Microsoft Consumer Action Day 2011: Play Fair for a better growth

>> Illegal software users on edge

>> Microsoft Tech.Days 2011 opens in Vietnam

Through this event, Microsoft aims to address the risks posed by non-genuine software, which can have a devastating impact on the livelihoods of consumers, the productivity of small businesses, and economies of emerging nations and also supports governments as they seek to enforce the laws in their countries.

“Consumers everywhere are coming to Microsoft with complaints about counterfeit software. They are asking what they can do or what we can help to protect them from risks causing them enormous damages in personal data leakage or financial, reputation loss. Hence, they want industry and government to stand up and take action against piracy for safer privacy and healthier environment,” said Jamie Harper, country manager, Microsoft Vietnam.

Microsoft’s forensic innovations and partnerships with governments and intelligence agencies are working to curb software piracy and helping to reduce the risks counterfeits pose to consumers.

Microsoft makes a significant investment each year into educational resources to help consumers protect themselves, new technologies that make counterfeiting software more difficult, and supporting governments as they work to enforce their laws against software counterfeiters and bring them to justice.

By releasing the new data in conjunction with its annual Consumer Action Day, Microsoft is working to highlight these worldwide efforts. As part of this year’s Consumer Action Day, the company is also calling attention to a host of educational resources that can help consumers stay safe with genuine software.

The growing threat of software piracy is an issue that no single entity can tackle alone. The impact of software piracy goes beyond malware and viruses; it also impacts local competitiveness, economic growth and job creation.

In 2010 BSA/IDC Global Software Piracy Report, 59 per cent of surveyed PC users globally said intellectual property (IP) rights benefit local economies, while 61 per cent globally said IP rights create jobs. The global software piracy rate was 42 per cent, down from 43 per cent in 2009.

Piracy rates in the developing world are 2.5 times higher than those in the developed world, and the commercial value of pirated software ($31.9 billion) accounts for more than half of the world’s total.

In Vietnam, the software piracy rate ranked the 16th in 2010, accounting for 83 per cent and total commercial value of pirated software estimated about $412 million. Vietnam is seen a potential market for foreign investors in the region, hence, this high pirated software rate is extremely a big loss to this country.

It is proved by Frontier Economics’ Research released at this year’s Global Congress showing that the global economic and social impacts of software piracy will reach $1.7 trillion by 2015 and will put 2.5 million legitimate jobs at risk each year.

IDC estimates that by reducing the piracy rate for PC software by 10 percentage points in four years would create $142 billion in new economic activity, add nearly 500,000 new high-tech jobs, and generate approximately $32 billion in new tax revenues. The IT labour force is expected to add 5.5 million new, high-skilled, higher paying jobs by 2013. In the 42 countries studied, IT companies and their employees paid nearly $1.2 trillion in taxes last year.

According to a global 2010 Microsoft survey, the majority consumers are calling for companies and government to help produce software that is tougher to pirate, and for tools to help them tell the difference between non-genuine and genuine software. More than 300,000 consumers have come forward through Microsoft’s How to Tell website since 2005, offering details about fake software that left their computers infected with viruses and malware, or that simply did not work as advertised.