(FAST) A non-profitmaking organisation, formed
in 1984 by the software industry with the aim of eradicating
software theft in the UK. FAST was the world's first
anti-piracy organisation to work to protect the intellectual
property rights of software publishers. Initially
concentrating on lobbying parliament to revise Copyright law,
FAST also prosecutes organisations and individuals for
software theft on behalf of its members and publicises the
legal penalties and security risks.
FAST Corporate Services Limited runs the FAST Standard for
Software Compliance (FSSC-1:2004). This was developed in
collaboration with the
British Standards Institution as an
independent standard of excellence in software compliance.
In 1995 FAST proposed to merge with the
Business Software Alliance created by
Microsoft and which has a world-wide
influence. However, the talks fell through and in 1996,
Novell and
Adobe Systems, Inc. defected to BSA.
Through its activities, and the FAST programme, over ?1.25m of
software was purchased in the UK in 2003 and 2004 with over
?5.5m during the last five years.
FAST Home.
E-mail: <fast@fast.org>.
Address: York House, 18 York Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire SL6
1SF.
Telephone: +44 (1628) 622 121