Despite
efforts made by the private sector to end the perennial problems in the country
earnings that should accrue to the country would continue to remain in the
hands of pirates and their accomplice, if government did not step in.
 |
| Onyeje |
Country
manager, Microsoft Nigeria, Mr. Emmanuel Onyeje told ICT.BizAfrica that
enforcement and raiding of the hideout where most works are being pirated in
the country is strictly a government affair.
According
to him, the private sector is not empowered by the law to enforce infringement
on copyright laws and the raiding of the hideout of the pirates stressing that
unless the problems are completely solved those who are expected to benefit
from their works would continue to suffer in the mist of the plenty that they
have.
He
noted that most of the people that are involved in the activities of piracy are
foreigner noting that a good number of them are Chinese who are they take
advantage of the situation in the country to commit those crime.
“I
am not a law maker and I am not empowered by the law to fight piracy, that is
why I have always said that the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) news more
teeth to be a able to bite”, he said.
The
Microsoft boss called for stronger anti-piracy laws in the country that are
enforceable noting that government needs to engage intensive campaign against
piracy to create awareness on the harm of piracy in the country.
He
stated that most people do not even know that piracy is wrong explaining that
what those who patronise pirated works, think is that they are only buying a
cheap product.
He
said some just want to have software in their PC when they buy it without even
thinking that the software that is being loaded into the system is a pirated
one.
He
further disclosed that buying pirated software helps those who are involved in
cyber crime to produce spam mail
Highlighting
further some of the unseen dangers in pirated softwares, he said some cyber
crime uses pirated softwares to hack into a bank system just like as it could
be done with malware noting all they do is infect millions of PCs with pirated
software, and then use millions of PCs to send that email out.
According
to Onyeje, buying pirated software actually helps cyber criminal to hack into
other network and commit all kinds of criminal activities noting that access to
the genuine software sometimes leads to piracy.
He
explained that when the right and genuine software hits the market and
consumers are not able to get it buy, it gives room for the pirates to produce
their own version.
While
linking the increasing rate of piracy to the level of poverty in Nigeria and
other parts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, he said that the culture of
buying used PCs have also given rise to the activities of piracy.
He
therefore said there is the need to also do something about that just like as
government is trying to bridge the digital divide they also need to bridge the
gap between the rich and the poor suggesting that for those who do not use
high-end phones and cannot afford PCs efforst should be made to get software
into those phones.
On
why Microsoft software are more pirated compared to applications like
OpenOffice, he said that people cannot pirate it because it free adding that
even software are that supposed to be free are bundled together and sold along
with Microsoft software in one CD.
Although
it is clear how long the activities piracy would remain, he however noted that
to tackle it all stakeholders, including those in the publishing books and
producing of movies and music business must be involved.
Investigation
showed that piracy is not peculiar to Nigeria alone, for instance, piracy in Uk
have assumed an alarming dimension.
In
a study conducted by the BBC, which revealed that a UK artist Ed Sheeran topped
the list of most pirated UK artist for the first half of 2012 also named Manchester
as the piracy capital of the UK.
The
research said there were more illegal downloads per person in the city than any
other in the country, followed by Nottingham and Southampton.
The
statistics, from monitoring service Musicmetric, concluded that in the first
half of 2012, UK users illegally shared over 40 million albums and singles.
An
industry group said the data showed piracy "remains a significant
problem".
The
data, collected independently by Musicmetric and seen exclusively by the BBC,
is believed to be the biggest analysis of its kind to be conducted.
It
monitored the global activity of BitTorrent files - a method of obtaining files
by downloading from many users at the same time.
The
data's release came as measures to attempt to curb illegal downloading began to
take hold, such as the blocking of popular piracy websites and the relegation
and removal of search results from Google.
Musicmetric's
findings said that singer Ed Sheeran was the most pirated act in the UK for the
first half of 2012, followed by hip-hop duo Rizzle Kicks and Barbadian megastar
Rihanna.
The
data suggested that Ed Sheeran's 2011 album + (Plus) was illegally downloaded
an average of 55,512 times every month, and was the most popular download in
over 460 towns and cities in the UK.
Globally,
the research suggested that the UK is a significant player on the world stage
as a country of illegal music downloaders.
The
country was placed second in the world in terms of pure volume of illegal activity,
with Musicmetric logging 43,263,582 downloads in the first six months of this
year. The US topped the list, with 96,681,133 downloads tracked in the same
period. Italy (33,158,943), Canada (23,959,924) and Brazil (19,724,522) made up
the remainder of the top five.
Rihanna's
latest album - Talk That Talk - was found to be the world's most pirated
release - Musicmetric tracked 1,228,313 downloads for the title in the first
half of 2012.
In
its analysis of the UK's data, Musicmetric has estimated that 345 million
individual tracks made up the torrent files downloaded by British music fans.
According
to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the UK's music industry body, the
figures were having a "significant effect on investment in new
music".
"According
to their data, there are more illegal downloads in the UK still than there are
legal purchases," the BPI's chief executive Geoff Taylor told the BBC.
"[It]
compares to about 240 million tracks that were sold legally. A lot of people
are getting very rich from stealing other people's things.
"That's
wrong, and we think that musicians deserve to be paid for what they do, just
like everyone else."
However,
Loz Kaye, leader of the Pirate Party UK who will be attempting to become Manchester's
next MP in the next election said the
complaints of record labels is "protectionism".
"We
need to remove the barriers for actual artists to connect with their business
and their fans," he told the BBC.
"The
truth is, why [music industry figures] are complaining so much is that with a
properly functioning internet, and a properly functioning economy, the big
players are no longer necessary."
