Piracy has reached "epidemic proportions" said Holleyman with a booty of illegal software programs worth US$1 billion utilised annually.
More pirates Down Under?
And the situation is worse in Australia. Jim Macnamara, chairman of the Business Software Association of Australia (BSAA), said currently 33 percent of business software was pirated Australia-wide. He finds it unnaceptable.
"Really we're a comparable country and there is no reason why Australia should be six percent higher than the US."
Macnamara claimed piracy's is costing Australian developers AU$300 million a year in lost revenue. Citing a BSAA commissioned survey of Australia's retail channel in September 1999, he said of the 250 resellers surveyed and 157 responses garnered, that 87 percent of resellers believed piracy to be a problem and 53 percent said they were losing sales or turnover because of it.
For software resellers the picture is also bleak: 16.5 percent or AU$286 million is lost to piracy. This, said McNamera, is "Australian companies employing Australians. So it's affecting local businesses, local jobs."
"There is a common misconception amongst Australians that piracy just affects mulitnational companies. Australia really needs to wake up because it is affecting local developers and slowing down Australian growth," he said.
Is stricter legislation the only answer?
Holleyman's message to worldwide governments: if they can't
provide a legislative framework with more bite to prevent the escalation of software piracy, consumers will not have the confidence to buy online.
Macnamara agreed. "Countries that do not have intellectual property protection will miss out on the benefits of e-commerce. Some of the old laws relating to intellectual property don't translate to the modern electronic age, so governments need to make some changes."
But software piracy cannot be fought by legislation alone -- it's up to individuals to consider the true costs of their actions. "[Piracy is] costing Aussie jobs, it's costing the economy dollars, it's not a victimless crime and it's not just affecting multinationals, it's affecting Australians," said Macnamara.
