Microsoft:Firms buying into piracy
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Begüm Gürsoy - Referans
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mayıs 05, 2009 00:00
ANKARA-Recent Microsoft research has revealed that public institutions and big companies, which invest millions of dollars in Turkey, use pirated software.
"The rate of pirate software use is 65 percent in Turkey. This means two out of every three copies of software are unlicensed," David Finn, Microsoft’s chief consultant, told Referans. "The piracy not only harms the software sector but also undermines local economic growth," Finn said, adding that if Turkey’s software piracy was to decline by ten points, there would be an increase in job opportunities and national income. Accordingly, national income would increase about $650 million and 36,000 jobs would be created.
Piracy, source of income for criminal gangs
Finn claimed that fake software created a source of income for organized crime gangs. "We found out that false software is mostly produced by crime gangs so every time false software is used these gangs profit," he said.
Stating that piracy use had decreased in many countries thanks to special methods, Finn said Western Europe has seen a decrease in the use of pirated software from 79 percent in 2002, to 36 percent.
"Italy has decreased the use of piracy in the country from 92 percent to 55 percent in five years," he maintained, adding that cooperation with the private sector and the public institutions was a very important component in the fight against piracy. "It is impossible to reduce the use of piracy unless the state helps," Finn noted.
He also touched upon the importance of intellectual property and said it was an important issue for Turkey in terms of its full membership to the European Union.
Finn announced that some new projects would be implemented in Turkey to fight pirate software. "One of these will be related to internet cafes where the use of piracy is very high," he said.
He also warned the users against the great risks fake CDs bring about. "People keep their confidential data, such as bank accounts and photos, at their personal computers. Such data can be stolen or deleted through malicious codes of the pirate software," he maintained.
Referring to a special study that was carried out a couple of years ago, Finn also stated that they purchased fake CDs from 17 different countries, including Turkey. "In the forensic analysis of software codes on the disks, it was found that one third of the CDs did not start. They were so flawed that they did not even work," he said, underlining that 43 percent of the CDs purchased from Turkey had malicious codes.
Piracy, source of income for criminal gangs
Finn claimed that fake software created a source of income for organized crime gangs. "We found out that false software is mostly produced by crime gangs so every time false software is used these gangs profit," he said.
Stating that piracy use had decreased in many countries thanks to special methods, Finn said Western Europe has seen a decrease in the use of pirated software from 79 percent in 2002, to 36 percent.
"Italy has decreased the use of piracy in the country from 92 percent to 55 percent in five years," he maintained, adding that cooperation with the private sector and the public institutions was a very important component in the fight against piracy. "It is impossible to reduce the use of piracy unless the state helps," Finn noted.
He also touched upon the importance of intellectual property and said it was an important issue for Turkey in terms of its full membership to the European Union.
Finn announced that some new projects would be implemented in Turkey to fight pirate software. "One of these will be related to internet cafes where the use of piracy is very high," he said.
He also warned the users against the great risks fake CDs bring about. "People keep their confidential data, such as bank accounts and photos, at their personal computers. Such data can be stolen or deleted through malicious codes of the pirate software," he maintained.
Referring to a special study that was carried out a couple of years ago, Finn also stated that they purchased fake CDs from 17 different countries, including Turkey. "In the forensic analysis of software codes on the disks, it was found that one third of the CDs did not start. They were so flawed that they did not even work," he said, underlining that 43 percent of the CDs purchased from Turkey had malicious codes.