"The penalties [for piracy] are not severe enough to create a deterrent as are other crimes such as drug trafficking, extortion, robbery and prostitution," said Richard LaMagna, director of worldwide piracy investigations at Microsoft who spoke at the 22nd International Asian Organised Crime Conference held in San Francisco.
LaMagna cited two reasons for the growth of hardware and software piracy among Asians. First, this type of crime has an air of respectability because Asians "don't view it as a serious criminal violation." Second, the economies of China and Taiwan have become more open in recent years with less regulation of immigration and more business investment.
"Asians have been clever, smart to see the opportunities in high-tech crime," he said. "They have a natural inclination toward it because they grew up around well-developed technology industries." To combat piracy among Asians, LaMagna said authorities must understand how Asians use technology, know the fundamentals of their culture and how they conduct business, and have tougher laws and penalties.
According to information provided by Microsoft, the Business Software Association and Software & Information Industry Association estimate that revenue lost to software piracy for business applications in the United States during 1998 was US$2.9 billion; worldwide, it was US$11 billion, or four out of every 10 copies pirated.
Countries with the highest dollar losses because of software piracy in 1998 were the United States, China, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Brazil, Italy, Canada and Russia. These losses totaled US$7.3 billion.
Microsoft reported in February that it seized 4.3 million units of counterfeit company software during fiscal 1999, as opposed to less than 500,000 units in fiscal 1996. A breakdown of the countries of where this software was seized was not available from Microsoft.
Microsoft research shows that there are four most common types of piracy: unlicensed copying by individuals or businesses; installation of unlicensed software on PCs sold to consumers; illegal software duplication and distribution; and mis-channeling, which is software distributed under special licenses and then redistributed to others who don't hold or qualify for these licenses.
