By Adejuwon Osunnuyi
As far as Uche Nkudu, a student of Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, is concerned, whenever it comes to buying the anti-virus or any other software for his lap-top, he knows where to go. Ever since he bought his laptop about nine months ago, the popular Computer Village in the heart of Ikeja, Lagos has always been his sure bet. But to him, since he could buy the software from the roadside dealers who, after all sell at cheaper rate, it does not make any sense buying from any of the big shops, as he thought, “they are all the same”.
| While he could buy an anti-virus for just N100 from the roadside sellers, at the shops, same antivirus package goes for as much as N2, 500. But like the saying, “penny wise, pound foolish”, after purchasing an anti-virus package and got it installed in his system just last month, Nkudu learnt a bitter lesson of his life as his PC suddenly crashed as a result of accumulated virus. With the crash, he lost all the data he had saved on the system. Nkudu told Business Courage last week that he never knew those anti-viruses could be fake. “It was one engineer friend of mine that later told me that contrary to the belief that such products are anti-virus, they on the other hands are virus instead.” Besides Nkudu, many other people including students, low-income earners, lawyers, journalists, bankers, and many others are found out to also on daily basis, patronise the roadside sellers of software packages, programmes, games and so on at the Computer Village. And they all have one thing in common. In one way or the other, they have all ignorantly or out of greed, lost millions of naira and vital data to this nefarious act of software piracy as a result of counterfeit software that have been found to be vulnerable to computer viruses, malware and hackers, leaving consumers unprotected against possible data loss or identity theft. Business Courage’s investigation revealed that about 60 percent of computer users always acquire software in ways that are typically illegal, such as buying programs for one computer and then installing them on multiple machines, downloading applications from a peer to-peer network such as Kazaa or Morpheus, or buying illegally copied disks from the street markets.
. This, it said, can be done by copying, downloading, sharing, selling, or installing multiple copies onto personal or work computers. Counterfeit software, also as defi ned by the BSA, is the illegal duplication and sale of copyrighted material with the intent of directly imitating the copyrighted product. In the case of packaged software, it is common to fi nd counterfeit copies of the CDs or diskettes incorporating the software programs, as well as related packaging, manuals, license agreements, labels, registration cards and security features. Director General of Nigerian Copyright Commission, Afam Ezekude said, “Software piracy creates an unfair market environment and in the current economic climate, every revenue is crucial to help spur economic growth, support the legitimate IT ecosystem and create jobs.” BSA said if the world’s computer users lived up to their ideals, there would be far less software piracy but it said nearly half of them do not, adding that the software piracy is more pronounced in the developing economies. For instance, the group said that Nigeria, presently basking in the euphoria of the revolution brought about by the information and communication technology, ICT boom, has been growing the business of software piracy at par with the growth in ICT. The BSA reports says about 82 percent of PC users in Nigeria acquire their software illegally most or all of the time, a record which makes it rank second in the world, coming closely after China with 86 percent as fi rst and Vietnam in the third position with 76 percent. According to the 2010 edition of its annual Global Software Survey of PC users Attitudes, 2010–2011, the report says though more than seven in 10 computer users globally (71 percent) profess support for intellectual property rights and protections, yet nearly half (47 percent) acquire their software by illegal means most or all of the time. Surprisingly, these behaviours and attitudes toward software piracy, BSA says, follow a similar pattern among the world’s business decisionmakers, a critically important group of users. The view of BSA is that many of the world’s software pirates may not even realize they are betraying their own principles and breaking the law, which underscores the importance of concerted public- education and enforcement campaigns. Seye Oloruntoba, anti-piracy manager for Microsoft Anglophone West Africa said as a world leading software manufacturer, Microsoft is working closely with the Nigerian Copyright Commission, NCC to assist them in taking enforcement action against software pirates who sell counterfeits that put consumers and businesses in Nigeria at risk. “We’ve noticed a rising number of what turn out to be ‘accidental pirates’ that is, people who unintentionally purchase counterfeit software from resellers and only later fi nd out they have been duped. In doing so, they expose themselves to a plethora of risks, which in the long-run can prove extremely costly for individuals, and often disastrous for businesses. Honest resellers, who sell only genuine software, are put at an unfair disadvantage, and ultimately the whole economy feels the effects,” he said. Oloruntoba noted that Microsoft is actively working to ensure customers and partners in Nigeria are protected from unscrupulous suppliers, adding that “This is a responsibility we take extremely seriously. When they come to us for help, we make sure they receive the necessary support and we also alert local law enforcement authorities like the NCC. There must be severe consequences for those who sell pirated and counterfeit software in Nigeria.” However, there are strong indications that the software pirates may be in serious trouble anytime soon as there has been a serious clampdown on them. Last week, the Nigerian Police raided the premises of IPS Plus Solution Limited, a computer reseller at Veterans Plaza, located in Yaba, following a consumer tip-off, an undercover test purchase and a subsequent petition to the local law enforcement authorities by Microsoft Corporation. The matter which has been handed to the Nigerian NCC for further investigation is considered as just one example of several in recent months that has found resellers to be in possession of high quality counterfeit software that is