Faces of Piracy

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The internet as a place to do business is now an everyday reality for consumers and businesses alike. The savings in time and money to source goods and services are well known and this is only going to increase as the National Broadband Network (NBN) becomes a reality for new on line traders and their customers.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, during the year ended 30 June 2008, 43 percent of Australian businesses reported placing orders via the Internet or web for goods or services. Only 24 percent received orders via the Internet. The income resulting from orders received over the Internet or web increased approximately $13 billion, a 20 percent from 2006-07, to $81 billion.

What is less well known and understood is the extent to which illegal traders are also using the benefits the internet offers to exploit consumers and other dealers.

An IDC Whitepaper sponsored by Microsoft shows that 25 percent of the illegal web sites it analyzed offered counterfeit product keys, pirated software, key generators or crack tools that attempted to install either malicious or potentially unwanted software. The cost to organizations to recover from a single incident of malicious software on a single workstation can be very costly. The cost to organizations from lost or compromised data can be catastrophic. Microsoft has run a local on- line monitoring program for over four years and the program continues to expose rogue traders who seek to exploit consumers by selling counterfeit Microsoft products on popular auction sites. 

However enforcement can never be the complete answer and so Microsoft is launching an education campaign called “Faces of Piracy” which tells the stories of two business people who were exploited by unscrupulous dealers. The campaign also details the story of one dealer who sold counterfeit Microsoft Windows 7 software over the internet to his unsuspecting customers.

The “Faces of Piracy” campaign seeks to raise awareness in the reseller and consumer communities about this issue and offers tips about how to avoid being a victim of these unscrupulous dealers. The stories have important lessons for those who wish to set up an internet- based business and those who wish to purchase over the internet.

These stories tell of the present issues faced by consumers and traders but experience has shown us that the dynamic world of the internet will throw up new challenges as consumers and businesses embrace the opportunities which the NBN offers. We cannot afford to have trust in this opportunity eroded by those who seek only to exploit the unwary.  There is presently an excellent opportunity for Government and industry stakeholders to join together to develop educational programs for consumers to ensure they have the necessary information to ensure they are not buying illegal and unsafe products over the internet.

The internet is a vibrant world of commerce but like the physical world there are those who do not do the right thing, it is now the time for the Government to assist in bringing together industry groups to discuss the ways we can increase awareness in all parts of the community so consumers are educated about how they can take steps to avoid being victims of rogue traders. 

Vanessa Hutley, Director, Intellectual Property, Microsoft Australia