As a testament to this finding, we document the decimation of online credit-card financed counterfeit software sales due to a focused eradication effort.

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Numerous companies -- including Dell, IBM, Intel, and HP -- oppose the laws, as they see them giving Microsoft the power to not only drag them into court, but also futz with their supply chains. (There's bound to be some counterfeit software being used in Shenzhen, right?) As Microsoft's latest anti-piracy scheme unfolds, there should be plenty more legislative action to come.

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There are estimates of 50 gangs, with more than 100, 000 members, that have set up bases in China and also in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K., where they can make big money trading counterfeit DVDs, software and clothing.

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Threats to the supply chain range from the installation of malicious code in either hardware or software to the installiation of counterfeit equipment and the disruption of the production of critical components.

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Yet even with the threat of fines, people still download black market software, and the sale of counterfeit goods is a billion dollar industry.

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According to the Business Software Alliance, that discrepancy is largely explained by the fact that nearly 80 percent of the software used on computers in China is counterfeit.

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