The Business Software Alliance collects tens of millions of dollars in settlements from companies it accuses of software piracy, but it doesn’t have to file lawsuits to do it. Instead, the BSA usually gets companies to convict themselves through a “self audit.”
The BSA generally begins investigating businesses after a tip from an employee. Software vendors can also initiate or lend credence to a complaint if they tell the BSA that an organization has, for example, bought suspiciously fewer software licenses than it has employees.
