Joint Education Campaign Launched by Federation Against Software Theft and Trading Standards to build awareness in business on illegal use of software The Federation Against Software Theft (FAST) has joined forces with Trading Standards in Cardiff, Southampton and the Royal borough of Windsor and Maidenhead to support its innovative campaign to advise businesses on the issue of software misuse and how to ensure compliance. The campaign based on a comprehensive brochure entitled ‘Software...
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FAST launches groundbreaking online anti-piracy initiative FAST, champion of legal software use, has launched a successful online anti-piracy campaign on behalf of its member Primal Pictures, which is set to be the benchmark for future such initiatives in the UK. The trial project, undertaken to identify the revenue loss to Primal Pictures by online piracy was a two stage programme focusing on Product Piracy Takedowns (PPT) and Positive Product Optimisation (PPO). Primal Pictures was establis...
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Joint initiative between FAST and Trading Standards in Swansea takes out the pirate Trading Standards in Swansea working closely with local police, have conducted a high profile raid on a local man in Swansea alleged to have been selling pirated software on Gumtree, the network of online classifieds and community websites. The anti-piracy raid, using robust powers granted under section 107A of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, took place as a result of evidence presented to t...
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Section 107A used for the first time in anger by Swansea to tackle corporate software copyright offences Trading Standards in Swansea working in conjunction with the Federation Against Software Theft (FAST), have conducted the first anti-piracy raid in the city using the 2007 powers granted under section 107A - together with considerations of possible offences under section 110 - of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. After receiving information from a whistle blower, FAST supplied de...
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The Federation Against Software Theft (FAST), is offering guidance and expertise to Trading Standards in the fight against software piracy as IDC estimates 27 per cent of software used in businesses is illegal. FAST in partnership with Trading Standards, urges businesses to stay safe from software misuse by insisting they monitor their software usage closely. As Trading Standards is becoming more stringent in investigating organisations’ suspected illegal activity, FAST is continuing to re...
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Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation & others v Newzbin Limited sets legal precedent. The Federation Against Software Theft has hailed as ‘historic’ the recent judgement taken by Mr Justice Kitchin in Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation & others v Newzbin Limited case. The Judge found that Newzbin had committed copyright infringement by authorising infringement, that it was jointly liable being involved in a common design with its users to infringe and it was an infring...
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FAST IiS, the not-for-profit association promoting best practice in software use, today held an IT security seminar to educate UK businesses on the latest solutions against the threats of malware, viruses and unregulated use of social networking sites. The event was held at Churchill's Cabinet War Rooms in Whitehall and forms part of FAST IiS’s ongoing commitment to educating UK businesses on the latest best practice advice and technological solutions. FAST IiS Chief Executive John ...
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New Minister for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, Jeremy Hunt, has been reported as saying that the Digital Economy Act is here to stay; news greeted with approval from software industry body FAST. John Lovelock, Chief Executive of FAST commented: "This is great news for the software industry, long struggling with internet piracy, together with other intellectual property rights holders. Our hope is that the graduated response provisions of this Act will be proportionate and drive traffic ...
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The Cloud Industry Forum (CIF), the industry body formed to promote trustworthy practice within the cloud computing sector, today commented on businesses' reluctance to invest in cloud-based services. Recent findings from research firm the Ponemon Institute claims 68 per cent of polled IT professionals in the U.S and Europe, believe it's too risky to store financial information and intellectual property outside of the company's data centre. The chairman of the CIF group and Fasth...
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The Federation Against Software Theft (FAST) has negotiated a £13,000 settlement on behalf of software vendor, Esker, from an NHS Trust hospital based in Sheffield. Negotiations focused on the under-licensing of the Esker SmarTerm 2009 terminal emulation software and the case was initiated following a report made to FAST by a former employee. FAST opened communications with the Trust following an initial investigation by Trading Standards and supported both parties throughout negotiation...
