Software Police Target Thai Businesses

[Nio]

This made news in Phuket but not in Bangkok or anywhere else that I can tell?

7 pages of posts about all these companies getting busted and closed down and NOT ONE COMPANY name?

This story seems a little short of facts and high on speculation

Another Chicken little the sky is falling syndrome the same way they claim 3 people manipulated the stock market to fall overnight?

With 7 pages of posts you think at least one person would have some facts to post instead of "busted large company"

It is very strange you know it is a large company but then no one can say which company it is

Pattaya City News has no problem publishing the names and photos of any offenders that are arrested

Why all the speculation and inuendo without one verified fact?

[mjochim]

They should target the schools and universities. I know at the one I taught at, every computer had pirated Windows and SPSS including the ones in the classrooms. The only legal software that I knew of was in my CPU in my office. The good part about my machine is everything worked and downloads were legal.

They have been going after schools as well. At least one local school has been fined 500,000 baht due to illegal downloads found on a teacher's laptop. The school where I work had "computer problems" starting a couple of months ago (just before the start of the term break) and shut down their network (which made it very difficult to finish up assessments and submit Term 2 lesson plans) for a long period of time. When they made a very few of the school's computers available for use, Microsoft Office was no longer installed -- it had been replaced by OpenOffice.

Notices were also posted regarding the forthcoming visit by the "software police". Apparently, our school was on a list "to be visited." They warned us to keep personal computers out of sight and not to have anything illegal on our USB thumb drives (a photo of one of these notices is attached). Not only is software being checked, but also mp3's, movies, etc. We were told to remove any copied (i.e., basically anything purchased in Thailand) movies and CD's from our classrooms and offices. (Of course, if they really wanted to comply with the copyright laws they would have to remove hundreds of photocopied student books from the classrooms...)

The school's HR director also informed me last week that several of the computer shops in the basement of Big C had been raided and a level-coordinator told me later in the week that HomeWorks had received an 800,000 baht fine and Royal Phuket Marina was "next to be visited."

Edited November 7, 2009 by mjochim

[0zz1]

ok here is an idea. If you cant go totally to Open Source... I love Linux Ubuntu but I cant leave without Photoshop... and correct me if im wrong you cant get Photoshop working on Linux... and please dont mention Gimp.

So have remote fileserver... there are several options to do this. For cheap Charlies there get a website service from some server that offers unlimited space and use that space to upload your work files. For a bit more handy and price use www.getdropbox.com and if the free 2gb is not enough buy the pro version. so if you loose your computer atleast you dont loose your important files and you just go to store buy new one and next day you back in business.

just my 2 cents. I wonder what would the ip cops figure out from my coming set up of legal Snow Leopard OS in Dell computer. would be enough to show them the license or could they figure out that it is actually braking some Apple license agreement.

[MyFriend You]

I personally think this is a great initiative. It is sure to incentivize companies to go for open source alternatives instead of pirated software. But if they are seizing computers to run their check - it's a serious problem. While the initiative has merit, the execution falls short. I'm not sure exactly how they're executing these checks, but one would hope they are not seizing the computers for days/weeks?!? I welcome them to come to our office but if they take our computers for a few days it will have a serious effect on productivity as we're an IT company and rely on our computers to do 100% of the work.

Any ideas how long they seize the computers for?

until you pay the 200,000 baht fine......

[Nio]

They should target the schools and universities. I know at the one I taught at, every computer had pirated Windows and SPSS including the ones in the classrooms. The only legal software that I knew of was in my CPU in my office. The good part about my machine is everything worked and downloads were legal.

They have been going after schools as well. At least one local school has been fined 500,000 baht due to illegal downloads found on a teacher's laptop. The school where I work had "computer problems" starting a couple of months ago (just before the start of the term break) and shut down their network (which made it very difficult to finish up assessments and submit Term 2 lesson plans) for a long period of time. When they made a very few of the school's computers available for use, Microsoft Office was no longer installed -- it had been replaced by OpenOffice.

