2007 US State Piracy Study
Source: Business Software Alliance
From press release:
The theft and use of illegal personal computer software is well above the national average in some of the nation’s largest and fastest-growing states, while the impacts are serious and wide-ranging. These are among the findings of the 2007 State Piracy Study, released today by the Business Software Alliance (BSA), an international association representing the software industry and its hardware partners.
The national average for software piracy in 2007 was 20%, meaning that one in five pieces of PC software in use in the United States was unlicensed. States with piracy rates well above the national average include California, 25%; Illinois, 22%; Nevada, 25%; and Ohio, 27%. States closer to or below the national average include Arizona, 21%; Florida, 19%; New York, 18%; and Texas, 20%. The study was conducted by IDC, the information technology industry’s leading global market research and forecasting firm.
Software piracy in the eight states studied cost software vendors an estimated $4.2 billion, which is higher than the national figure for all other countries in the world except China. Lost revenues to software distributors and service providers were an additional $11.4 billion, for a total tech industry loss of more than $15 billion.
Software piracy also has ripple effects in local communities. The lost revenues to the wider group of software distributors and service providers ($11.4 billion) would have been enough to hire 54,000 high tech industry workers, while the lost state and local tax revenues ($1.7 billion) would have been enough to build 100 middle schools or 10,800 affordable housing units, or hire nearly 25,000 experienced police officers.
+ Full Report (PDF; 262 KB)
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