Hey! Today we want to raise the topic related to liability for illegal software.
2 weeks ago, we held a webinar for the SmartCIO community members on this topic, and judging by the record (for the community) of 170 simultaneous listeners, this topic is very, very relevant.
In today's post, we will write and dispel the main myths associated with the issue, as well as leave for those who wish a link to the full recording of the webinar.
So let's go.
Myth 1. Everyone is not transplanted.
However, there are some statistics. In 2000, 875 crimes were registered under Article 146 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, as a result of which 87 people were convicted. In 2007, 5,216 criminal cases were opened, of which 3,182 cases reached court (for reference: an acquittal is pronounced in less than 1% of cases).Myth 2. Will be jailed only for Microsoft
The statistics of the "K" department on crimes for 2010 kind of hints to us that this is not true.
Myth 3. It is impossible to prove the intentional nature of the crime
Of course, ignorance of the law does not absolve from responsibility. But we are talking about something else. Those. the person does not deny that it is illegal to use pirated software, but he claims that he did not know that the software is pirated. As evidence, the competent authorities use:- Warning letters from copyright holders;
- Written warnings from police officers.
Myth 4: Memorandum eliminates risks
In the chat at the webinar, many really expressed the opinion that if you write a memo to the director of the company that, due to insufficient funding (or some other reason), the company uses non-licensed software, then there will be nothing responsible for IT.Of course, this is a myth. Moreover, the presence of such a memo aggravates the position of its author, because it becomes material evidence of the deliberate nature of the crime (since I wrote a note, it means that I knew that the software was pirated).
In general, the position of an IT nick in an organization in in this case much worse than that of the leader - it is much more difficult for him to prove that he “did not know”.
Myth 5. Verification can be carried out only with the application of the copyright holder
First statement: a crime under Art. 146 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation refers to cases of public prosecution, which means that a victim's statement is not required to initiate a criminal case.The second statement: guided by the law on the police (which in terms of the topic under discussion does not differ in any way from the law on the police), employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs have the right and are obliged to suppress offenses.
Consequently, a statement from even the homeless Vasily from the neighboring basement is enough to verify (though Vasily may need a passport). To initiate a criminal case, following the first statement, a statement from the copyright holder is also not required.
Myth 6. The computer is not mine.
The bottom line is this. A check came to you, a pirate, say, photoshop was suddenly found on your computer. And then you valiantly declare that this computer is not a company computer, but belongs to the employee personally (or is the property of another company and you rent it).It won't work because:
- The employee will most likely not take the blame and will testify against the organization;
- They won't take your word for it anyway, and as a result of the check (including the contents on the hard drive of the PC), it will be found out in the interests of which organization and by which person this PC was used;
- If you lease the computer (along with the software) from another company, then the use is still illegal, since a special license agreement with the copyright holder is required to lease it.
Myth 7. The computer is turned off / does not work, which means there is no fault
Art. 1270 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation tells us that the fact of finding a program on a medium is the use of the program (the method of use is reproduction). Well, in the course of the examination it will still be established that you turned on the computer. And at the time of work, pirated software was installed on it.Myth 8. You can only confiscate a computer by a court decision.
The seizure of computer equipment can be carried out on the basis of:- The Police Act;
- The Code of Administrative Offenses;
- Of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation.
Myth 9. Free software = free software
Here it is still simpler, although an important note: the tax authorities can interpret the use of free software by commercial organizations as making a profit and require payment of tax on an amount equivalent to the cost of similar products.Those who wish to get acquainted with the recording of the webinar, as well as ask questions to the presenter, we invite you to go through
There are many myths about unlicensed programs and many companies are not aware of the real threats of their use. Dmitry Beresnev, director of cybersecurity and software assets of Microsoft in the CIS, spoke about the consequences of installing pirated software.
- Today piracy is a full-fledged business industry, in which multibillion-dollar sums rotate: in 2017, European organizations that used illegal software suffered € 51 billion in damage.
