A recent raid at the Brightwater Commons market saw hundreds of counterfeit Xbox games being seized by customs officials. However, this haul is only the tip of the iceberg.
So says local attorney Charl Potgieter of Bowman Gilfillan, who accompanied South African Revenue Services officials and representatives of the Southern African Federation Against Copyright Theft on the raid.
He says there is no doubt that piracy of games, software and music is on the increase locally.
“Right now, we're seeing a growing wave of counterfeit software from organised criminal syndicates in the Far East. We suspect many international crime organisations are now involved in counterfeiting to some degree - which effectively means people who buy pirated goods are funding organised crime.”
Raising awareness
Microsoft this month unveiled a campaign across KwaZulu-Natal to raise awareness of piracy of all kinds. According to Charl Everton, anti-piracy manager at Microsoft SA, the Internet is emerging as a major avenue of trade for fake goods, pinpointing auction sites as particularly useful for counterfeiters.
Everton says the campaign includes a “mystery shopper” component, which involves visits to computer dealers across KZN, the introduction of a “clean dealer” certification, and an education programme to alert consumers to the dangers of fake software, and highlight the value of the genuine article.
Part of the campaign, says Everton, will focus on Microsoft's newly-released Windows 7 operating system, of which fake copies were being sold weeks before the software went on sale last month.
Everton says the company has begun investigating the activities of several resellers which have been advertising pirated copies of Windows 7. “In addition to these low-quality counterfeit versions of software, SA is now also being flooded by high-quality counterfeit software from well-known organised criminal syndicates in the Far East - and the pirates are getting more sophisticated in their approaches every day,” Everton says.
“In this case the software is shipped as a complete package, including counterfeit hologram CDs and Certificate of Authenticity labels.”
Hero to zero
According to Everton, part of the problem is that pirates are seen as heroes in some circles. “We need to change the perception that these guys are modern-day Robin Hoods.
“This isn't a case of taking money out of Bill Gates' pocket to help the poor consumer, as the refrain often goes. Our investigations show that software piracy funds bigger criminal operations that affect each and every one of us at the end of the day.”
According to Everton, it is estimated that over a third of all software in SA is pirated, and that IDC research reveals reducing PC software piracy by 10% over the next four years could create an additional R6 billion in economic growth, and R480 million in additional tax revenues locally.
Everton believes unscrupulous resellers who take advantage of consumers are only part of the problem, adding that she's seen cases where customers believe they are buying genuine software only to find out later it was pirated.
“Software that is installed with hacked keys commonly used to circumvent the legitimate activation process comes hand-in-hand with several big security risks.”
In addition, several international news providers have reported on malware built into pirated copies of Windows 7, with the aim of building a botnet, or hijacking the user's computer for remote use in nefarious activities, states Everton.
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