Piracy: Attitude or money?

Wednesday, 16 May 2012 00:03 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

SRI LANKA has recorded a two per cent point drop in its software piracy rate in 2011, down from 86 per cent in 2010 to 84 per cent, but remains one of the world’s top offenders.

The ninth edition of the Business Software Alliance (BSA) Global Software Piracy Study shows that the global piracy rate hovered at 42 per cent in 2011 while a steadily expanding marketplace in the developing world drove the commercial value of software theft to US$ 63.4 billion.

In the Asia Pacific region piracy rate increased to 68 per cent, pushed by high levels of illegal usage in Bangladesh (90 per cent), Pakistan (86 per cent) and Vietnam (81 per cent). China and India also fell below the mark with 77 per cent and 68 per cent respectively. Most other countries in the region also had more than 50 per cent piracy rates showing a strong co-relation between developing countries and high levels of illegal software.

This is hardly surprising given that the developing world is the most populous as well as being the hungriest for technological growth. There is also lesser awareness of seeing piracy as a wrong with many engaging in it more out of necessity than any other factor. But is inability to afford original software the only reason for this?

One could argue that since India has a much lower per capita income than China, how is it that its piracy rates are lower? If a population has less money, then, logically, one could expect more piracy, but there are many countries that show otherwise. In addition, PC prices are not necessarily lower in developing countries, showing that people do have the money to purchase original software but refrain from doing so because piracy is socially acceptable – even considered ‘cool’.

Local BSA officials remain upbeat on Sri Lanka’s piracy rates, pointing out that the country has dropped from the top five offenders in the world in the last few years. Sri Lanka has fared better since it topped the rankings and many put it to better policies and greater awareness of piracy as an offence.

The report also points out that globally, the most frequent software pirates are disproportionately young and male — and they are more than twice as likely to live in an emerging economy as they are to live in a mature one (38 to 15 per cent).

Business decision makers admit to pirating software more frequently than other users — and they are more than twice as likely as others to say they buy software for one computer and then install it on additional machines in their offices. This is in fact causes the biggest proliferation of piracy since one company could have dozens or even hundreds of computers using pirated software. Indeed if companies can afford machinery and other infrastructure, then it stands to reason that most can afford legal software.

Globally, there is strong support for IP rights and protections in principle, but a troubling lack of incentive for pirates to change their behaviour in practice. Just 20 per cent of frequent pirates in mature markets — and 15 per cent in emerging markets — say the risk of getting caught is a reason not to pirate software.

Given these points, it appears that an attitude change and stronger law enforcement are the twin fighters against software piracy.