Notices were also posted regarding the forthcoming visit by the "software police". Apparently, our school was on a list "to be visited." They warned us to keep personal computers out of sight and not to have anything illegal on our USB thumb drives (a photo of one of these notices is attached). Not only is software being checked, but also mp3's, movies, etc. We were told to remove any copied (i.e., basically anything purchased in Thailand) movies and CD's from our classrooms and offices. (Of course, if they really wanted to comply with the copyright laws they would have to remove hundreds of photocopied student books from the classrooms...)

The school's HR director also informed me last week that several of the computer shops in the basement of Big C had been raided and a level-coordinator told me later in the week that HomeWorks had received an 800,000 baht fine and Royal Phuket Marina was "next to be visited."

Since when in Thailand do schools publish notices in all English and no thai?

[Nio]

They should target the schools and universities. I know at the one I taught at, every computer had pirated Windows and SPSS including the ones in the classrooms. The only legal software that I knew of was in my CPU in my office. The good part about my machine is everything worked and downloads were legal.

They have been going after schools as well. At least one local school has been fined 500,000 baht due to illegal downloads found on a teacher's laptop. The school where I work had "computer problems" starting a couple of months ago (just before the start of the term break) and shut down their network (which made it very difficult to finish up assessments and submit Term 2 lesson plans) for a long period of time. When they made a very few of the school's computers available for use, Microsoft Office was no longer installed -- it had been replaced by OpenOffice.

Notices were also posted regarding the forthcoming visit by the "software police". Apparently, our school was on a list "to be visited." They warned us to keep personal computers out of sight and not to have anything illegal on our USB thumb drives (a photo of one of these notices is attached). Not only is software being checked, but also mp3's, movies, etc. We were told to remove any copied (i.e., basically anything purchased in Thailand) movies and CD's from our classrooms and offices. (Of course, if they really wanted to comply with the copyright laws they would have to remove hundreds of photocopied student books from the classrooms...)

The school's HR director also informed me last week that several of the computer shops in the basement of Big C had been raided and a level-coordinator told me later in the week that HomeWorks had received an 800,000 baht fine and Royal Phuket Marina was "next to be visited."

Interesting to know how a level coordinator at your school knew the exact amount of the fine Homeworks received?

I can bet you won't find anything definitive in Thai law concerning fine amounts and I think the power behind Homeworks is way more than enough that NO police would be over there fining them. If you understand Thailand very well the biggest fish never get bitten by the small fish. To think Homeworks would fork over almost US $25,000 for this fine, I don't buy it one bit. Take this kind of money from the rich and someone down the chain would get hammered. The police never dare to mess with the rich here for any reason.

If you have a MP3 on your computer how in the world would the police know whether or not you burned this MP3 from a CD you legally owned or downloaded it illegally?

Illegal Software on a thumbdrive? Gee I wonder how well photoshop would run off a thumbdrive?

At least one local school was fined, but for the 100th time no school name, date, factual verification?

It would be nice for someone to post some actual facts instead of all this heresay and inuendo.

[katana]

...As opposed to ObjectDock i can chose what icon to use for a launcher in that dock ...

Can do that in Objectdock too.

R-click the desired application in the dock>Dock Entry Properties>Change Image

[mjochim]

Since when in Thailand do schools publish notices in all English and no thai?

The photo was from the English side of the notice board in the Admin Office of the school's English Programme (with over 80 farang teachers). There are also announcements in Thai... I didn't upload the photo showing more of the notice board so that the pertinent notice could be easily read, and also to keep the name of our school private. Also, we DO know the name of the schools that have been fined (notice, more than one now) but I see no reason to spread THAT information. I'm sure someone from those schools will give a first-hand account soon...

As for the Big C computer shops, HomeWorks, and Royal Phuket Marina -- the information I gave does seem to be common knowledge (being much talked-about at the internet cafe below my home and also amongst Thai friends over the past weekend).

[newtronbom]

...As opposed to ObjectDock i can chose what icon to use for a launcher in that dock ...

Can do that in Objectdock too.

R-click the desired application in the dock>Dock Entry Properties>Change Image

Right on brother! Some people have "MS filters" preinstalled in their head and just can't see "the trees for the wood"!

