According to reports by the Canadian Mounties (Motto: Like Police, Only On Horses), the piracy industry cost Canada $30 billion in Canadian currency (USD $45,454). This figure had been bandied about by lobbyists and even the US Ambassador to Canada, ensuring sensationalist headlines much like the one above.

The problem, however, is that it isn’t true. Blogger Michael Geist asked the Mounties about the claim who responded that they “found the numbers on the Internet.” Had the Mounties done a search after I posted this story, think of the press releases they could put out.

PIRACY COSTS CANADIANS $5.99 TRILLION, KILLS BABIES

Piracy=bad and organized piracy=bad++. However, piracy exposes developing countries to new technologies and forces many companies to go open source once they grow out of their haxoring ways and start getting serious. If a copy of Windows Vista didn’t cost $300, the OLPC wouldn’t exist. There are questions about the value and economic impetus for software piracy, but a lot of the problems software manufacturers bring upon themselves — like lying about the real economic effect.

Canadian coppers admit making up piracy figures [TheInquirer]