Crackdown On Unlicensed Software Intensified

[george]

Pirate software raid intensified

BANGKOK: -- Police are now raiding companies suspected of using unlicensed software in an intensified effort to reduce piracy and support the government's "Creative Economy" strategy.

"Over the last month we have reviewed 1,000 investigations in which various businesses are accused of software piracy, and now we are conducting raids on many of them," Pol Colonel Sarayuth Pooltanya of the Economic and Cyber Crime Division (ECD) said yesterday.

In the first raid of this latest enforcement drive, a Chon Buri-based manufacturer of airport trolleys, shopping carts, pallets and other metal products was found using unlicensed design software valued at Bt1.2 million.

Also in the same province, an engineering unit of a global corporation was found with unlicensed design software valued at Bt290,000. This company has assets of more than Bt200 million.

The ECD is gearing up for almost daily raids that should extend through the end of the year.

"Monday was the beginning of what we see as an intense period of enforcing intellectual property rights."

Police say they will continue to track down copyright violators no matter the size of the alleged infraction.

"The only way we can reduce Thailand's software piracy rate is by diligently following up on complaints and taking enforcement actions against those companies violating the Copyright Act.

"We are confident that by aiming to reduce software piracy we can make a positive contribution to the progress of Thailand's Creative Economy strategy," he said.

The ECD has made a significant impact in reducing the software piracy rate of 76 per cent. In each of the last two years, the software piracy rate has fallen by 2 percentage points, a significant drop compared to the reductions achieved in other countries during the same period.

-- The Nation 2009-11-10

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[Scott]

I wonder if gov't offices have licensed software.

[ChiangMaiThai]

I wonder if gov't offices have licensed software.

No, many of them don't. Hypocrites....

[azado]

Seems that not many replies to this post....wonder why?

[thaibkk]

nobody will check police stations or immigration offices to see if they all bought their license...

what do they expect, that a thai, averaging 6000 baht salary per month will spend a whole month on windows xp for home use ?

or pay a week salary to buy one movie on dvd ?

big companies should buy licences or change to a free OS, but free = high cost of linux administrators

crazy world where you can buy any illegal program or game or movie in (almost) EVERY shopping mall

and the pantip concept... one floor legal, next one illegal...

what does it have to do with creative thailand ? If they only target farang businesses, than it would be creative way to get the last ones out and move to more civilised countries in that IP matter...

[BigBikeBKK]

Seems that not many replies to this post....wonder why?

Just another crackdown- yawn...

[foxxx]

a new creative way to make money from westerners

... congrats 'thailand's creative economy' you're making money from a new creative source... fines for illegal software - of which the companies will buy licenses for online, direct from the developer, not the local economy.

Edited November 10, 2009 by foxxx

[Maejo Man]

Same scenario as Thaksin's war on drugs. just call the hotline to get your opposition raided and have their computers confiscated with a hefty fine to get them back

[puyaidon]

I recall a news article some years ago when they first started talking about software raids and two types of organizations were exempt from the copyright law at that time, the government and schools/colleges, universities. Wonder if that still holds?

[Pyae]

How about the personal use, laptop in public area with unlicensed software???

[batblaster]

In internet shop now they do not let me download a moviefile that is on a free website because they said is illegal... What is the joke ? i'm Italian and our national TV leave in podcast all movies they made the day after of the official transmission and i can't take it ?

Like this now is better to do not have a computer anymore , is much more dangerous to use a computer then a gun in thailand.

A quick question... What about tourist who come here with their own computers ?

Edited November 10, 2009 by batblaster

[jfchandler]

I wonder who it is that is filing "complaints" against certain companies, which apparently is serving for the basis of who gets raided...

If they were serious about stopping software piracy, they'd shut down the illegal vendors that inhabit all of the IT malls around town. That's where the software comes from and is sold in broad daylight day in and out, even while the police are raiding end-user companies...

[Kidcosmic]

Same scenario as Thaksin's war on drugs. just call the hotline to get your opposition raided and have their computers confiscated with a hefty fine to get them back

Agreed! and that way everybody loses apart from the boys in brown. My brother came over here and made the great observation that they love their uniforms over here but at least ya know who the criminals are!!

[mrtoad]

How about the personal use, laptop in public area with unlicensed software???

Probably depends where you are, but I'd stay away from Thong Lor.

[Cuban]

With many IT aware people running small internet cafes starting to switch over to Unbuntu, when the schools follow suit to keep up with their kids the country will find that the free OS revolution has taken place and there will be little for the police to do but address real crime.

Perish the thought.

[Arkady]

I wonder who it is that is filing "complaints" against certain companies, which apparently is serving for the basis of who gets raided...

If they were serious about stopping software piracy, they'd shut down the illegal vendors that inhabit all of the IT malls around town. That's where the software comes from and is sold in broad daylight day in and out, even while the police are raiding end-user companies...

Obviously the police are involved in these businesses. The objective is probably to reduce use of bootleg software by large companies, while encouraging SMEs and individuals to continue buying it. Makes sense as a large company only needs to buy one bootleg copy of MS Office that may be installed on thousands of machines. The pirates and their police protectors don't want cheapskate customers pirating their bootlegs like that. They want individuals and small businesses all to buy one bootleg copy each. Conversely the copyright owners do want large corporate customers they can charge through the nose to get licenses for every single machine in the company without even the cost of producing all the discs. As long as there is no crack down on vendors or individual users which would not be cost effective for the BIB anyway, every one will be happy, except the large companies using bootlegs who should have known better anyway. I remember having all bootlegs removed from my office over 10 years ago on the grounds that the company didn't appreciate the minor cost saving anyway and would not appreciate appearing in the local papers, if a police raid found the bootlegs. Yes, there was a similar crackdown then too.

