singapore & vietnam
PROJECT
Content
From the joint-study done by BSA and IDC, the Asian-Pacific region ranks lower in piracy than other regions, despite 3 of the top 4 nations with the highest piracy rate being in the region [2] . The piracy rate of Singapore shown in the study is 43% and the piracy rate of Vietnam is 92%, the highest in the region.
Despite this, from the survey done, we can see that the problem of software piracy is not unique to any particular countries. Our initial assumptions, based on the given piracy rates of Singapore and Vietnam and our own personal experiences, are that the percentage of the Vietnamese respondents who answered “YES” will be significantly greater than that of the Singaporean respondents. But the results have proven our initial assumptions wrong even though the actual figures differ slightly. The majority of the respondents, irregardless of nationalities, use pirated software. And just as many Singaporean respondents as Vietnamese respondents use pirated software.
The primary reason for using pirated software is that the price of the original product is too expensive. This is especially true for Vietnam, where the per capita annual income is roughly US$ 480, whereas the per capita annual income of Singapore is US$ 21230 [3]. The secondary reason for the preference of pirated software over the original product is the availability of the pirated software. The relative ease of obtaining pirated software proves to be a great temptation to our respondents. The results are rather consistent and indicate that there is little different between Singaporean and Vietnamese. From the statistics derived, it can be concluded that software price relative to the income of the individual, is an important factor contributing to the prevalence of software piracy. This also shows that software piracy is not unique to any cultures or nations.
An interesting finding from the survey is that majority of the respondents, irregardless of nationalities, do not frequently purchase pirated software even though most of the software they possess is pirated software. From the statistics in question 3, a large number of the respondents very much approved of the usage of pirated software through their ownership of high percentage of pirated software. Yet, the statistics in question 4 show that most of them do not frequently purchase unlicensed software. This seems to indicate that the respondents either obtains their pirated software from aboard or that they bought pirated software in bulk. The former is rather unlikely, especially in Vietnam, where pirated software is easily available. It is known that even government officials have been known to use illegal software. There's a shop right next door to Vietnam's Ministry of Trade that does a brisk business selling illegal software, movies and music. A pirated copy of Windows and Office goes for no more than $10 [4].
Another interesting finding is that for those respondents who do not own any pirated software, their main reason for doing so is that pirated software is “buggy” or flawed. The respondents are not too concern about whether it is illegal or unethical. With better technologies being available in the Information Age, the quality of the duplicated software will be much better than before. From the findings we had, this might imply that in the near future, if the quality and reliability of pirated software is to improve, these respondents who once say no to pirated software might actually consider using them.
Also from the survey, the general impression given by the respondents is that they do not seem to consider software piracy a serious problem. Most of them, irregardless of nationalities, remain relatively neutral towards the pirated software vendors and that they feel that the problem of piracy in their respective country is serious. The nonchalance of the respondents’ answers is rather worrying as all of the respondents have received tertiary education. It seems to also indicate that although they knew that software piracy is illegal and unethical, they do not seem to consider intellectual property right to be of utmost importance.
Another interesting observation from the survey results is that prior knowledge of the legal implications of software piracy does not seem to deter the respondents from using them. From the results of questions 9 and 10, we know that although a large number of the Singaporean respondents know of existing copyrights laws, awareness of the legal implications of their actions does not seem to deter them from using pirated software.
Also from the survey, we know that the most of the respondents are not very optimistic about the anti-piracy measures initiated by their government. The results show that they are relatively neutral to the effectiveness of the governments’ measures.
Finally, from the suggestions mentioned, most of the respondents feel that the price of the original software is too expensive and should be reduced. They also agreed that more education and campaigns to promote awareness of the public towards the problem of piracy is needed. Also, stricter laws and severe punishment to indicate the authorities’ low tolerance towards software piracy is needed. Something else we noticed is that the reduction of retail price of software isn’t being mentioned at all by the Singaporean respondents, whereas it is often mentioned by the Vietnamese respondents. This tied in with the results of question 2. The primary reason for the respondents to purchase pirated software is that the original product is too expensive. This is especially so for Vietnamese, as their per capita annual income is generally much lower. This could also be the reason why Singaporean respondents do not list “reduction of price” in their suggestions.
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