I can tell you that it came from one major multinational in particular [whose software was being shared], and that we don't represent Microsoft.

A recent consumer survey we carried out in the UK indicated that there is a discrepancy between people's attitude toward physical theft and toward software theft. People will say that they would report someone who was stealing from a physical retailer, but not someone downloading an illegal copy of a software program.

FAST encourage businesses to do an electronic audit of the software on their systems. Our question to people running businesses is ? have you got control of your enterprise systems? The answer is probably 'no'.

This isn't about the money. It's about the principle of stopping IP theft.

These associations will draw together a global network of enforcement agencies, working together for the greater good of the software industry.