A survey conducted by the BSA showed that 86% of hiring managers and supervisors "consider unethical and illegal downloading, file-sharing, and uploading attitudes and behaviors of their job candidates when making hiring decisions."
The BSA news release states that a BusinessWeek Research Services study showed that 29% of hiring managers in the study probably or definitely would not hire a candidate with lax attitudes toward illegal file sharing. And, 34% of these hiring managers would probably or definitely not hire a candidate with a known history of past improper file sharing. Over half of these managers said that an employee would be disciplined or reprimanded for such actions.
The BSA has an awareness program called Define the Line addressing legal use of commercial software. Although this program is designed for college students, it is a good starting point for companies to use during orientation of new hires. It isn’t enough for new employees to simply sign a paper stating that they won’t break copyright law. An informed HR representative or the Software Manager must also give a brief slide show presentation, followed by a question and answer period, to new hires, educating them to copyright law and the consequences set forth by the company for breaking this law.
Your company does have a policy and enforced consequences for copyright compliance, doesn't it?