packaged like genuine software – a trend resulting in many consumers, who believe they are purchasing software from a reliable source, unknowingly becoming victims to software piracy. IPS Plus Solution Limited has offi ces in both Lagos and Abuja. A representative from Symantec Brand Protection who wanted to remain anonymous confi rmed that IPS Plus Solution Limited was a known seller of counterfeit software in Nigeria, including Norton product titles. According to him, “Symantec is very appreciative of the enforcement action taken to stop the sale of counterfeit software. This enforcement activity will help in our fi ght to protect Nigerian consumers from the known risks associated with using pirated software.” Recently, NCC offi cials also raided the premises of a local software reseller in Port Harcourt, Rivers State following the complaint made to Microsoft by a consumer after he was sold counterfeit software. The raid, which was initiated after a complaint by Microsoft to the NCC and followed an undercover test purchase of counterfeit software, resulted in the seizure of 269 units of suspected high and low quality counterfeit products, ranging from computer games, music, anti-virus software, and Microsoft Windows and Offi ce. But there has been growing concerns that it is becoming increasingly diffi cult to differentiate between genuine and non-genuine software, unless consumers are discerning and know what to look out for. Some customers who make the purchases in good faith believe that what they are purchasing is genuine when the product is in fact counterfeit. To avoid being misled when purchasing software, Oloruntoba suggested that before a consumer purchase Windows software, he/she should ask resellers to confi rm it will pass the Windows activation test. Activation and validation, he warned, are the keys to genuine software. He said PC users should beware of the common gateways of digital counterfeiting: websites advertising ‘cheap software’; online auction sites with links to download sites offering counterfeit software; and peerto- peer (P2P) networks or other fi le-sharing technologies. Advising consumers to always compare the price, he said counterfeit software is often sold at a much cheaper price, but can end up costing users hundreds or thousands of dollars. He advised consumers to be suspicious of products that lack some form of proof of authenticity – such as a hologram, CD, DVD, recovery media, manuals and Microsoft Software License Terms (MSLT) while also saying they must be extremely careful when buying from software sellers in other countries as this complicates matters if the transaction goes awry. According to a global Microsoft survey that addresses consumer’s attitudes on counterfeit software, more than 80 percent of consumers had concerns about using counterfeit software. These concerns range from risks of identity theft, virus attacks, and the fact that counterfeit products fund criminal activities. The high quality counterfeit Microsoft software currently being distributed in Nigeria includes fake hologram CDs and fake Certifi cate of Authenticity labels that look like the real thing and which are sold as complete software packages. Because of this, using the Internet to actively seek out ways to download pirated software and then circumvent software activation is said to be inherently more dangerous. Businesses and IT departments that centralize procurement or have standard software asset management (SAM) practices in place are advised to help protect themselves from the risks of counterfeit software. Microsoft noted it is committed to fi ghting piracy and reducing the risks of counterfeit software. To continue this, in November, Microsoft said it intends to hold the fourth annual Consumer Action Day, a day in which Microsoft Anti-Piracy teams around the globe spotlight Microsoft’s effort to fi ght software piracy and counterfeiting through education, engineering and enforcement. “This year’s theme focuses on the creation of a level playing fi eld -making sure businesses compete fairly and consumers learn about the value in building a strong IP environment.” said Oloruntoba who stressed that Microsoft is committed to working with the government and enforcement agencies in educating consumers on the ills of using counterfeit software and the benefi ts of using genuine. With the increasing sophistication of software pirates and cyber criminals, Microsoft said Nigerian consumers should avoid the threats to their online identity, as well as their wallets, by insisting on genuine software from their local retailers. Surprisingly, according to the study’s fi nding, it is not in all cases that counterfeit software is in low quality. Most times, they come in high quality. But businesses or individuals who were found to have purchased high-quality counterfeit software had to spend additional money in order to properly license their software. As counterfeiting increases in sophistication, the likelihood for it to enter business environments unintentionally increases. Therefore, businesses must remain vigilant to help protect their computing environments from the risks of counterfeit software by purchasing genuine software from trustworthy sources, understanding how to identify counterfeit software and implementing procurement practices. In addition to the risks of using counterfeit software within a business environment, there is additional danger in the act of fi nding pirated software to install. This is especially true for activation exploits, which are programs used to circumvent or bypass product activation. During the 2006 research study, IDC found and tested 98 unique Web sites offering access to counterfeit product keys, pirated software, key generators, and other activation exploits for Windows XP and Offi ce; about one-fourth of these sites hosted malicious or potentially unwanted software. In some cases, the Web sites visited tried to install the unwanted software automatically upon visiting the site. In other cases, the user was required to take manual action, such as receiving a prompt to install an ActiveX® control that ultimately resulted in the installation of malicious or unwanted software. Following the initial IDC research, more activation exploits have continued to be seen, and some have been discovered to contain malicious code. When a user installs an activation exploit, any code that might be within that program is installed, including viruses, malware, adware, and Trojans |
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