Culturesurvey Gaming &: Half of PC Users Worldwide Have Pirated Software
By Chris Gayomali | September 7, 2011 | + Tweet Reuters
Correction 07/09/11: A previous version of this article erroneously stated that the BSA survey found the United States to have the highest rate of piracy in the world rather than China. The appropriate changes have been made to reflect this.
According to a new survey conducted by the Business Software Alliance (BSA), 47% of PC users worldwide obtain their software illegally. The survey polled 15,000 users from 32 different countries and found that 13% still acquire their software through illegal means, such as peer-to-peer (like BitTorrent) or installing single-licensed software on multiple machines. Another 34% obtain their software through illegal means most of the time (Photos: A Brief History of the Computer).
The biggest offender? China, which led all 32 studied countries with 86% of its PC users obtaining software illegally all or most of the time. These users represent approximately 206 million PCs—twice as many as second-place United States Abercrombie Fitch - Women, and seven times more than third-place Brazil.
"The survey clearly shows that the global epidemic of software piracy is spreading faster in China, which is now the world's largest market for new PCs," said BSA president and CEO Robert Holleyman on Phys.org. Click here to see more results in the form of a PDF.
We've previously noted that the World Trade Organization has already reprimanded China for their lax enforcement of copyright and patent laws. However, Chinese officials have declared that they are interested in reversing the trend and joining global crackdowns.
As for the United States? Six states, particularly Abercrombie Fitch France, are responsible for nearly half of all the country's downloads: California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New York, and Texas.
Poll: Let's take our own quick and informal survey (completely confidential, of course): Take our poll [via Phys.org]
More:
- The 6 Worst States for Piracy in the United States
- Chris is a freelance journalist. Find him on Twitter at @chrigz, on Facebook Sale Abercrombie & Fitch, or on Google+. You can also continue the discussion on Time's Facebook page and on Twitter at @time.
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