Software producers praise govt for piracy decline

Tony Hotland, Jakarta

An international association of software producers gave some rare praise on Thursday to the Indonesian government after a study showed a small decline in the country's piracy rate in 2003.

The director of Business Software Alliance (BSA) for Asia, Tarun Sawney, said that in 2003 the software piracy rate in Indonesia stood at 88 percent -- meaning 88 percent of computers in the country used pirated software -- down from 89 percent in 2002.

He noted that the decline could have been as much as five percentage points if the 2003 and 2002 surveys used similar parameters.

Until 2002, the agency only surveyed the use of business software applications.

Last year, for the first time, the agency conducted a broader survey covering operating systems, consumer software and locally made software, in addition to business software applications.

The 2003 study -- conducted by BSA and the Singapore-based International Data Corporation -- was based on the number of shipped personal computers and software, software load, market growth and revenue garnered from software sales.

BSA is an international organization that promotes a safe and legal digital world. Its members include Adobe, Apple, IBM, Intel, McAfee and Microsoft.

"Although the parameters used (in the 2002 and 2003 surveys) were different, both the figures nonetheless suggest a decrease in piracy activity here," Sawney said.

He concluded that Indonesia had made progress in combating software piracy thanks to efforts by the government, including a number of raids on pirated software sellers and campaigns to educate the public on the importance of intellectual property rights.

Despite the decrease, however, Indonesia still ranks fourth in the world in terms of software piracy after Vietnam and China (92 percent), and Ukraine (91 percent).

Urging the government to push the antipiracy drive, Sawney estimated that if the country was able to reduce the software piracy rate to as low as 78 percent, Indonesia could add US$100 million in tax revenue and create more than 4,000 jobs within four years.

A reduction of 10 percentage points in the rate would mean that Indonesia's information technology industry, which is now valued at $1 billion, could grow to $2.4 billion, he said.

"It creates ripple effects as it stimulates other industries such as manufacturing and paper, as well as the provision of employment in the form of training programs and maintenance," Sawney said.

With an 88 percent piracy rate, Indonesia is estimated to have lost some $90 million last year, down from $102.9 million in 2002.