hardcore pirates accounting for another 102 million PCs. In fact, no other country even comes close. China’s combined base of approximately 206 million PCs being used by people who pirate software most or all of the time is twice the size of that in the United States (114 million PCs) — even though the United States has a 40 percent bigger PC market overall. Third-place Brazil has just 31 million PCs being used by people who pirate their software most or all of the time — one-seventh as many as China.

PIRATE POPULATIONS, BY COUNTRY

Total 13% 34%

South Africa 5% 16%

Germany 6% 15%

France 5% 21%

Canada 7% 20%

India 9% 19%

Japan 9% 20%

Sweden 5% 24%

Netherlands 5% 25%

United Kingdom 7% 23%

Switzerland 5% 26%

United States 8% 26%

Australia 11% 26%

Italy 11% 25%

Argentina 10% 29%

Turkey 13% 29%

Czech Republic 10% 37%

Poland 15% 33%

Spain 13% 37%

Russia 9% 43%

Chile 13% 40%

Colombia 12% 43%

Brazil 14% 41%

Korea 15% 45%

Mexico 19% 41%

Saudi Arabia 23% 39%

Indonesia 14% 50%

Thailand 15% 50%

Malaysia 22% 46%

Ukraine 16% 53%

Vietnam 22% 54%

Nigeria 36% 46%

China 42% 44%

Pirate

Tend illegal


The archetypal software pirate, a walking contradiction

From the surveys, it is possible to paint a statistical portrait of the developing world’s archetypal software pirate. Strictly by the numbers, he is likely to be an 18- to 34-year-old man who lives in China, works at a company with less than 100 employees, and uses a computer in his job. Somewhat counterintuitively, he expresses moderate to strong support for intellectual property principles. For example, he says it is important for innovators to be paid for the new products or technologies they develop because that creates an incentive for people to produce more innovations, which is good for society because it drives technological progress and economic growth. He also believes it is to his personal benefit that there are laws giving innovators exclusive rights to decide how the products and technologies they develop are sold, because he agrees those laws help create jobs and benefit local economies.

In addition to harboring these fundamentally pro-IP principles, the archetypal software pirate also professes a practical preference for legal software over pirated software because he views it as more reliable and secure. But he goes wrong in his actual habits partly because he is very likely to believe that typically illegal means of acquiring software are, in fact, legal. Moreover, the world he sees around him appears to be a significant contributing factor in his behavior: He believes that software piracy is commonplace, and he does not think it is very likely that people who pirate software will be caught by the police or enforcement authorities.

A similar pattern emerges among PC users throughout the fast-growing IT markets of the developing world. This suggests that if industry and governments were to redouble their public-education efforts and send stronger deterrent signals to the marketplace with more vigorous enforcement of IP laws, they could rapidly change computer users’ behavior and thereby lower software piracy rates.

The archetypal software pirate is very likely to believe illegal means of acquiring software are in fact legal. This suggests that more concerted public education and enforcement of IP laws could rapidly change computer users’ behavior.

Opinions about piracy among business decision-makers

An especially troubling finding in the surveys is that business decision-makers exhibit similar attitudes and say they would engage in similar illegal behaviors to other computer users. This finding is significant because software piracy in enterprise settings accounts for a disproportionate share of the overall software piracy problem in terms of commercial value. In businesses, government agencies, and other enterprises, unlicensed copies of programs can be deployed quickly on tens, hundreds, or even thousands of machines.

Ipsos asked all computer users about their decision-making authority at work and found that people with significant authority were just as likely to fall into the “pirate” or “tend illegal” camps as other respondents. Once again, emerging economies had the most business decision-makers who said they would only use illegal means to acquire software or would use illegal means most of the time. And once again, China led all of the 32 countries surveyed in the share of its business decision-maker population that can be categorized as “pirate” or “tending illegal.”


Globally, it is more common for business decision-makers in companies with fewer than 500 employees to fit the profile of a hardcore “pirate” or one who “tends illegal” (16 percent and 37 percent, respectively) than it is for decision-makers in larger companies (12 percent and 32 percent, respectively). This is especially true in developed markets.

