The British have come up with a monetary incentive for reporting the illegal use of software, as described in this story from News.com: “Rat on your pirate boss, win $36,000.”

According to the article, an anti-software group called the Business Software Alliance “already has an online hotline for people to report the use of illegal software within U.K. organizations… it opened 420 investigations in the last year as a result of these hotline tip-offs, the majority of which came from people in IT.”

Siobhan Carroll, the BSA regional manager for Northern Europe, says, “We are doubling the reward to make software licensing a priority for managers. It might seem harsh, but at the end of the day there are 27 percent of businesses who think they can get away with it.”

Having a reputation as a whistleblower/rat fink/snitch isn’t something that you’d ordinarily covet or be proud of. Maybe that’s why the majority of people who’ve reported this type of illegal activity are actually disgruntled employees. “A YouGov poll commissioned by the BSA found that three-quarters of workers would consider reporting their company if they felt their boss had treated them unfairly, while a quarter said poor pay raises would also spur them to rat on their employer.”

Are you loyal to your boss? At what price would you abandon your boss’s loyalty?