Complete Illegal Software Cases Still at a Minimum
Friday, 22 February, 2008 | 16:22 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The Business Software Alliance (BSA) representative for Indonesia, Donny A. Sheyoputra, is of the opinion that the software piracy case was progressing. Yet, in quantity, the number of cases handled completely is still minimum.

Since March 1, 2007, he said, BSA recorded there have been 90 cases of illegal software use, either by the user or the manufacturer, captured by the police. But only a few cases have been ruled by the court, the four cases in Malang, Central Java.

The progress on the legal side is expected to be able to lower the software piracy rate. Illegal software distributed in Indonesia in 2006 reached 85 percent of the total software that is installed in all computers. The loss due to the software distribution reached US$350 million.

“That number is certainly still high,” said Donny. This is because the software piracy level in Indonesia for three years (2004-2006) is only two percent. This is far below China and Russia, which could lower the piracy level down to ten and seven percent in the same period.

According to the International Data Corporation’s estimate, said Donny, if Indonesia manages to lower the software piracy level to 10 percent for the next four years, or in 2011, the absorption of skilled workers in the information technology industry can reach 2,200 people. “The income tax from them is not little,” he said.

The other opportunity is foreign investors who are interested in coming to Indonesia due to the lowering of the piracy level.

Munawwaroh