That's one finding from a recent survey commissioned by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) lobby group, which reported the results in a last week.

"An especially troubling finding in the surveys is that business decision-makers exhibit similar attitudes and say they would engage in similar illegal behaviors to other computer users," reads. "This finding is significant because software piracy in enterprise settings accounts for a disproportionate share of the overall software piracy problem in terms of commercial value."

34 Percent in the United States

Back in May, the BSA reported the results of its , which asserted that the commercial value of PC software theft had leapt 14 percent worldwide last year to $59 billion. Now, as a follow-up, the group just recently hired Ipsos Public Affairs to survey some 15,000 PC users in 32 countries for a better understanding of the attitudes and behaviors behind this phenomenon.

Among its findings were that a full 47 percent of computer users globally acquire their software illegally most or all of the time, including 34 percent in the United States, 30 percent in the U.K. and 27 percent in Canada, the group reports.