GABORONE - An Anti-Piracy Guru has said the piracy of computer software in Botswana dropped from 82 per cent in 2007 to 80 per cent in 2008.

Mr Andrew Waitutu, who is Anti-Piracy Manager for Microsoft East and Southern Africa however, said during the same period losses increased from US$12 000 (about P79 000) to US$14 000 (P93 000) due to the increase in IT sector in the country.

Speaking at training on software piracy workshop for law enforcement officers in Gaborone recently he said software piracy is not seen as a major crime in most African countries but it is something that Africans should keep an eye on.

Mr Waitutu said over 85 per cent of software used in Africa is pirated and that in 2008, over US$ 53 billion was lost worldwide through software piracy with America incurring the highest losses whilst on the other hand it experienced the lowest piracy of almost US$ 9 billion.

He said piracy is distributed in three ways such as through the use of compact discs, licenses and user manuals.

He said piracy occurs because customers purchase pirated software to save money even though pirated software is purchased unintentionally or it came bundled with a hardware purchase.

Customers are confused about what is included in their licensing program and turn to something that is easier to acquire which is often pirated software.

Officially opening the workshop, Senior Superintendent Lazarus Moalosi said the Botswana Police Service is grateful to be collaborating with Microsoft hence the benevolent gesture by Microsoft to train law enforcement officers is indeed a welcome development.

He said law enforcement officers would be able to investigate and detect cybercrime in all its facets as software piracy is a transnational crime through which the perpetrators aim at denying the general public quality service as well as an enhanced standard of living that can be derived from the genuine software.

Superintendent Moalosi stated that Botswana Police Service is committed to developing its human resource in order to tackle the ever evolving crime adding that criminal syndicates know no boundaries hence they scout for soft spots the world over.

It is thus imperative that governments and entities of specialty enjoin to fight the errant behaviour whose main aim is to sow seeds of discord and hold human advancement at ransom, he said.

On other issues, Superintendent Moalosi stated that Botswana like any other countries is gripped by urbane crime of transnational nature perpetrated through computers.

He said it should be noted that globalization is a welcome development through which peoples of different and far apart geographical locations can interact commercially and socially without constraint of distance.

However, he noted that on the other side, opportunistic people use the same globalization to get sweets for no sweats, getting rich quickly by reaping where they have not sworn.

He described software piracy as an illegal reproduction and distribution of software whether for business or personal use. Most software is distributed in CDs format.

The workshop empowered law enforcement officers with skills to investigate software piracy matters. BOPA