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Avast sees single software license used illegally 774,651 times
Dec 7, 2010, 01 :34 UTC (1 Talkback[s]) (551 reads)
(Other stories by Matthew Humphries)

[ Thanks to An Anonymous Reader for this link. ]

"Protecting your computer from malicious activity for free is easier than it has ever been. But you can guarantee if a license for a paid-for security suite appears online, some users are going to download it.

"In the case of Avast!, a single software license originally only meant to cover a 14-PC business operation, made its way on to the Internet and started spreading. Rather than killing the license code, the team at Avast decided to watch what happened and how many users would break the law by using it. The results are astonishing.

"Over the course of 18 months that single Avast! Pro license was shared and used on 744,651 different machines. At the current cost of $34.95 per pro license, that?s total lost revenue in the region of $27,074,052.45."

Complete Story

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