According to the BSA, which conducts international research on the pirate market, the leaders in the use of counterfeit software are the countries of Latin America and the CIS. Thus, the highest level of piracy is observed in Venezuela (88% of software installed on corporate and home computers is not licensed), Armenia and Moldova (86%), Belarus (85%), Georgia (84%).
Dmitry Beresnev. Photo courtesy of an expert The United States boasts the lowest level of piracy: according to BSA data for the last year, the share of illegal software in the country was 17%. Low rates are observed in Germany and Great Britain: in these countries, counterfeit software was installed by 22% of users. According to the BSA research, the share of illegal software in the world is 40%.
Computer piracy myths
Myth 1. It is believed that only the owner of illegal Internet resources bears the penalty for copyright infringement. In fact, everyone is responsible: those who create illegal versions of software, those who distribute them, and those who use. Therefore, by downloading unlicensed software on the Internet, any user automatically turns into an offender.
Myth 2. Many are sure: if you prove that you downloaded pirated software by mistake, you can avoid punishment - allegedly, the absence of direct intent to infringe on copyright frees you from liability. In fact, the law provides for different penalties for a crime committed with direct or indirect intent. However, it is believed that the user could not have been unaware that he is installing the software illegally. Therefore, it will not be possible to avoid liability for copyright infringement.
Myth 3. Executives of firms using unlicensed software mistakenly believe that computers with counterfeit software can only be seized by a court order. Therefore, until that time, the evidence can be destroyed and the fact of piracy cannot be proved. This is nothing more than a myth: law enforcement officers have the right to seize computers at the time of the inspection.
Myth 4. Some users perceive hackers as "warriors of good and light" who completely disinterestedly help to get expensive programs for free. Perhaps a few years ago it was so. But today everything has changed radically: piracy is a multimillion-dollar criminal industry that is aimed at stealing user data and making financial profits.
Myth 5. It is believed that it is much easier to download the program via torrent than from the official website of the developer. Those who think so, most likely, did not even try to look there.
Usually, the program can be bought like any other product in the online store. The procedure is the same: you select a product and send it to the basket, then click the "Checkout" button.
Features of the CIS market
Why is the level of piracy in the post-Soviet space much higher than, say, in European countries? I would outline five main reasons.
1. There is a stereotype: licensed software is expensive. Many take this installation as an axiom and follow the path of least resistance - they are looking for an opportunity to download the desired product for free. The list of dangers of such software is huge: it is the destruction of personal data, and hacking of bank accounts, and infecting a computer with dangerous viruses that cannot be cured. Huge losses are entailed by data leakage, which often results from the use of counterfeit software.
In addition, the installation and use of unlicensed software entails huge fines - damage to corporate users in Europe reaches hundreds of millions of dollars.
The large Russian holding FINAM conducted its own research, during which it turned out that if the company had used pirated software, the damage would have amounted to about $ 8 million, which would have been several times higher than the cost of legal products.
2. In the countries of the former USSR, users are not accustomed to treating the information that is on the network as something to be paid for. This applies not only to computer programs, but also to music, films, books.
3. Due to a lack of understanding of legal subtleties, many users do not suspect that the installation and use of illegal programs is prohibited by law. The use of unlicensed software products on home and office computers is tantamount to serious administrative offenses, the responsibility for which is stipulated by various articles of the law.
4. Some users believe that free pirated software can be used as a trial version, and if you like it, you can purchase a licensed program. There is no sense in this: for the vast majority of modern software products, a test period is provided, which is enough to get acquainted with the functions of the software and understand whether you need it or not.
Anti-piracy law
As I said, software piracy is a violation of the copyright of a software developer.
There is a myth: only directors of firms and system administrators can be punished for installing and using pirated software - ordinary users are not subject to copyright infringement law. In fact, this is not the case: if at least one counterfeit program is installed on your computer, you can be punished regardless of whether you use it in the office or at home.
Thus, in Belarus large fines are stipulated for installing and using illegal software - up to 500 base units (about $ 6,000), depending on the amount of damage caused. If the user repeatedly violates the copyright of the developer, he can be imprisoned for up to 5 years.