Edited November 10, 2009 by Arkady

[geovalin]

Related to the Sunday handshake with Obama?

[TAWP]

I think it is a good thing that they raid and take on these huge companies that obviously can afford the licenses.

It is just pure greed. And a symptom that they are skimping on costs or screwing others too in other areas.

[new2thai]

With many IT aware people running small internet cafes starting to switch over to Unbuntu, when the schools follow suit to keep up with their kids the country will find that the free OS revolution has taken place and there will be little for the police to do but address real crime.

Perish the thought.

I'm really sorry to ask , but WHAT is "Unbuntu"

[StrandedBusinessPerson]

This is a really nutty one, considering how easy it is to buy pirated versions in the malls. But I don't think the Thai government is stupid with their approach, as cutting out the DVD sales at Prantip etc. won't do a thing really, as all that stuff is just downloaded from the Internet anyway. So are they really that intelligent, to go after the users instead of the sellers? But where would it stop, as some have already suggested: searching student and tourist laptops on the street? Will they start checking serial numbers against purchase orders? How the heck can they possibly regulate at the user end?!? One has to wonder where this is coming from. Perhaps from Micro$oft, with the new release of Win7? Hmmmm....I smell a rat.

[mickba]

I wonder who it is that is filing "complaints" against certain companies, which apparently is serving for the basis of who gets raided...

If they were serious about stopping software piracy, they'd shut down the illegal vendors that inhabit all of the IT malls around town. That's where the software comes from and is sold in broad daylight day in and out, even while the police are raiding end-user companies...

Isn't that what the raid on TukCom Pattaya (reported here y'day) and the confiscation of 30-40 thousand CDs was about?

They do seem to be serious about it. Better nip down and get Windows 7 while you can (1-300 baht now, rising to 4300 soon)

[user82374298374]

>I'm really sorry to ask , but WHAT is "Unbuntu"

Ubuntu is an African word which means 'can't install Debian'.

;>

[pieter73]

With many IT aware people running small internet cafes starting to switch over to Unbuntu, when the schools follow suit to keep up with their kids the country will find that the free OS revolution has taken place and there will be little for the police to do but address real crime.

Perish the thought.

I'm really sorry to ask , but WHAT is "Unbuntu"

Unbuntu is a south akrican bundle for linux and freeeeeeee

Its that stupid farang firm Autocad thats behind this shit.....

lets cal kim jung ill to start a war with the big mouths (USA)

[Thormaturge]

I'm really sorry to ask , but WHAT is "Unbuntu"

President of Uganda I think.

I am impressed to learn that Bill Gates is receiving the full protection of the Thai police.

If ever a man deserved it....

[mickba]

With many IT aware people running small internet cafes starting to switch over to Unbuntu, when the schools follow suit to keep up with their kids the country will find that the free OS revolution has taken place and there will be little for the police to do but address real crime.

Perish the thought.

I'm really sorry to ask , but WHAT is "Unbuntu"

I didn't know either, but Mr Google does..........

http://www.ubuntu.com/

[tmark]

A couple of posts in this thread and a few in the "other" one about this being a plot to attack Foreign business's in Thailand.

For the life of me I can't see ANY mention of that in the press copy. I thought they were just targeting private business and schools .. and hypocritically closing a blind eye to Government departments, police stations and schools.

Someone show me a quote about Foreign Business being a specific target.

... and for God's sake .. why doesn't the Nation or some other media have the balls to ask WHY Government departments and schools are not being raided. Don't tell me about it's pointless as the Government would be paying with one hand and receiving with the other .. forget the fines. Just force them to use legit software. I'd like to ask the powers that be "Why are you so hypocritical?"

Wishful thinking ... TIT

Edited November 10, 2009 by tmark

[ingvar]

Yes! those dastardly pirates should be burnt at the stakes and after that hung by the balls in the town square! Arrrg!

Linux user.....

[Cuban]

I'm really sorry to ask , but WHAT is "Unbuntu"

Ubuntu: A type of fresh fruit tasting like a cross between a plum and a cricket bat.

Ubuntu: A recently discovered sexually transmitted disease causing the sufferer to develop excessive ear wax.

Ubuntu: A 'free' operating system alternative to Windows and Office, containing all the applications you need: a web browser, office suite, media applications and bit-torrent client, instant messaging and much more.

Take your pick.

[JRinger]

and let us not forget how successful the crackdown on sellers of pirated software who operate and sell openly for many years under the protection of .......who? these raids are sponsored by whom? Do all the software companies pitch in and believe they're getting anything for their money? in my observation, the BIB do very well.

[anon467367354]

I think the raids should be targeted at those computer shops that "repairs" your computer, only to find out that your legal OS has been replaced with a pirated one. There has been no recourse for this theft and should be. Target the big Thai companies, sure, but what does the average schmoe out there do when their legal system has been hijacked? Let it rain, but let it rain on all parties involved. Rain is not selective about who gets wet and who doesn't.