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Could Machiavellian Tactics Be Used to Combat Software Piracy?

By Michelle Amodio, TMCnet Contributor

Software piracy is a global problem, both moral and financial in nature.  Experts estimate that 42 percent of software worldwide is pirated, but Africa’s rates are closer to 80 percent for pirated software. In Zimbabwe, that number is a whopping 92 percent.

Reasons for Zimbabwe’s high software piracy rates are not clear, according to Daniel Kamau, the anti-piracy lead for Microsoft (News - Alert) West, East, and Central Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands.

While tech giants have done everything from sponsoring anti-piracy legislation to aiding law enforcement, many areas are so impoverished that they cannot possibly pay for licenses legitimately – so either it’s pirated software or no software at all.  Companies like Microsoft have offered pared-down versions of essential software like Office at reduced rates, but it has had minimal effect since there simply isn’t enough money in most areas of Africa to legally buy licenses, even at a comparatively lower price.

Statistics from BSA, The Software Alliance for 2013 suggests that South African businesses forked out R4.7 million ($445,898 USD) in fines for unlicensed software during last year.

In a statement issued Thursday, April 3, the BSA said that across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), the use of pirated software costs businesses in excess of R155 million (or approximately $14.8 million).

However, according to BSA, its numbers for 2013 show that getting away with pirated software is becoming more difficult and more expensive.

“Reporting the use of unlicensed software is a cultural shift that may tap into the public’s concerns around the universal problem of corruption,” said Darren Olivier, legal advisor to the BSA and partner at law firm Adams and Adams, in a statement.

The BSA said that other statistics it recently released suggest South Africans are becoming more proactive in the fight against software piracy.

One indirect way to possibly curb software piracy could be to focus on building up African economies, making them better able to meet the financial demands of legal software use. Say, for example, a tech giant like Microsoft opened a center of production in Africa, in a particularly impoverished area, that could bring jobs to programmers and sales professionals? 

The jobs that would come with such a move would help to uplift the economy, and it might even inspire some loyalty in paying for software. As a result, people in the region might save up money to do so, to contribute and keep the company presence in the area.