In Russia, “pirates” bear administrative, civil or criminal responsibility. The minimum fine for an individual is 2,000 Russian rubles (about $ 30) with confiscation of equipment, for a legal entity - 40,000 Russian rubles (about $ 660) with confiscation. The maximum penalty is imprisonment for up to 2 years.
For example, in Germany imposing fines are provided for installing pirated software. If the user violated the law for the first time, he is obliged to pay a fine of € 1000. In case of repeated violations, the amount increases to € 50 thousand.
For example, over the past year, we have encountered situations where pirated software was installed on devices offered for sale. In doing so, the seller brings both himself and the buyer under the article of the law: punishment is provided not only for distribution and installation, but also for the use of counterfeit software.
Government agencies conduct inspections of companies for the use of unlicensed software. Recently, court hearings were held on the claims of Microsoft. The defendants were large Belarusian organizations whose employees used illegal software products. As a result, counterfeit software was confiscated, and companies had to pay heavy fines.
Threats from pirated software
The use of pirated software, in addition to punishing copyright infringement, entails many unpleasant consequences.
1. Unlicensed software in most cases contains malicious codes, due to which the user can lose important data, which will be impossible to return. Here are some figures from the IDC report: 61% of pre-installed illegal products are infected with viruses. 36% of software from websites contains Trojans. 20% of unlicensed discs can infect your computer with malicious code.
We conducted an experiment: we studied pirated versions of Windows in detail and counted 63 malicious modifications of the operating system, with the help of which cybercriminals steal data, cryptocurrency, use computers to send spam and viruses.
2. Cybercriminals use the stolen data to hack social networks, email clients and even bank accounts - as a result, the user can lose a lot of money.
3. With the help of counterfeit software installed on corporate computers, cybercriminals “pocket” client databases and send spam to email addresses.
4. Illegal programs contain many dangerous viruses that can disrupt your computer. For example, they can organize remote access to a computer, and with its help organize DDOS attacks on other users around the world, or completely disable it and demand a ransom for data recovery.
As a summary
I am often asked if piracy can be completely eradicated. I am absolutely sure you can. For example, we have our own action plan in several directions. So, for example, we organize educational events, the purpose of which is to explain to users what risks pirated software carries, and to tell about the benefits of licensed software. Or we work with government and law enforcement agencies that are involved in the fight for the copyright of computer software developers.
I would like to note that piracy as a phenomenon will completely disappear only when users clearly realize that installing counterfeit software is like letting a thief into an apartment. In this way, you help attackers achieve their criminal goals and put your personal data at risk.
Over the years of communication with the computer, I have come a long way, which cannot be called direct and hasty at every stage. At the very beginning of my acquaintance with computers, such a concept as legal software did not exist in the minds of almost all users, because applications were obtained on disks purchased in special stores / kiosks. No one at that time even thought that he was a pirate. This applied to both PC applications and games.
After some time, it became clear that all this was pirated software, and offers appeared on the market for the purchase of legal software and games, the cost of which was off the charts and was simply inaccessible to the vast majority of home users.
After some time, the application market developed to such an extent that many free solutions appeared, and the cost of paid solutions dropped to an acceptable level and became relatively affordable for ordinary users.
Since then, my mind has changed a lot in terms of using programs. Finding the program you need has become so easy and accessible legally that I don't even have a thought about using pirated software. You can almost always find a free analogue for solving a particular problem, or buy an inexpensive utility for this. In addition, finding and using pirated software has become difficult and very inconvenient for a number of reasons. I'm not even talking about the illegality of this method. Here are five main reasons why I don't use pirated software.
1. Pirate software is a crime
Perhaps some people care less about this issue and do not consider using hacked software something shameful. But the Criminal Code thinks differently.
