No surprises on who the leader in software piracy is, but the numbers alone are mind blowing...


July 07, Reuters - World software piracy losses double in 2003. Software manufacturers lost $29 billion to piracy in 2003, more than double the previous year's losses, and about 36 percent of software installations worldwide are pirated copies, an industry survey showed on Wednesday, July 7. In dollar terms, the losses were greatest in Western Europe, where piracy cut revenues by $9.6 billion in 2003, followed by Asia and North America, the study by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) and International Data Corp (IDC) showed. The BSA, a trade body, blamed the rapid spread of piracy on so-called peer-to-peer networks, in which Internet users illegally swap software and other files such as music for free or at discounted prices. Vietnam and China had the world's highest piracy rates, accounting for 92 percent of all computer software installed in each country, followed by the Ukraine with 91 percent, Indonesia at 88 percent, and Zimbabwe and Russia with 87 percent each. By region, about 53 percent of software on computers in Asia was pirated in 2003, compared with 70 percent in Eastern Europe, 63 percent in Latin America, 55 percent in the Middle East, 36 percent in Western Europe, and 23 percent in North America.

Source:

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle...6&section=news