The Business Software Alliance (BSA) is tocrack-down on even more businesses using illegal software.

The BSA's decision to get tough with a "hard core of businesses" which think they are "beyond the law" follows hard on the heels of a report into the alleged global rise of software piracy.

In particular, the BSA wants to target those criminal organisations that are using increasingly sophisticated methods to distribute illegal software on the Internet.

Said Mike Newton, campaign manager for BSA in the UK: "This is a strong response from the European software industry, whose tolerance levels have been tested considerably with a growing piracy rate.

"Clearly ongoing education and public policy work is having an impact but we cannot ignore the fact that a hard core of businesses using pirated software believe they are beyond the law."

Last year the BSA undertook enforcement actions involving 6,500 European companies, but says this barely scratches the surface.

Last week the BSA claimed that global software piracy cost the industry almost $11 billion last year. ®

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