BSA looks for Govt tie-ups to fight piracy

BANGALORE: India's software piracy rate stood at 74 per cent in 2004. To fight this menace, the Business Software Alliance (BSA), a global non-profit organization is looking to increase relationships with trade bodies, government organizations and enforcement agencies so that there are proactive measures to encourage the use of legitimate software.

Speaking to CyberMedia News, Jeffery J Hardee, VP and regional director, Asia-Pacific, BSA, termed it an irony that India which had gained global recognition for software services exports , still witnessed a high rate of piracy.

"Our studies show that Lower piracy rate is proportional to the IT sector's contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of any country."

With this in mind, he said that BSA is pushing efforts for governments to bring down piracy.

"Governments are robbed off tax revenues and reduced job opportunities because of piracy." He also cited software piracy as a reason why India has not made much progress in PC penetration and IT usage.

Hardee said that BSA's efforts had paid off in Taiwan, which saw a significant reduction in piracy over the last few years thanks to co-branded efforts with the Taiwanese Government.

In April this year, BSA and Nasscom together re-launched the piracy hotline in India. Lavang Khare, marketing manager, BSA, India, said that the hotline received over a hundred calls since April of which 20 cases were filed. The organization is directing efforts at educating the public.

On the issue of whether BSA's efforts are seen as extremely confrontationist, Hardee said that unless strong enforcement is in place, people would continue to turn a blind eye to piracy.

"Users of pirated software are vulnerable to a host of security threats like spyware and viruses. So it is important to send out messaging that can capture attention of the public," Hardee added.

World wide, piracy rate is highest in Vietnam with a whopping 92 per cent in 2004 and the least in the US, where it stands at 21 per cent.