I think the key is to have certain swift and tough penalties that will actually deter companies from engaging in the piracy of software and also to have broad education so that people understand that in a knowledge-based economy, protection of intellectual property is critical. Robert Holleyman is world president of the Business Software Alliance. During a recent visit to Australia, he launched one of the new initiatives, a software truce which starts on May 1. Truce campaign is a great campaign. It gives a 60-day window in which any enterprise that thinks they may have a software piracy problem can come forward during that window, report their problem to the BSA, ask for assistance and clean up and know they won't be subject to a legal action.
Internet piracy is set to boom.
There are risks to consumers as well as our members. And that's one of the other issues involved in this. Consumers can be ripped off through buying counterfeit software without knowing it, They can buy virus infected software from the Internet without knowing it. We would like to see criminal action from the Federal Police. We would also like to see the Government help us in a few areas such as with statutory damages to increase the penalties for severe serious cases of piracy in the corporate sector.