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** Late Breaking News - April 2, 2001 **
West
coast has a month to get legal, CAAST says
CAAST is offering a
Software Truce between April 1 and April 30 in the Vancouver,
Calgary, Edmonton, and Winnipeg areas. Take this time to review
your software installations and usage and, if necessary, acquire the
licenses you need to become legal within your organization.
If your organization becomes fully licensed during the Truce, CAAST will not seek to impose penalties for any unauthorized copying that occurred before April 1 (unless your organization has already been informed that it is under investigation). If CAAST contacts you, just show your Truce Participation Number and software purchase receipts to CAAST to take advantage of the Truce.
** Article printed in CREBTalk and AREA News
**
Often in computer repair, I will have to fix
something that requires use of the original software install disk. At
that point, the user often says “I don’t have it’ or “I can’t
find it.” The user is now at risk of legal and other actions.
The EULA: Software works like this… you don’t BUY it, you LICENCE it. The ELUA (End User Licence Agreement) governs the terms of use. The EULA is usually presented to you at the time that you install the software. That is the question with the long document that few ever read that asks “Do you agree to the terms of this licence? Yes/No”. When you press YES, you are bound. The EULA may also be found in the front of the Users Manual.
What did I agree to?: With very few exceptions, the EULA states that the software is licenced for use on a SINGLE computer by a SINGLE user. Like $50.00 bills you cannot copy on a colour photocopier, you CANNOT buy 1 copy of say Windows 98 and 1 copy of Microsoft Office 2000 and install it on the 4 computers that are used in your office. It is ILLEGAL under the Canadian Copyright Act (C-42) with stiff penalties. Multiple licences are available for users with 5 or more computers.
The COA: Most software and even some hardware such as the Microsoft Mouse come with a Certificate of Authenticity, the COA. This certifies that the item is authentic and not an illegal copy. In the course of a software audit by officials, you will have to produce the original disk(s) and the COA’s for all installed software/hardware on EACH computer.
Software Audit? How does a nasty software audit get triggered? Did someone phone in for support services from the software vendor? More often by an ethical or disgruntled employee that calls 1-800-RU-LEGIT, the piracy hot line, and turns you in for loading software on multiple computers.
Watchdogs: CAAST- The Canadian Alliance Against Software Theft, BSA-The Business Software Alliance, Microsoft and other manufacturers. Microsoft does “national sweeps” in it’s anti-piracy program, targeting certain cities or industries. In Calgary? Absolutely! There have already been many convictions in Calgary.
What happens? Possibly have your equipment seized as evidence. You will have to pay for ALL unlicenced software immediately. You may get a choice of either facing expensive legal action in court, or, allowing the agencies to publish your name wherever they desire. Not good for business, for sure.
Staff/Realtors: Software that an employee or someone brings in from home to install and use on your computer(s), even without your knowledge, can also land you in hot water. Companies must develop a computer use/software/email policy for ALL users to sign and keep on file. Don’t forget about Internet porn implications. You must check and enforce the policy. Samples can be found at the link below.
In Conclusion: Copies of sample EULA’s from various software packages, sample COA’s, sample software policies, links to piracy related sites, the copyright act, how/where to report, tools, and more can be found at www.cadvision.com/bhooker. Don’t leave yourself open to an embarrassing problem. Act NOW on cleaning up your operation.
Brian Hooker
Softheads Computing South
(403) 540-3856