Using pirate software, you put yourself in the same line with thieves, murderers, crooks and rapists. You become an accomplice of "carders" who buy licenses from stolen bank cards and spread the received keys on the Internet. This is a very serious crime, for which you face a serious term, and you can also become victims of such criminals (data about the cards, including, the attackers receive from Trojans that are installed with pirated software). Do you want to be involved in this or lose money from your accounts because of this? Then why stimulate this criminal activity?
Plus, legislators have increased the penalties for piracy. Now you can "thunder" for 6 years. Even if you are given a suspended sentence, you will still have a criminal record, and this stigma will remain with you until the end of your life and can greatly complicate it. It's clearly not worth it.
2. Pirate software is not safe
The most dangerous and inconvenient way to find pirated programs is to search for them through "varezniki". Not only are Trojans periodically injected into cracked software, it can be very difficult to download it. You need to either send SMS, or pay for downloading or unzipping, overcome a huge number of pop-up banners and stock up on a good antivirus that greatly slows down your computer.
Since, then I especially do not want to visit dubious sites, and then deal with the treatment of the computer from viruses and reinstalling the system. It is much safer to use legal software and be confident in your safety and the security of your data. Visiting "varezniki" is tantamount to launching executable files with the name "launch me" attached to emails from unknown persons.
If you think that the owners of such sites are some Robin Hoods who steal from the rich and give to the poor, then you are very wrong. They make a lot of money from it. Remember the sensational story of the owner of the Megaupload file sharing service, who lives in a luxurious mansion and owns a whole fleet of incredibly expensive cars. A whole army of special forces arrived at his arrest with helicopters, which for a long time tried to "smoke" him out of a special armored bunker in his mansion, where he barricaded himself. And he earned all this from paid downloads of pirated programs, films and music.
3. Licensed software does not mean paid
Finding licensed software is a thousand times easier. The main thing is to understand one simple thing: licensed does not mean paid .. And finding them is often easier than looking for cracks and subjecting your PC to endurance tests. Types of licenses for such programs: Open Source, Freeware. You can use them for free and it is absolutely legal.
4. Pirate software is uncontrolled consumption
When you use a lot of products that you get for free, it greatly corrupts and corrupts. You stop appreciating what you have. And you quickly get used to it. I want to consume more and more. It's like a drug that you get hooked on and start using.
When the manufacturer starts to "tighten the screws", then you begin to swear and resent that you are being limited. You start looking again and again, becoming an excellent target for intruders in the "dumpsters".
Below you can see a good example of what the constant consumption of freebies can lead to.
When you purchase a license for your own money, you start to appreciate this product and use it with joy. I would like it to be better and more convenient. And in this mode it is much more pleasant to use any product, not only software. When you value something, you love it, you like it and you don’t need anything else to solve a specific problem.
Remarkably, the more expensive the purchase, the more you value the product. Although, of course, there are exceptions, often caused by the manufacturer's monopoly. But these are isolated cases.
5. A good product needs support
If you have a favorite program that you constantly use, then losing it will be very painful and you will have to look for something else, get used to it, study it, find problems in it - all this gives rise to big problems with the convenience and quality of performing tasks. ...
If the product is good, it’s even pleasant to buy. First of all, this will allow him to develop further. If you take a hacked product, then your use will not give it any development, since the developer creates the product as long as there is money to develop it, and this is not a simple process. It involves a lot of people who need to be paid wages and who need to feed their families.
In addition, if you help the developers to make the product better, they will gladly give you a license for free. This will kill two birds with one stone: help the development of your favorite product and get a free license for it.
There are several ways to help developers: find and report bugs; tell about the inconveniences in using the product and suggest an implementation option that, in your opinion, would be convenient; translate the program into your language (for example, Russian or Ukrainian, if there is no such support in the application yet). You can find a lot of options.
6 (optional). With pirate software, you are left alone
If after installing the jailbroken version something went wrong, the application could not be configured, or some problems appeared, you are left alone with these problems. Because no one will provide you with technical support - you are not a client of the company that developed this product.
