Asia software piracy spiralling
p2pnet.net News:- Software piracy in Asia is out of control.
Fifty-three percent of the software installed on Asia Pacific region PCs was pirated in 2003, representing losses totalling close to $US8 billion, says the BSA (Business Software Alliance).
For every two dollars’ worth of software bought legally, a dollar’s worth was obtained illegally, it says.
Major Study Finds 53 Percent of Software in Use in Asia Pacific Region is Pirated (Singapore)
Major New Study Finds 52 Percent of Software in Use in Hong Kong Is Pirated (Hong Kong)
Major Study Finds 53 Percent of Software in Use in Asia Pacific Region is Pirated
New Study Shows 72 Percent of Software in Use in the Philippines Is Pirated (Philippines)
That’s what you see when you hit the BSA Asia press page.
Asia Pacific has the fourth highest piracy rate and the second highest revenue losses in the world, it says.
Piracy rates in Asia Pacific range from a high of 92% in Vietnam and China to a low of 23%t in New Zealand.
Software piracy tends to be high in markets such as China and India with high PC market growth and if the piracy rate in these emerging markets doesn’t drop, “the worldwide piracy rate would continue to increase,” says the report, which found Singapore had a piracy rate of 43% with piracy losses amounting to $US90 million.
Top Ten pirating countries
China 92%; Vietnam 92%; Ukraine 91%; Indonesia 88%; Russia 87%; Zimbabwe 87%; Algeria 84%; Nigeria 84%; Pakistan 83%; and, Paraguay 83%.
Dollar Losses by Region ($M)
Western Europe $9,600; Asia Pacific $7,553; US/Canada $7,232; Eastern Europe $2,111; Latin America $1,273; and, Middle East/Africa $1,026,
Ranking by Software Piracy Losses Piracy of $100 Million or More
United States $6,496; China $3,823; France $2,311; Germany $1,899; Japan $1,633; United Kingdom $1,601; Italy $1,127; Russia $1,104; Canada $ 736; Netherlands $ 577; Brazil $ 519; Spain $ 512; Korea $ 462; Mexico $ 369; India $ 367; Australia $ 341; Poland $ 301; Switzerland $ 293; Sweden $ 241; Belgium $ 240; Denmark $ 165; Indonesia $ 157; Norway $ 155; Finland $ 148; South Africa $ 147; Thailand $ 141; Taiwan $ 139; Malaysia $ 129; Turkey $ 127; Saudi Arabia $ 120; Other CIS $ 112; Austria $ 109; Czech Republic $ 106; and, Hong Kong $ 102
Countries once seen as high-piracy areas but now notable by their absences from the lists are Taiwan, Ireland, Portugal and Puerto Rico, all of which have rates below the median, says the BSA.
July 7th, 2004 at 4:50 pm
When I visited Hong Kong and Beijing, there were little street shops and stalls within large buildings that sold high-end software for pennies on the dollar. When the Police neared to arrest the shop owners, they were nowhere to be found: informants told the shop owners about the Police, they immediately shut down their shop, lock its gates, then leave; the Police would arrive and wouldn’t (or couldn’t) do anything about it. Obviously, the Police need to be empowered with the ability to confiscate bootleg software whether the owner is there or not.
There’s no way to prevent piracy from happening: it’s simply too easy to duplicate programs. Anti-piracy schemes built into software has proven to be more of a hassle than a success, so that’s not a workable solution. However, we can limit some of the piracy by encoding into the applications that they only present themselves in say, English–at least that way, non-English speakers wouldn’t be interested in buying pirated copies since they wouldn’t be able to use or read it.
July 7th, 2004 at 5:19 pm
Hmm, interesting — when did Puerto Rico gain independence?
July 7th, 2004 at 6:36 pm
People in asia can’t afford $1200 for Adobe Photoshop. That’s like an entire year’s earnings for most people.
These BSA stats are fundamentally flawed. A great majority of people who pirate software there can’t afford to buy it legally, even if they wanted to. They simply don’t have the money. You can’t claim losses from sales that never would have happened in the first place.
July 7th, 2004 at 7:43 pm
*You can’t claim losses from sales that never would have happened in the first place.*
Sure you can if you’re part of the entertainment industry – it’s SOP ; )
July 8th, 2004 at 3:34 am
What exactly constitutes software piracy? Just about everything I use on even a monthly basis is either a free program or paid for. But since I have saved most warez I ever downloaded, probably hundreds of software programs, I might be considered a major offender.
On my computer I have installed quite a few warez programs that I virtually never use – I try them out and then after sitting there dormant for a long time I eventually uninstall them to clean up the start menu. Kind of like cleaning out a cluttered refrigerator, closet or attic every now and then.
I can understand the significance of a business using expensive technical software illegally, as this gives them an unfair competitive advantage over a competitor that purchases its software. In many businesses in scientific, engineering and technical fields, the cost of software licenses can be a major operating expense. But how do you compare a business that uses unregistered software professionally to a consumer that uses it only very occasionally if at all?
Rather than going after the little guys like college students who write cracks, First World governments should target the corporations within their own borders that outsource jobs to subcontractors in countries which are known to use pirated software. How about some laws making all the Haliburtons pay a hefty fine if even one of their foreign subcontractors is caught using illegal software. The problem is that these corporations know very well that those 3rd world companies – and sometimes their own overseas subsidiaries – that they outsource to are using bootleg software. Yet they consider it someone else’s problem as long as outsourcing saves them money. The big corporations are, as usual, not held accountable, and can easily get away with it because of who they are.