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- Conference allowed end users to investigate feasibility of Software Asset Management projects in an open forum - Following the success of the inaugural event in 2009, the second UK software Management and Licensing Conference took place on Wednesday 21 April 2010 at Reading’s Madejski Stadium. This annual one-day event was organised by the Software Industry Research Board (SIRB), to bring together industry leaders from the Software community to share their knowledge on effective li...
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Federation Against Software Theft (FAST), the voice of the software industry today hailed the adoption of the Digital Economy Bill through the House of Commons. Steps may now be taken with new law to combat the illegal filesharing that threatens the UK’s world-class creative industries according to John Lovelock, chief executive of FAST. “The creative industries are today what manufacturing used to mean to the UK’s economy in previous decades. IP contributes a total of £...
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The Digital Economy Bill has passed its third reading in the House of Lords, and John Lovelock Chief Executive of FAST, voice of the British software industry, urges MPs, many on their final hurrah, not to unreasonably delay the introduction of this important legislation. "The software industry and other copyright holders in the wider creative industry welcome the attention that is being focused on copyright issues in this digital age. We urge clear action against copyright ...
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Over 98% of UK businesses are failing to use software asset management (SAM) to help reduce the legal risk of non-compliance, according to research undertaken by IDC and commissioned by the Software Industry Research Board (SIRB). Of the 400 organisations that participated in the survey, a staggering 98.75% did not see legal compliance as a crucial corporate objective driving SAM corporate policies. When asked "What goals is your organisation trying to achieve with your SAM pr...
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- With a brighter economic outlook for the UK in 2010, the conference allows senior finance and IT professionals to gain insight and practical advice from fellow professionals and an expert panel - Following the success of the inaugural event in 2009, the one essential Software Management and Licensing Conference will take place on Wednesday 21st, April 2010 at the Madejski Stadium in Reading. This annual one-day event is organised by the Software Industry Research Board (SIRB). The theme of...
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Wibu-Systems Ltd, which provides protection for software, documents, video and audio media against unauthorised copying and tampering, access protection for PCs and web authentication, has become the latest member of the Federation Against Software Theft (FAST), who represents the UK software industry. Wibu-Systems is joining FAST to support its campaign against the illegal use of software in UK-based organisations. In joining, Wibu-Systems is demonstrating its commitment to the drive against...
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The Cloud Industry Forum (CIF), the new industry association formed to bring trust to cloud computing, today called for cloud service providers to demonstrate openness and good practices to enable the market to trust cloud computing. New research from Forrester, whose report ‘Business Users Are Not Ready For Cloud Storage’ claims that a majority of firms are not yet enthused about moving their storage to cloud services. According to CIF group chairman Andy Burton, also chief execu...
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The Federation Against Software Theft and Investors in Software (FAST IiS) and FAST Ltd, the independent authority on Software Asset Management and IT Compliance are two independent trading entities with no formal commercial or financial links outside the licensing of the FAST brand name. John Lovelock, Chief Executive of FAST IiS, stated: “FAST Limited was acquired initially by the CS Group in May 2007, which was in turn acquired by the IRIS Group in July 2007 and since that time there...
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FAST IiS, champion of legal software use, is concerned by new research that shows employees are treating their work computers like their home machines. Security firm ScanSafe’s internet data research shows a 55 percent rise in workers trying to download illegal software and other content on the work network. FAST has previously noted that IT environments where illegal use of peer-to-peer (P2P) filesharing takes place, a common method of accessing pirated software, are often lacking in othe...
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- FLAG group initiated to advise and inform on digital legal issues - New to FAST, the FLAG Digital Group has been created to de-mystify the issues around digital law for software. The aim is for the working group to investigate and report on digital matters and for the law firm members to be available for consultation. FLAG is the Federation Against Software Theft’s (FAST) Legal Advisory Group, established shortly after FAST was founded in 1984, and consists of lawyers from many of ...
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