If you buy a license, you get the opportunity to communicate with developers through technical support and can solve a lot of issues directly with them, get expert advice. Many companies also have the option to receive updates within a specified time frame. And this is a thousand times more convenient than figuring out everything yourself, hopelessly wandering around forums and sites with a dubious reputation.
Conclusion
The use of pirated software is very harmful to moral health - it generates uncontrolled consumption and leads to personality decay. A person ceases to appreciate what he has, because he can easily and for free get any product, even the most expensive and high-quality one. And this is even worse than people spoiled by an unlimited amount of money who buy up all the best and most expensive and in the end simply lose their taste and interest in life.
As a rule, the payment for pirated software is security problems, viruses, the need to have a very good antivirus. You can't just take the pirated version of the program and update it - you have to look for cracks again, visit various dubious sites with pulsating warts that install malicious codes on your PC through security holes. And this entails the emergence of more and more security problems, because when new versions of products are released, developers also fix security problems (among other changes). In this regard, the pirated version of the operating system is generally extremely dangerous to use. It's good if you don't have personal information on your PC that could be useful to cybercriminals. But if there is one, then the cost of losses can significantly exceed the cost of a license for the product that was obtained illegally. It's clearly not worth it.
Quite often I hear a lot of excuses why people use pirated software. And in the overwhelming majority of cases, all this is nothing more than just an excuse for unwillingness to look around, unwillingness to respect someone else's work. What are the delusional excuses like “they already have a lot of money”, “they steal billions, but I just took a pirate”, “I don’t want to pay for an intangible product, because I can’t hold it in my hands”, “I have no other exit, since my pension is 7000 rubles. "
A software product is an analogue of a sausage on a store counter. You can buy it legally, or you can break into the store from the back door and steal it. Fans of pirated software prefer the second option, finding "worthy" excuses for it.
You can almost always find a free analogue or purchase a simpler product for less money. And if you help the developers to make their product better, then they themselves will gladly share the license with you absolutely free.
We are gangstero gangsters, we are campurito pirates, o yes!
The fact that the number of computer users in our country is growing at a gigantic pace is already clear to everyone. Today, behind monitors and keyboards, one can find not only young people, as it was ten years ago, or even less, but also very tiny children, and gray-haired elders. And that's okay. But one could argue that most of the software that all these "young and old" use is pirated.
Yes, we are such people, for us the word “freebie” sounds sweet and attractive at the genetic level, yes, we proudly don’t want to give our hard-earned money to the “gagged bourgeoisie” from the West and the East, and in general, why pay for what is literally lying under feet, that is, on the Internet? Plus, we are generous people, broad natures, we are happy to share free pirate software with anyone.
So the first thing that can explain such popularity pirated software- it's free. Yes, it is free, this is its appeal, especially for our country, where not everyone has the necessary amount (and this can be very, no, VERY big money) to buy licensed software.
The second reason is affordability. The Internet is simply full of all kinds of file sharing services, storages, torrents and other data exchange systems that offer a huge amount of the most diverse pirate software... Cunning pirates do not sleep, and usually the release of licensed software is accompanied by the almost simultaneous release of new hacked programs... There are many opportunities to purchase pirated software and in real sales - in the form of disks.
But everyone who uses pirated software should be aware of all the risks that accompany his computer life, so that troubles do not catch him by surprise.
Unfortunately, there are many of these troubles:
- Usually, hackers break into licensed programs by making changes to the boot modules of distributions, but the source code of the program can be damaged or significantly changed. So when applying hacked programs very unpleasant surprises can await when the result is not what you expect.
- It can often conflict with each other and with the system settings, which can lead to a critical failure and damage or even destruction of valuable information.
- Very often, when a program is "hacked", craftsmen in this business can insert an "unexpected" in the form of a Trojan or a virus into the installation disk.
- The very use of pirated software increases the risk of viruses penetrating, since antivirus programs may not work correctly or even be perceived as viral.
- Difficulty getting software updates and improvements.
- Lack of qualified assistance in case of problems that sometimes entail incredible expenditures of energy, moral strength and time, and in the worst case - and money.
