As I write this, my system is being thoroughly scanned after contracting a virus due to piracy.
Not, as you might expect, because I downloaded a pirated program (actually quite safe these days), but because I was tracking down Web sites where pirated versions of my software were discussed or hosted, and logged onto a site that instantly downloaded a virus onto my system. I have McAfee installed—but you don't need to go to pirating sites to get pirated software anymore, and McAfee says more than 50% of those sites are safe as far as viruses are concerned anyway.
Fortunately, as a computer programmer, I know where these viruses typically hide, and I was able to remove it. Unfortunately, I've learned some things about online piracy the hard way.
I am the author and creator of Sagelight Image Editor, and this software, only recently released, has already been pirated. In two weeks, over 100,000 copies of the pirated version have been downloaded. This estimate may be conservative. Mainstream file-hosting sites where people upload pirated software (these sites can host legitimate software as well) report 15,000 downloads here, 10,000 there—but most do not report statistics. My logs support this, as I see a large amount of activity on my site from people who have pirated the program and are looking for tutorials or other help. My software also has an option to check for new versions, and a few of the people who pirated it turned this option on—though most wouldn't, considering it reveals the user's IP address to my server.
It's easier to pirate than ever before. Mainstream sites like RapidShare or DepositFiles carry pirated software such as mine, uploaded by anonymous users. Torrent sites, known for facilitating software piracy, too, are becoming more mainstream. Pirating used to be difficult and left you prone to viruses—this kept the honest people honest (like the lock on a door). But this is no longer true. It's similar now to stealing office supplies—wrong, yes, but who does it hurt if I'm not going to buy it anyway?
Pirating is now safe. You don't have to worry about viruses much. There are dozens and dozens (perhaps hundreds) of download and torrent sites.
It is not that easy to get your software that's been pirated removed. For large corporations, yes, but not for people like me who run an independent (and not wealthy) company. There are too many mainstream and torrent sites for me to devote a lot of time sending takedown notices. Also, many of these anonymous software hosting sites require legal notifications. This has to be budgeted into any company now; for an independent, this just isn't going to happen.
And some people—because it's so mainstream now—don't realize a version is pirated when they download it. It's billed as a “free image editor” by whoever pirated it, and comes from, again, mainstream sites like Rapidshare and other anonymous file-hosting sites. It used to be that you had to log on to an obvious pirate site such as MorfeUsCrackZoneX!.ua, but now all you need to do is search Google (for, say, “free image editor”). The people who pirate the program change information in the software itself. In my case, among other things “copyright © 2008-2010, 19th Parallel, LLC” was removed and replaced by one of the pirate blog/Web site names.
Last year I had this same problem with the previous version of my software, called Lightbox. Our Sagelight software is pirated under at least 10 different names; including the Lightbox version, it's probably at least 20.
Now I'm wary about pursuing the extent of the piracy because of the danger of downloading another virus. I may just have to live with it. I could get a few download sites to take it down, but in almost every case, on that site there are multiple links to other sites, so the pirating wouldn't stop unless I had the money/power to pursue it aggressively, which I don't.
What can I do? I can only hope it represents some form of positive exposure and hope for a silver lining. With luck, some people will use their pirated version as a form of “trial” and decide to be honest and buy the software. But I haven't seen any return yet on that.
From the perspective of a very small business, piracy is serious and very different than for a book publisher who loses 10% off the top. If this were only 10% of my revenue, I might not have much to say.
