They Still Think they can Stop us.

Most Software analysts believe that Internet piracy, essentially cannot be stopped, and will always exist no matter how much digital media rights software, Cyber security, and law enforcement evolve. Piracy is here to stay whether law enforcement agencies like it or not. That however, does not detour organisations such as the BSA or Business Software Alliance (Do Anti-piracy organizations think having alliance at the end of their name makes them seem intimidating or something) The BSA releases a Anti-Piracy report internationally and in the USA every year or so that basically shows how much they suck at their job. Surprisingly enough the united states has the lowest Internet piracy rate out of all 103 countries that were part of the study. However the US also has the largest software distribution rate on the planet, so this statistic isn't too surprising. Here's a small excerpt from the report

Six states were chosen because they are the states from which the BSA receives the most piracy reports from the general public, while two others (Arizona and Nevada), were chosen to round out geographical coverage. The eight states account for 46% of the combined PC and PC software market, but 52% (or $4.2B) of the total piracy losses in the US. In addition to the foregone revenue, software piracy also means tech jobs are not created—more than 54,000 in the eight states—and $3.2 billion in associated 2007 tax revenues are lost, including enough state and local taxes to build 100 middle schools or hire nearly 25,000 experienced police or fire personnel.

Trends that tend to lower PC software piracy include strong law enforcement, consumer education, advanced digital rights technology, vendor deals with original equipment manufacturers and distributors, special legalization programs, and effective software asset management programs. These have proven to be fundamental pillars through which various countries have begun to have a lasting and positive effect toward decreasing overall levels of software piracy. This study sheds more light on the local drivers of software piracy as well as the economic and social impacts.

Let's break this down a bit.
Firstly, the BSA contends that about 8.4 billion dollars a year of revenue are lost to Internet Piracy. They fail to mention that the rate of piracy is due to outrageous prices of software. (Adobe CS3 Premium suite just got a price cut to "only" $9000) They then state that 54,000 Tech jobs are not created sue to this revenue lost. What they don't seem to understand is revenue doesn't always equal jobs, and software industries are doing this to themselves by overpricing their product. The software companies really don't have a good basis to complain, they want to screw people and then not have to deal with the fallout that follows, and that's just not how it works. Their method of compensation is to criminalize Piracy, because they want to keep overcharging. In the long run, Pirates need to band together to succeed. If we become organized, we can accomplish most anything. We are an invisible army, that simply needs a leader, who can organize product boycotts, mass piracy, corporate rebellion and not sleep until the Internet is truly free. If such a leader does one day arrive, as an alias or otherwise, be ready, because we will be a force to be reckoned with. VIVA LA REVOLUTION!