Waging War on Business

[der.hans]

Am 12. Feb, 2003 schw=E4tzte Voltage Spike so:

> If I were to run a business, why should I have to expend significant
> amounts of money to track my software purchases?  If <company> wants to

Because that's the price of using them. Why should a transit spend lots of
money on gas for their busses? Because they don't work without fuel. When
dealing with proprietary software vendors tracking the software is part of
the cost of administration. You need to track it anyway for tax purposes.

> prosecute me for copyright violations, shouldn't the burden be on
> <company> to provide proof of my wrongdoing?

Yes, it should be. Software licenses tend to include the customer giving
away that right. It's like making a plea bargain agreement before committin=
g
a crime.

> Suppose my company has 500 employees and one of them needs a copy of
> <product>.  Should he be allowed to go to a retail outlet and purchase
> that product?  If so, does that mean that the employers are responsible
> for tracking their employees?  Someone mentioned a social fix (i.e.,

Yup. Companies are liable for actions of employees taken in the name of the
company. Ask Anderson Consulting about that point.

> make it a policy to fire any employee who spends their own money to
> accomplish a work-related task).  Is that really a solution?

Well, the company should be paying for the necessary tools, not the employe=
e
;-). I agree, however, it would be nice to have less restrictions. The
company has a responsibility to layout policies and make sure employees kno=
w
to follow the policies. Doing that can help absolve a company of criminal
responsibility ( though they're still likely to have to pay in the case of =
a
civil suit ).

> Furthermore, the BSA does not accept the box, CD, and/or license as
> proof of ownership.  You must additionally provide the receipt for that

The license should be sufficient.

> purchase.  Since the employers must keep the receipts, how does an
> employee claim that purchase on their taxes?
>
> Suppose I run a tight ship and follow every procedure that the BSA
> requires.  Do you honestly think that a BSA is going to be free?  First,

The company could choose to use products that don't have that overhead. Jus=
t
like the transit company could choose to use electric or other non-gasoline
fuel.

> you must determine if you trust the BSA enough to allow them access to
> your computers, networks, and probably very confidential data.  If a
> customer's private data leaks out as a result of the audit, who do you
> think is going to be sued?  Second, there is obviously going to be some

Well, if the company's customer base demands that outside agencies not have
access to that info ( which the customer base should demand ), then the
company needs to not do business with companies that require said access.
Even without the BSA m$ now requires access to computers for audits. The
company can decide not to use m$ products to avoid that liability.

> downtime while the audit takes place.  If nothing else, you are going to
> have to dedicate employees to working with the BSA contractors.

Yup. Part of the cost of using software under those licensing terms.

ciao,

der.hans
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