BSA plans to give pirates a hard time

Computer dealers who illegally pre-load business software on the PCs they sell are on the hitlist of the Business Software Alliance, which last week set up its first UK office.

The Alliance, a worldwide software anti-piracy organisation which relies on funds from its members - business software vendors like Microsoft, Novell and Adobe - has earmarked #300,000 for a UK education and enforcement campaign aimed at software users and dealers.

At the core of the campaign there is a software crimeline (0800 510510) and rewards of up to #2,500 are offered to successful informants. The BSA has set itself a target to reduce UK software theft from 43 to 25% in 12 months.

The BSA will take over Microsoft's Clean Dealer campaign which kicks off at the end of this month and encourages purchasers to check the legality of the software on offer from dealers and retailers - especially packages preloaded on a PC's hard disk - as well as warning vendors of the consequences of dealing in illegal software.