A recent Columbia University study found that approximately one out of every two adults (or 46 percent, to be precise) had illegally obtained copyrighted works via the internet. So, unless your firm is very small, or some sort of bizarre statistical fluke, chances are, some of your employees are pirates.
That doesn't necessarily mean that they're non-productive members of society. Time and time again, studies have shown that pirates tend to be the biggest legal purchasers of content; a statistic which anti-piracy groups surely wish wasn't muddying the waters.
The fact that the issue is more gray than either pro- or anti-piracy supporters would have people believe is not an excuse for IT departments to overlook the issue. Yet, a surprising number of businesses do not explicitly forbid at-work piracy in their employees' terms of employment, and do not take proactive steps to ban unauthorized downloads on work networks.
A crucial first step is to ban BitTorrent traffic (unless you happen to be a rare business that requires torrents) among your general user population. Sure, employees could get around that with the proper encryption tactics, but that alone should be enough to deter most of your users from pirating at work.
Second, make it clear that employees are not allowed to have torrent clients on their BYOD devices, and use device management software to enforce that prohibition.
Have a clear-cut series of consequences if employees get caught pirating content on work devices -- either at home or at work. Remember, it's important to be fair, but it's equally important to remove your own potential liability. You don't want your workplace Internet to be throttled, or to receive a settlement threat letter, all because one or two employees couldn't keep their love for piracy outside the workplace.
Clear policies and enforcement will also help prevent embarrassments. TorrentFreak recently released a study which revealed that employees of a variety of major Hollywood studios were apparently downloading pirated games, television episodes, feature films, and adult films from workplace static IPs. If true, these allegation could do serious damage to the reputation of the studios involved, and that damage would have been entirely preventable had the IT staff practiced stricter enforcement.
It's also important for someone to be watching the watchmen, so to speak. Often, the most tech-savvy users are your IT staff themselves. Don't be surprised if many of your IT staff engage in piracy, and don't be surprised, either, to find that some are bold enough to pirate from the workplace. After all, when you police the networks, it's easy to feel above the law.
For smaller companies, financial resources may necessitate blind trust of your IT staff. But larger firms should consider a more robust solution to watching their watchers. For example, have a third party firm audit your IT department. While this won't catch all potential piracy among your IT staff, it should serve as a modest deterrent against the most glaring and blatant examples of piracy.
Last, but not least, larger firms should consider blacklisting not only popular piracy sites (e.g. the various major domains of the peer-to-peer sharing site The Pirate Bay), but also Google searches for such sites. Searching can enable users to circumvent filters by finding mirrors, but if you ban the search, most employees will be unlikely to locate the mirror without extra work.
Your ultimate goal should be to make it as hard as possible to pirate in your workplace, minimizing your liability. Remember, your business is living in a world filled with piracy, and denying that reality is a sure ticket for trouble.
Be tough, yet fair, and let employees know what your expectations are. And, if possible, let your IT staff know that their piracy will also be spotted by independent audits.
I think the key issue is whether the employee is using the pirated products for personal or business use. For personal user I would agreee with you, the company is not responsible.
But if I download software and use it at the business for business gain - now we are in a much different world of responsibility.
Often, the most tech-savvy users are your IT staff themselves. Don't be surprised if many of your IT staff engage in piracy
@Jason, thanks for the post. I totally agree with you that many times IT staff themselves engage in piracy. I think one reason for this could be because no-one is monitoring the IT staff. Moreoever IT staff will have the resources and knowledge about how to overcome the network restrictions.
Employee is breaking copyright laws, downloading vie torrents last episodes of TV Drama or comedy , watching it during his/ her lunch break. Should his employer be punished?
@Mashka, I dont think the employer should be punished because employee is breaking the copyright laws. But employer should always take steps like blocking certains sites so that employee doesn't get a chance to commit piracy.
"Lets say, an employee killed someone during his working hours? Is this also an employer's guilt? I don't think so- then why its the employers' business to care about these things?"
If an employee downloads software illegaly and then uses it in the course of business and this illegal software helps the company be successful - then yes it is the company's responsibility.
If the employee downloads illegal software, puts it on a drive and takes it home. then I see the gray area.
In the case of the employee killing somebody during work hours, hopefully there is no scenario where the death benefits the business - but only then would the comparison truly work.
Should employers care about that so much because piracy is unethical or illegal?
Lets say, an employee killed someone during his working hours? Is this also an employer's guilt? I don't think so- then why its the employers' business to care about these things?
Yes, blocking torrents seems to be just good common sense. As Jason notes in the original blog post here, there are some legitimate reasons for torrents (such as Linux distros) but those can be allowed on a case-by-case basis.
It's amazing to me that some organizations still have not gone through the simple step of blocking BitTorrent traffic. Not only is pirating illegal, but downloading torrents can infect a PC with all sorts of nasty software you don't want, leading to a compromise machine/device. But if there is nothing blocking a user from doing it, chances are that he/she will take the plunge, and continue to do so until it is blocked.
Yes, DrT, BYOD is going to further complicate an already complex issue. The whole area of copyright is ripe for challenge and change, but somehow I doubt that's high on the list of things for the US government to do. It's right up there with patent law! Yet companies must abide by the laws we have on the books and so they have to protect themselves from infringement. If I was a CIO, I'd certainly have an attorney review my BYOD policy vis a vis copyright infringement, my rights as the IT/employer, and the terms by which the company could review the content/source, etc.
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