Federation Against Software Theft

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The Federation Against Software Theft is a non-profit organization set up in 1984 by the British Computer Society's Copyright Committee to enforce the copyright of software publishers.

The federation's key objectives are to raise awareness regarding software copyright, address shortfalls in legislation, and enforce its members' rights under the law. It runs many membership schemes for publishers, users and resellers.

The federation is a shareholder in the for-profit company FAST Limited, which it describes as its operation arm, and the two share their premises, staff and logo. FAST Limited operates FAST Corporate Services and FAST Consultancy, the former promoting a standard (previously known as FAST Audit Certification) and the latter offering consultancy on software licence compliance, asset auditing and the FAST Standard for Software Compliance.

FAST's combination of profit and non-profit activities can lead to confusion when FAST Limited's salespeople contact the staff of end-user organizations, who typically assume they are dealing with a not-for-profit body.[1][2] As a result, UK computer trade publication IT Week has led calls for FAST to create a clearer distinction between the federation and FAST Limited.[3][4] The federation has denied that any end-user confusion exists.[5]

Although the word Theft is included in the organisation's name, the federation does not actually deal with the theft of copies of software. Rather, the organisation targets copyright infringement of software.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Muncaster, Phil. "Complaints catch up with Fast anti-piracy", IT Week, 2006-07-03. Retrieved on March 2, 2007.
  2. ^ Name withheld. "Firms should avoid contact with Fast", IT Week Letters, 2006-06-26. Retrieved on March 2, 2007.
  3. ^ Bingley, Lem. "The case for breaking up Fast", IT Week, 2006-10-03. Retrieved on March 2, 2007.
  4. ^ Bennett, Madeline. "Corporate IT Forum joins criticism of Fast", IT Week, 2006-07-17. Retrieved on March 2, 2007.
  5. ^ Johnson, Bobbie. "Moral minefield awaits those in search of pirates", The Guardian, 2006-07-13. Retrieved on March 2, 2007.


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