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On Tue, Dec 16, 2008 at 07:41:01PM +0000, Steph Foster wrote: > > - They then on the basis of that information may seek a court order to search > > the premises > > I think clarification is needed here. They could lay information > before a magistrate and ask the police to search however they can not > search. Noted. The ideal from the BSA side is if they can get the police to search on the grounds that a criminal offence has taken place. In other countries the BSA brief the police on what and how to look for the software. http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2008/12/11/233867/trading-standards-searches-company-for-illegal-software.htm "Trading Standards officers in Cardiff have conducted their first random search of a business in the city under new copyright powers to stamp out illegal use of software. Officers conducted a full forensic inspection of all the company's software, Trading Standards said, but revealed no details of the company involved or outcome of the search. Business organisations were alarmed last year when the government gave Trading Standards the power to enter workplaces without a warrant or prior notice." > > > - OR you will get a friendly letter saying "prove the software you use is legit". > > I would most likely send them back a friendly reply asking them to > prove that the software I use is not legit. True. However if not "squeaky clean" then you are into a civil case with all the fun of discovery. During which you will have to prove that all the software you have used has indeed been paid for. I would also imagine that the BSA would have some sort of independent confirmation that you are using more software than you have paid for eg automatic software update requests from more than one computer. > > Furthermore they have to be careful. You could enter a legal action > claiming that they are defaming your character or you could ask for > any action to be dismissed on the grounds of malicious prosecution. > True but expensive. And in any event you would need to prove that you are innocent, and it would be much cheaper to do that out of court. I would however suggest first checking that no employee(s) are using or have used pirated software. Hence all the stuff about Software Audit Tools on the BSA website. Hence the suggestion http://www.baselinemag.com/c/a/Projects-Management/What-to-Do-When-You-Receive-a-BSA-Audit-Letter/ 1/ Retain a lawyer 2/ Co-operate - carefully 3/ Don't get intimidated 4/ Preserve evidence with confidentiality (ie use your lawyers) 5/ Find allies: get documentation 6/ If guilty: create a compliance plan 7/ Negotiate -- Henry Photocopies or faxes of my signature are not binding. This email has been signed with an electronic signature in accordance with subsection 7(3) of the Electronic Communications Act 2000. Digital Key Signature: GPG RSA 0xFB447AA1 Tue Dec 16 20:35:34 GMT 2008
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