What are the risks of buying or using pirated software?
Buying and using pirated software is risky for corporate and individual users. Aside from the legal consequences of using pirated software, your organization forfeits some practical benefits as well. Those who use pirate software: • Increase the chances that the software will not function correctly or will fail completely; • Forfeit access to customer support, upgrades, technical documentation, training, and bug fixes; • Have no warranty to protect themselves; • Increase their risk of exposure to a debilitating virus that can destroy valuable data; • May find that the software is actually an outdated version, a beta (test) version, or a nonfunctioning copy; • Are subject to significant fines for copyright infringement; and • Risk potential public and private embarrassment, and in the case of an organization, negative publicity that could cause irreparable harm to the business.
