Company directors risk fines or conviction if they fail to stop staff from downloading illegal software at work, warns anti-piracy watchdog FAST Iis.
Responding to research from ScanSafe, which showed a 55% hike in workers trying to download illegal software at work, FAST urged companies to tackle issue. Those firms that turned a blind eye could face a criminal trial under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 of 1988.
“Downloading what looks like free software from P2P sites is not recommended. At the very least it’s against the law if the software should be purchased and there’s a high likelihood of malware being a free and silent add-on,” said Fast IiS chief executive John Lovelock.
All firms should make new hires and existing staff agree to an IT policy explaining that action would be taken against any employees using corporate kit illegally.
