Tech Shout!

A survey conducted by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) has revealed that over half of college and university students who download unlicensed software and other digital copyrighted files are experiencing computer viruses and spyware from their downloading activities.

The survey, which was carried out by Ipsos Public Affairs, shows that 55 percent of the students surveyed who download have personally experienced virus and spyware problems. In addition, students who download or file-share also have experienced hard drive crashes (20 percent) and document and file losses (18 percent).

Diane Smiroldo, BSA’s vice president for public affairs said, “Clearly, the risks associated with using pirated software are very real. Yet, many students continue to ignore these warnings and continue to illegally download and file-share software. They need to realize that this activity jeopardizes their computer and files.”

The survey revealed that a majority of students (55 percent) who download report once in a while, or perhaps never end up paying for downloaded software. It was 61 percent of students in 2005 and 68 percent in 2003.

The 2007 BSA-Ipsos survey is the third study of the higher education community’s attitudes and behaviors around downloading and uses of copyrighted digital files, with previous studies conducted in 2005 and 2003.

Smiroldo continued, “The higher education community are significant technology users, and these survey results indicate that too many students are paying the heavy price for lax attitudes and behaviors around illegal downloading.”

Other results from the students surveyed are:

Of the higher education students surveyed, 30 percent are concerned about viruses and spyware.

30 percent of students are afraid of getting in trouble if they downloaded software illegally.

27 percent are concerned about being fined by authorities.

The survey was conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of BSA in March, with 1,196 youths.