The software industry sees a growing loss in income every year due to piracy. Last year’s losses alone were estimated at US$550 million, a business representative says.

Indonesia’s Business Software Alliance (BSA) representative Donny Sheyoputra said Tuesday that the estimated figure in 2008 represents an increase  of about 33 percent on the loss of $411 million suffered a year earlier.

“We do not have the exact figures yet, but we estimate that the industry would have suffered a total loss of around $550 million last year.

“The figure will grow to around $600 million in 2009,” he said without elaboration.

According to Donny, Indonesia ranked third, out of around 100 countries,  in term of pirated product usage  back in 2004.

BSA data shows that during 2004, the usage rate for piracy products was around 87 percent.

The country then managed to gradually lower its rank in terms of piracy, to the fifth spot in 2005, and to the eighth spot in 2006 with pirate usage down to about 85 percent.

In 2007 the percentage declined again to 84 percent. “The usage rate of pirated products may be declining but it does not alter the fact that the (financial) loss suffered is getting bigger,” Donny said.

BSA, in cooperation with the National Police Headquarter (Mabes POLRI), recently raided and caught red-handed an architecture consultant company in South Jakarta that was using pirated copies of building design software.

Adj. Sr. Comr. AKBP Rusharyanto, investigator from the Mabes POLRI’s special economy directorate, said that the police would put more priority on looking at companies that used pirated software rather than aiming for individuals.

“It is easier to track down (piracy committed by) companies. We can easily investigate whether they have registered their software,” Rusharyanto said.

Most software that comes with a legitimate license will provide  customers with a special four to 24 digits random serial number.

Customers will then have to enter those numbers through an online mechanism and then they will receive an activation code, also in a special crypted code, that needs to be entered into the software company’s database.

Upon entering the activation code, the software companies’ automatic mechanism will provide an authorization to the customers, only then will the customers be able to fully utilize the software.

Companies and individuals that use pirated software will not have their serial number or activation key listed in the company’s database.

However, even with such advanced mechanisms, the battle against piracy is far from over.

Pirated software in Indonesia mostly comes with a “crack” file that can divert the automatic mechanism and gain authorization to obtain full access.

“The fight against piracy is a neverending battle. If we develop a new technology to prevent piracy, the pirates will always find a new way to crack it.

“The best thing we can do is to educate the public to have a bit of respect when it comes to intellectual rights,” said Donny.

He stressed that the country could have gained an extra tax income of around 10 percent of the total income lost. (hdt)

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