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Federation Against Software Theft (FAST) is a non profit anti-piracy organization founded in 1984 to eradicate software copyright infringement and theft by protecting the copyrights of software publishers. FAST prosecutes organizations and individuals involved in copyright infringement by levying legal penalties.
Techopedia Explains Federation Against Software Theft
FAST was established by the British Computing Society’s copyright committee, which successfully lobbied Parliament to make certain changes to the Copyright Act of 1956. FAST had nearly 100 members in 1986, when the British government published its first green paper on Copyright and Patent Law. Nearly two years later, the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988 received royal assent.
In September 2008, FAST and Investors in Software, two of the most respected independent names in the UK software industry, joined to sign an agreement to strengthen and clarify advice given to the end user community relating to best practices for Software Asset Management (SAM) and to achieve cost-efficient license compliance. The new organization was then named FAST IiS, which is also a non-profit organization entirely owned by its members, including software publishers, resellers, distributors, SAM practitioners and law firms.
FAST IiS now works to establish consistent standards, best practices and simplified global messaging. It encourages SAM best practices by end users through knowledge sharing and impartial and informed advice and education.
