BIOS: Technology Means Business

A survey of nearly 300 British businesses has revealed a shockingly blasé attitude to software theft and piracy as bosses admit to being aware of the illegal use of software in the office but do very little to discipline those responsible.

According to the annual survey conducted by FAST - Federation Against Software Theft - 55% of businesses say they automatically monitor their employees' internet use.

A third admitted to manually trawling through individual computers to check on websites visited and downloads. However 82% of those questioned say their organisation has never enforced disciplinary procedures as a result of a breach of its policies.

John Lovelock, director general of The Federation commented: "If companies are monitoring their employees' activity on the internet, they need to communicate the reasons behind it and the implications of their actions.

"We don't want to encourage a big brother culture - it's simply about letting your staff know that by downloading illegal software onto their desktops at work or even on company laptops and mobile devices, they are committing a crime."

He added: "If you make your employees aware that action will be taken against them if they abuse the policies in place, then monitoring is justified. But if you have no intention of punishing those that flout the rules, it's essentially little more than snooping."

The study also revealed that:

- 40% of respondents believe software piracy in the UK is increasing

- Nearly half (48%) claim they'd have difficulty proving to their company board that all their software was legal

- 42% of those questioned believe they don't have sufficient manpower to manage their IT assets and budget to purchase the right tools for the job was a concern for more than a quarter (26%)

- More than a quarter have never carried out a full software audit and of those that do, 37% worry about just how accurate their auditing process is.

Lovelock continued: "Software compliance should be one of the top priorities on the agenda of a company board yet our survey has shown that it is a board level issue for just 67% of the organisations we spoke to. The legal implications of failure to comply are vast but just a third of respondents actually admitted to being very concerned about it."

He added: "While it's reassuring that most businesses (78%) now have a written Software Management Policy in place, 22% of company directors still have no come-back if their employees are found to be downloading illegal software and that in itself is most worrying."

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