Similar to all computer users, business decision-maker pirates believe that legal software is better than pirated software because it is more reliable and secure. But, like other computer users, they exhibit a general lack of awareness about which ways of acquiring software are legal and which are not. For example, between two-thirds and three-quarters of them incorrectly believe it is legal to use software that is lent to them by a friend or co-worker, or to buy a single software license and then install the program on multiple computers. And only four out of 10 business decision-makers overall believe people who use unlicensed software are likely to be caught.

Opportunities to curb software piracy

The survey data suggest there are promising opportunities for industry and governments to reduce software piracy. It is encouraging, for example, that the biggest factor behind the commercial value of software piracy in a given country is not the number of resident computer users who can be categorized as hardcore pirates but instead the number of users who tend to use illegal means of acquiring software most of the time. The fact that they also use legal means of acquiring software at least some of the time suggests they can be persuaded to do it consistently.

The data also suggest a two-part formula can be effective in persuading people to buy properly licensed software instead of using pirated copies: First, industry and government should focus on bridging the gap in public awareness about which ways of acquiring software are legal and which are not by stepping up public-education campaigns. Second, governments should disabuse people of the idea they are unlikely to be caught using unlicensed software by adopting strong laws and expanding enforcement efforts that send credible deterrent signals to the marketplace. BSA has outlined in its Global Software Piracy Study a detailed blueprint for this, entailing steps to comply with international copyright treaties, to provide dedicated enforcement resources, and to lead by example.

Finally, it is encouraging that large majorities of computer users around the world express support for the basic principles that undergird intellectual property rights and protections. It suggests there is a real opportunity to show the perpetrators of last year’s $59 billion software heist how to live up to their ideals in the future.

BUSINESS DECISION-MAKER PIRACY RATES, BY COUNTY

RANK COUNTRY BDM PIRATES

BDMs TENDINGILLEGAL TOTAL

1 China 41% 44% 85%

2 Nigeria 35% 47% 82%

3 Vietnam 23% 56% 79%

4 Thailand 18% 56% 74%

5 Ukraine 16% 51% 67%

6 Saudi Arabia 23% 44% 67%

7 Malaysia 21% 45% 66%

8 Korea 18% 45% 63%

9 Mexico 27% 32% 59%

10 Spain 21% 36% 57%


The Business Software Alliance (BSA) is the leading advocate for the global software industry before governments and in the international marketplace. It is an association of nearly 100 world-class companies that invest billions of dollars annually to create software solutions that spark the economy and improve modern life.

BSA serves as the world’s premier anti-piracy organization and as a respected leader in shaping public policies that promote technology innovation and drive economic growth.

Through government relations, intellectual property enforcement and educational activities in approximately 90 markets around the world, BSA protects intellectual property and fosters innovation; works to open markets and ensure fair competition; and builds trust and confidence in information technology for consumers, businesses and governments alike.

Protecting Intellectual Property & Fostering Innovation

Intellectual property rights (IPR) — copyrights, patents and trademarks — provide the legal framework for creative enterprise, the bedrock of growing economies. They are also essential to commercial software development, which is the world’s largest copyright industry.

By working with policymakers, leading enforcement actions and conducting public-education initiatives around the world, BSA ensures that respect for IPR pervades the global economy and society by:

• Championing Intellectual Property Rights

• Curbing Software Theft

• Leading Industry Research

• Educating the Public

Opening Markets & Ensuring Fair Competition

Open markets are essential to economic growth and prosperity. BSA expands market opportunities for the software industry by working with governments to break down trade barriers and eliminate discriminatory procurement preferences that stifle innovation by skewing competition. BSA accomplishes this by:

• Breaking Down Barriers to Growth

• Promoting Technology Neutrality

• Supporting New Innovations

Building Trust & Confi dence in Technology

Security and privacy undergird trust and confidence in information technology for consumers, businesses and governments. BSA promotes responsible data stewardship and facilitates acceptance and adoption of each new wave of innovation that transforms the technology marketplace and creates value for society by:

• Driving Public-Private Collaboration

• Protecting Consumers

• Mapping Policy Solutions

ABOUT BSA


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