Italian Senator iterates the suit against BSA

[ Thanks to Francesco Marchetti-Stasi for this report: ]

A short update on the BSA campaign in Italy and the related suit. Paolo Semenzato, a Green senator well known for his attention to the political and legal aspects of Internet, presented a new suit against BSA. The senator declared that "the law approved in August allows softare duplication for private use: this is not considered a crime, therefore the message coming from major software houses (sic) is to be considered untrustworthy".

It is very interesting to compare this declaration with a few excerpts from an interview given to "Punto Informatico" by the Italian representative of BSA, Paolo Ardemagni:

"... we had the opportunity to transmit a message in 20 seconds only. A very short time, during which we managed to give the message of what the new law represents..."

"[The suits] are overreactive, the new law already contains the answers to the questions which are asked therein..."

"As BSA, we represent 95% of the software currently used in business." [He didn't mention what is the percentage represented my M$...]

[One of the best, IMHO:]
"Q: Are you sure that people buying a pirated software at a ridiculous price would also buy it at its full price?
A: I think the question should be reversed. If software piracy did not exist, wouldn't the firms needing it be forced to buy it at its real price?"

Unfortunately, the author of the interview didn't think of asking why BSA is using free software on their site...

Related Stories:

• Penguinista.org: BSA's Campaign of Terror(Nov 14, 2000)
• BSA in Italy cries: We are not guilty(Nov 12, 2000)
• BSA advertising campaign in Italy: is free software unlawful?(Nov 01, 2000)