INTERVIEW — VANESSA HUTLEY, Vice-President, BSA

‘We are not anticipating a rise in software piracy in India’

Vanessa Hutley

Business Software Alliance (BSA), a non-profit organisation fighting against software piracy, has been present in India since 1996.
According to BSA, piracy rates in India have come down from 78 per cent in 1996 to 63 per cent in 2000. Further with the rolling out of new initiatives to fight piracy, BSA is bullish about achieving a lower piracy rate in this year. BSA vice president Vanessa Hutley spoke to The Financial Express on the prevailing piracy rates and the various measures set by BSA to fight these.

What has been the piracy rate in India of the total software sold as compared to other countries in Asia?
Every year, Business Software Alliance (BSA) comes out with estimates on piracy rates in April. For the year 2000, piracy rate in Vietnam was the highest at 97 per cent and piracy rate in China was about 94 per cent. In the same year, piracy rate in India was as high as 63 per cent, accounting for a revenue loss of almost $239 million. In the year 2000, piracy rates have risen in South East Asia over 1999, as compared to the rest of the world. In India as well, the rates rose by 1 per cent from 62 per cent (1999) to 63 per cent (2000).

Keeping in mind the rise in software piracy in 2000 over 1999, is there a likelihood that the software piracy will rise further this year?
For this year, we are certainly not anticipating a rise in piracy in India as there are a number of initiatives being taken by National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) together with BSA as well as by some state governments like the Karnataka government to fight piracy. For 2001, BSA will come out with a report on the piracy rates by April 2002 which is likely to report a decline in the piracy rate.

What are the various steps taken by BSA to fight piracy in India?
Globally as well as in India, BSA has adopted a common campaign to fight piracy based on three pillars—enforcement, education and endorsement. In India, we have been educating and spreading awareness among the large corporates and small companies that are using or making software. In the past, this has been done through various seminars like the Software Asset Management (SAM) seminars in cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai etc. We have also worked closely with the state government and will continue to do so. BSA also conducts enforcement training for economic units.

Can you explain the term ‘enforcement training’ and how many economic units have you trained?
Enforcement training means equipping the enforcement officials dealing in cybercrime to fight piracy. These officials then conduct raids in those areas where pirated software is sold. We have already trained a total of 60 policemen in Mumbai, Pune and Kolkata to fight piracy. In all these cities, the enforcement officials or trained policemen have conducted raids and seized pirated software. Next on our list are Bangalore, Delhi and Hyderabad. Here again, we will train the policemen or the officials working with economic units to fight piracy.