Attached Link: SIIA's Report on Global Software Piracy 2000 [PDF]

"In fact, piracy is reportedly on the rise, which would directly contradict that presumption." I should have stated that "piracy is reportedly on the rise globally", as there are some geographical areas in which piracy has decreased, as well as many in which it has increased. However, the reason for the decrease cannot, or has not been, tied to the proliferation of "protection schemes". There are far too many factors that "could" be the cause of the decline, and I am sure that protection schemes are a part, but it would be difficult at best to qualify and quantify what has caused the decrease in piracy, say in the US: "In the United States, for example, the level of piracy has been reduced from 48 percent in 1989 to 25 percent in 1999." - SIIA's Report on Global Software Piracy 2000, page 21. (Ref the link.) However, the methodology in determining their facts and figures is stated only as: "The piracy loss and rate estimates upon which this report is based are the result of a commissioned methodology and study by International Planning Research Group (IPR). SIIA and the Business Software Alliance jointly commissioned IPR to develop and implement a methodology resulting in data both groups would jointly release annually." In an attempt to locate the "International Planning Research Group" to investigate just what that "commissioned methodology" is, a Google search only brings up two SIIA links; one of which is the PDF. This, to me, would indicate that it is only in use by SIIA and the "commissioned" part would indicate that they paid for the study which, to me, presents a form of bias in and of itself. Now, if the study was conducted by an impartial third party, it would hold more credence in my POV.