By Shamila Janakiraman, TMCnet Contributor
Microsoft (News 
- Alert) Corp. announced the release of a broad consumer survey which involved over 38,000 men and women in 20 countries across the globe. They were questioned about their perceptions regarding counterfeit software.
And from the results, it seems that most people are at least somewhat aware of certain dangers facing network security.
According to survey analysts the results showed that most of them saw real danger in using counterfeit software. Consumers agreed that it is not as safe to use as genuine software. The main concerns were data loss and ID theft with many favoring government and industry action against counterfeiters.
In a release David Finn, associate general counsel for worldwide anti-piracy and anti-counterfeiting at Microsoft said, “Consumers everywhere are coming to us with complaints about counterfeit software. They’re asking what they can do to protect themselves. They want facts. And they want industry and government to stand up and take action. Our commitment is to do everything we can to help them.”
The data released by Microsoft clearly indicates that 80 percent of consumers polled worldwide have concerns about the risks of using counterfeit software and 70 percent said they found genuine software more secure, more stable and much easier to keep up-to-date.
However the presence of high-quality fakes in the market prevented the identification of originals from the fake software. About 73 percent consumers included in the survey said that they would choose genuine software given the choice and also over two-thirds of them opined that every one should be careful about counterfeits.
Since 2005 more than 300,000 consumers have offered details regarding fake software that infected their computers with viruses and malware, as was revealed through Microsoft’s How to Tell Web site.
Commenting on the Microsoft survey Jodie Kelley, general counsel and vice president of Anti-Piracy, Business Software Alliance said that there is a need for the software industry and government to educate consumers about counterfeit software.
“Consumers don’t want counterfeit software. They know it’s harmful, and in fact it’s hurting people everywhere. But they need the tools and the knowledge to keep themselves safe from those risks,” Kelley emphasized.
Microsoft focuses on helping consumers via its educational resources besides launching new technologies that make software counterfeiting more difficult and also supporting governments which are desirous of enforcing laws against software counterfeiters.
Only through proper knowledge can knowledge about network security concerns be properly spread.
