SHARE

SIIA Pays Out Record Rewards to Piracy Whistleblowers

The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) paid out more than $127,000 in rewards to a total of 24 sources who reported cases of software or digital content piracy in 2009. The SIIA, a trade association for the software and digital content industry, has stepped up its efforts in recent years to stem the illegal […]

Written By

Larry Barrett

Jan 26, 2010

Datamation content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More

The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) paid out more than $127,000 in rewards to a total of 24 sources who reported cases of software or digital content piracy in 2009.

The SIIA, a trade association for the software and digital content industry, has stepped up its efforts in recent years to stem the illegal trafficking of billions of dollars worth ofcounterfeit and stolen software applications at online sites including eBay.

SIIA officials said the $127,000 in bounties was the highest amount it’s ever paid for tips since debuting its Anti-Piracy Reward Program in 2003.

“Thanks to our sources, 2009 was a banner year in the fight against software and content piracy in the workplace,” Keith Kupferschmid, SIIA’s senior vice president for intellectual property policy and enforcement, said in a statement. “The valuable information we received jumpstarted several investigations and helped SIIA continue the industry’s most aggressive campaign against software and content piracy.”

Earlier this month, a software pirate responsible for ripping off nearly 8,000 online customers and a handful of leading software vendorswas sentenced to 21 months in prison by a federal judge in Phoenix after he pleaded guilty to guilty to conspiracy, mail fraud and criminal copyright infringement charges — a prosecution aided greatly by SIIA investigators.

In October, Gregory William Fair of Falls Church, Va. received a 41-month prison sentence for selling bogus copies of various Adobe Systems (NASDAQ: ADBE) applicationsworth more than $1.4 million on eBay from 2001 through 2007.

The SIIA’s Anti-Piracy Reward Program offers rewards to snitches who report verifiable instances of corporate software or content piracy, with rewards ranging from $500 for a settlement of $10,000 to $1 million for cases with settlement amounts over $20 million.

In 2008 alone, IDC estimated that software vendors lost more than $53 billion to software piracy — an especially galling figure considering worldwide sales of legitimate software applications totaled just over $88 billion that year.

Larry Barrett is a senior editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of Internet.com, the network for technology professionals.

Huawei’s AI Update: Things Are Moving Faster Than We Think

FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
December 04, 2020
Keeping Machine Learning Algorithms Honest in the ‘Ethics-First’ Era

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
November 18, 2020
Key Trends in Chatbots and RPA

FEATURE | By Guest Author,
November 10, 2020
Top 10 AIOps Companies

FEATURE | By Samuel Greengard,
November 05, 2020
What is Text Analysis?

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
November 02, 2020
How Intel’s Work With Autonomous Cars Could Redefine General Purpose AI

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
October 29, 2020
Dell Technologies World: Weaving Together Human And Machine Interaction For AI And Robotics

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
October 23, 2020
The Super Moderator, or How IBM Project Debater Could Save Social Media

FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
October 16, 2020
Top 10 Chatbot Platforms

FEATURE | By Cynthia Harvey,
October 07, 2020
Finding a Career Path in AI

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
October 05, 2020
CIOs Discuss the Promise of AI and Data Science

FEATURE | By Guest Author,
September 25, 2020
Microsoft Is Building An AI Product That Could Predict The Future

FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
September 25, 2020
Top 10 Machine Learning Companies 2020

FEATURE | By Cynthia Harvey,
September 22, 2020
NVIDIA and ARM: Massively Changing The AI Landscape

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
September 18, 2020
Continuous Intelligence: Expert Discussion [Video and Podcast]

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By James Maguire,
September 14, 2020
Artificial Intelligence: Governance and Ethics [Video]

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By James Maguire,
September 13, 2020
IBM Watson At The US Open: Showcasing The Power Of A Mature Enterprise-Class AI

FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
September 11, 2020
Artificial Intelligence: Perception vs. Reality

FEATURE | By James Maguire,
September 09, 2020
Anticipating The Coming Wave Of AI Enhanced PCs

FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
September 05, 2020
The Critical Nature Of IBM’s NLP (Natural Language Processing) Effort

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
August 14, 2020

SEE ALL
ARTICLES

Larry Barrett

Larry Barrett is a freelance journalist and blogger who has covered the information technology and business sectors for more than 15 years. Most recently, he served as the online news editor for 1105 Media's Office Technology Group and as the online managing editor for SourceMedia's Investment Advisory Group publications Financial Planning, On Wall Street, and Bank Investment Consultant. He was also a senior writer and editor at Ziff Davis Media's Baseline Magazine, winner of the Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award, and ZDNet. In addition, he's served as a senior writer and editor at prominent technology and business websites including CNET, InternetNews.com, Multichannel News, and the San Jose Business Journal.

SIIA Pays Out Record Rewards to Piracy Whistleblowers

Larry Barrett

Recommended for you...

Company

Categories

SIIA Pays Out Record Rewards to Piracy Whistleblowers

RELATED NEWS AND ANALYSIS

Larry Barrett

Recommended for you...

Company

Categories