[Oberkommando]

Try buying a pirate Thai artist's CD and then you'll understand. Piracy of foreign software and music is seen as a victimless crime, or at least a crime that doesn't affect Thai Intellectual Property and Thai company revenue, so it really doesn't matter.

100% Correct and needs reiterating.

[newtronbom]

Try buying a pirate Thai artist's CD and then you'll understand. Piracy of foreign software and music is seen as a victimless crime, or at least a crime that doesn't affect Thai Intellectual Property and Thai company revenue, so it really doesn't matter.

100% Correct and needs reiterating.

They still do it though and that's why the film and music industry here (the actors in those dozy soaps get ridiculous money though) are in the <deleted>! They are doing things now because they are "hurting" themselves and because of interntl pressure! Not much to do with whats right or wrong - economics is all:(

[newtronbom]

Try buying a pirate Thai artist's CD and then you'll understand. Piracy of foreign software and music is seen as a victimless crime, or at least a crime that doesn't affect Thai Intellectual Property and Thai company revenue, so it really doesn't matter.

100% Correct and needs reiterating.

RE: your sig - at least Khun Abhisit is making an "honest go of it" and doing his best for King and country(as it should be), in what have to be considered "very difficult" circumstances, and seems to me, he is doing very well, all considered!

[Thanh-BKK]

...As opposed to ObjectDock i can chose what icon to use for a launcher in that dock ...

Can do that in Objectdock too.

R-click the desired application in the dock>Dock Entry Properties>Change Image

Right on brother! Some people have "MS filters" preinstalled in their head and just can't see "the trees for the wood"!

Hi

If that refers to me - no such filter here. Sitting in front of my XP box right now and tested it, yup that function is there and works. Nevertheless - the poster i quoted initially didn't even use the regular Windows theme icons but rather the stock ones from ObjectDock and that gave it away - nothing "Windows 7 eye-candy" there but an additionally downloaded and installed application (ObjectDock).

In my case by the way the icons in the dock got changed by themselves when i hacked a new theme into my XP here ("hacked" because it isn't exactly easy on Windows XP) which is why assumed they are bound to the Windows theme. In AWN each new launcher comes with a default icon for the application that does the activity (Nautilus, Terminal, the application itself or whatever) and during setup of the launcher you can chose an icon or picture.

Best regards from one who does not have any filters installed but still prefers Linux over Windows.......

Thanh

[newtronbom]

...As opposed to ObjectDock i can chose what icon to use for a launcher in that dock ...

Can do that in Objectdock too.

R-click the desired application in the dock>Dock Entry Properties>Change Image

Right on brother! Some people have "MS filters" preinstalled in their head and just can't see "the trees for the wood"!

Hi

If that refers to me - no such filter here. Sitting in front of my XP box right now and tested it, yup that function is there and works. Nevertheless - the poster i quoted initially didn't even use the regular Windows theme icons but rather the stock ones from ObjectDock and that gave it away - nothing "Windows 7 eye-candy" there but an additionally downloaded and installed application (ObjectDock).

In my case by the way the icons in the dock got changed by themselves when i hacked a new theme into my XP here ("hacked" because it isn't exactly easy on Windows XP) which is why assumed they are bound to the Windows theme. In AWN each new launcher comes with a default icon for the application that does the activity (Nautilus, Terminal, the application itself or whatever) and during setup of the launcher you can chose an icon or picture.

Best regards from one who does not have any filters installed but still prefers Linux over Windows.......

Thanh

Good on you. As I said - personal choice. I had just reformatted 2x 500 Giga SATAs and had more on my mind than the dock. I'll have neat 3D icons up soon to my own design. My avatar is not stock. Easy really. Like you, I prefer the "personal touch" and I hack too when it gets tough. I'm a lazy old fart, so I'll stick with what I use - though I may do" Leopard OSX and Ubuntu" in a "virtual box" soon, as there are for sure some good stuff to run on them! By the way, do you happen to know if "Unlead Cool 3D" runs on your system? It's great for makin icons:) Cheers. PS: Good to know you don't have those filters, as many do!