- The ability to "burn out" and catch the eye of law enforcement agencies (and for this it is enough just to store the computer on the screw pirated software), which will immediately attract you for violations of the Criminal Code, which can lead to a large fine or even imprisonment, as well as the mandatory confiscation of your computer and all information.
In general, I just want to say - you need it ??? And then you look at your computer, figure out how much "correct" software is in it, you become sad and understand - no need to judge. It is everyone's business - what to choose in this life, and until the licensed software becomes more accessible - we are all bandito-gangsterito, we are pirate-campurito, o yes!
As many have already heard, there are two types of programs: licensed and a more numerous type - pirated. Let's take a look at the differences between programs in both categories.
Licensed software differs primarily in that you have to pay for its use (sometimes a lot of money). Of course, hackers can break any protection, but this leads to some unpleasant consequences, the most harmless of which is the lack of technical support and the absence of any kind of program updates.
Licensed programs can have a variety of restrictions, for example:
- limitation on the number of starts or the number of hours of continuous operation. A striking example is the FineReader program;
- disabling some, sometimes very important, functions in the free version. At the same time, there are programs that can be used even in such a "cropped" form, for example, Venta Fax;
- impossibility of installing the program or its individual components without entering the serial number and other registration data.
First of all, pirated software differs from licensed software in that you don't have to pay for it. More precisely, it is enough to buy a CD with a set of programs or download a distribution kit from the Internet.
In this case, a special file is attached to the program that allows you to generate a serial number or which disables checking for a license (serial number, etc.). In the second case, changes are made to the executable file, which are not always carried out quite correctly. That is, after you have "broken" the protection of the program, no one can (give you a guarantee that all functions of the program will work without failures.
The most optimal way is to enter the serial number, which was once received by someone after purchasing the program. In this case, you will also have to enter the name and other data belonging to this "registered" user. Sometimes such a serial number is simply selected using special programs. In this case, it is possible that a serial number generator is attached to the program distribution kit.
As a result, several "subtypes" of pirated programs can be derived. Free programs are mainly achieved in the following ways:
- by entering a previously known serial number, sometimes other data. This method is the safest "hack" method, since nothing changes in the program and it works in the same way as the officially purchased version;
- removing the function of checking the correctness of the serial number from the program code, after which it is enough to enter any number. This method is used in programs containing a subroutine for checking the serial number according to the so-called "black list", which contains the most common "left" numbers. In this case, changes are made to the program, after which it is quite difficult to guarantee the uninterrupted operation of the program;
- by copying a license file previously created by someone into the working directory. This method is often used for programs running in MS - DOS. In this case, no changes are made to the program, so the program works exactly the same as its official version;
- removal from the program code of the function of checking the existence of a file license. This method is often used for programs running in MS - DOS. In this case, changes are made to the program, after which it is rather difficult to guarantee the uninterrupted operation of the program;
- removal from the program code of the function of checking the number of starts, which allows for a long time to use programs that have a limit on the number of starts. The same approach is used in programs with a wait for the number of hours (days) of continuous work. In this case, changes are made to the program, after which it is quite difficult to guarantee the uninterrupted operation of the program.
Which programs to use is up to you, but there are several questions that cannot be ignored in this book.
- 1. The one who hacked the program cannot guarantee its uninterrupted operation in any conditions, therefore, it is for you that the program can seriously fail. Naturally, no one will take responsibility for the consequences of this failure.
- 2. Pirated versions of programs cannot be officially updated, which is especially fraught when used for accounting purposes. As a result, an elementary problem can turn into a nightmare. So, for example, it was during the transition to a new form of payment order - all the official versions of the programs were updated mostly free of charge, while the owners of "free" versions only had time to crunch banknotes for each minor update.
- 3. There is no operating manual attached to the pirated software, which somewhat complicates the development of the program.
- 4. Together with the "free" version of the program, you can get the latest virus that will collect all the valuable information and send it to the e-mail address of the hacker who hacked it.
