The FBI and Chinese officials have seized more than 290,000 CDs with pirated software in a crackdown on groups in China and the US who were making and distributing the discs around the world. 25 people were arrested in the sting.The CDs have an estimated value of $500 million, with software titles from companies including Microsoft and Symantec. Of course, if you do the math, officials are estimating that the the average disc was worth $1724.13, which just goes to show that the numbers are often somewhat inflated in these operations.
And of course the "retail value" of the software is often based on estimated losses from the companies who make the software, not on how much the bootleg versions will sell for. Sure, some of those who purchase pirated software would buy the legal version if bootleg discs weren't available, but that's not true for everyone.
This is not an endorsement of piracy. Those who create useful or fun software deserve to be compensated for it. All we're saying is you have to take these numbers with a grain of salt.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-24-2007 @ 2:11PM
Ryan Wagner said...
Well, the numbers may not actually be inflated because they could be throwing multiple applications on a single disc. If you've got Adobe Created Suite and Microsoft Office on the same disc, which I think will fit, you could be talking upwards of $3000 just for one disc.
Pretty interesting though.
Reply
7-24-2007 @ 5:21PM
James said...
Of course, the hilarious part about all this is the definition of "loss" that the software industry comes up with (which is about as honest as the definition of "gigabyte" the hard drive industry uses). It's just like how the RIAA claims such-and-such billion dollars in "losses" due to piracy -- what are the chances that whoever pirated the thing (be it software or music) would have bought it at retail price? I spent enough time in a college dorm that I can assure you the answer is going to be a single-digit percentage.
I'm not sure there's a better way to express the amount, but calling the theoretical dollar value of piracy a "loss" is pretty ballsy if you ask me.
Reply
7-24-2007 @ 6:52PM
S said...
Syman-tic sounds about right
Reply