Edited November 9, 2009 by newtronbom

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi

I guess you mean "Corel Ulead Cool 3D"? I don't know to be honest - to download a trial version i'd need to register and i can really do without yet another provider of endless "new product" e-mails. I still am receiving weekly e-mails for updates to programs i used years ago, opting out really is no option...... and changing e-mail isn't either.

But i guess it would work on my particular system one way or another - either via Wine under Linux or, for sure, in the virtualized XP. As i said, no "filter" here and not one but two fully functional (and genuine to top it off!) Windows installs available, although just as guests under the Linux host, in full screen mode nevertheless just like the real thing including USB and Bluetooth. That's what i got those for - trying software or do those tasks that absolutely require Windows, for example i am still faster doing certain image manipulations by booting Windows 95, doing the photo work in my good old iPhoto Plus (which i used since 1999 and hence am pretty used to) and shutting down Windows 95 again than doing it in Gimp Gimp, like Photoshop, is simply too difficult for me. I am not a pro

I have yet to find out if VMware Workstation supports Mac OSX - i'd love to try that, too, and wouldn't mind buying it if i like it. Just i won't buy the expensive hardware required to run it natively without needing to crack, hack and otherwise mess around with. if i had the money i'd buy a Mac in no time, they are good machines, just for me too expensive (plus i simply love to build my own).

Kind regards.....

Thanh

[Screws]

I don't do windows, & I don't know to what extent this applies in Thailand, but;

'Seven perfectly legal ways to get Windows 7 cheap (or even free)'

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=1533&tag=nl.e550

If anybody has any luck with it (or other info) you might post back -

[virtualtraveller]

They should target the schools and universities. I know at the one I taught at, every computer had pirated Windows and SPSS including the ones in the classrooms. The only legal software that I knew of was in my CPU in my office. The good part about my machine is everything worked and downloads were legal.

They did, Yupparaj School in Chiang Mai (prestigious private) got done for 5 million baht fine!

In fairness, they've been sending companies warning letters for weeks, advising them to comply ahead of a crackdown.

[sedeflonga]

This whole thing is just ridiculous. Kind of like sentencing the guy doing a line of coke to 10 years in jail, while the guy selling kilos a day goes out for drinks with the MIB at the local pub.

exactly what I think!

[apex2000]

I have worked as a volunteer in several Thai schools and now work at a non-formal education centre in Thailand. In all my time working in this manner - a total of 14 years - I have NEVER seen any licenced software being used on any machines. Surely the government should put its own house in order before 'attacking' the private sector.

[newtronbom]

Hi

I guess you mean "Corel Ulead Cool 3D"? I don't know to be honest - to download a trial version i'd need to register and i can really do without yet another provider of endless "new product" e-mails. I still am receiving weekly e-mails for updates to programs i used years ago, opting out really is no option...... and changing e-mail isn't either.

But i guess it would work on my particular system one way or another - either via Wine under Linux or, for sure, in the virtualized XP. As i said, no "filter" here and not one but two fully functional (and genuine to top it off!) Windows installs available, although just as guests under the Linux host, in full screen mode nevertheless just like the real thing including USB and Bluetooth. That's what i got those for - trying software or do those tasks that absolutely require Windows, for example i am still faster doing certain image manipulations by booting Windows 95, doing the photo work in my good old iPhoto Plus (which i used since 1999 and hence am pretty used to) and shutting down Windows 95 again than doing it in Gimp Gimp, like Photoshop, is simply too difficult for me. I am not a pro

I have yet to find out if VMware Workstation supports Mac OSX - i'd love to try that, too, and wouldn't mind buying it if i like it. Just i won't buy the expensive hardware required to run it natively without needing to crack, hack and otherwise mess around with. if i had the money i'd buy a Mac in no time, they are good machines, just for me too expensive (plus i simply love to build my own).

Kind regards.....

Thanh

Thanks for that Thanh. Yes I did mean "Corel Ulead Cool 3D". It is one of the quickest and easiest to use 3D animation programs, to create "gif"s, 3D icons and short simple 3D animations. May be when I get time, I will install "virtual box" and try it on ubuntu. Photoshop is hard to beat, but as you say it is not easy to learn fully or to use. Have never seen a "Legal version" of Photoshop 4 sale here either......