No Cyberpirates in this Garden!

We've heard a lot about piracy from Microsoft in connection with the Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) tools. However, Microsoft is not the only company facing piracy issues. Students at Roberts Wesleyan College recently won a major award for their work to EndPiracy.

As members of SIFE, the goal of the students was to help curb entertainment-oriented Internet piracy. They provided the following statistics at EndPiracy:

"35 percent of software installed on personal computers was pirated in 2004. (bsa.org)

105,000 jobs are lost each year due to piracy.. (bsa.org)

Reducing piracy by just 10 percentage points worldwide would generate 1.5 million jobs and add $400 billion to the world economy. (downloadlegal.org)"

A comprehensive anti-piracy campaign was created by the Roberts Wesleyan team targeting high school students. They wrote, directed and produced a 60-second public service announcement (PSA) that took first place in a group of 50 competing SIFE teams. Their PSA also won a nationwide contest from Warner Bros. The PSA was shown to students on the Roberts Wesleyan campus as well as local high schools and colleges in the community. The PSA is viewable at the Roberts Wesleyan College SIFE team's website, EndPiracy.

Congratulations to each member of the team! Additional kudos to Roberts Wesleyan College for providing an incredible educational opportunity for not only the students who researched and created the website and prize-winning PSA, but also for the many students who will see and learn from the that work.

About SIFE:

"SIFE is a global non-profit organization active in more than 40 countries. SIFE is funded by financial contributions from corporations, entrepreneurs, foundations, government agencies and individuals. Working in partnership with business and higher education, SIFE establishes student teams on university campuses. These teams are led by faculty advisors and they are challenged to develop community outreach projects that reach SIFE's five educational topics:

* Market Economics
* Success Skills
* Entrepreneurship
* Financial Literacy
* Business Ethics"