Microsoft (and other software makers) are urging police agencies around the world to do something about illegal copies of software.
During the past six months, police or corporate lawyers have moved against alleged software pirates in 20 countries, industry officials say. The motivation: 5 million units of Microsoft's products were seized in the last year. Estimated value: $1.7 billion.
Ok not much news in here.. what did they do anyway?
As part of the effort, a series of raids in Latin America resulted in the seizure of piles of contraband software. In violence-wracked Colombia, police in December turned their attention from battling narco-traffickers and Marxist rebels to focus on one particularly avid user of the Internet auction site MercadoLibre.com (www.mercadolibre.com), the eBay of Latin America. After 10 days of surveillance, police officers moved in on a private house in Bogota, and seized a stash of illicitly copied software, all of it up for sale over the Internet. |
In neighboring Peru, local authorities on March 1 raided a home in Lima that served as headquarters for "clubdelsoftware.com," (www.clubdelsoftware.com) in which they seized 143 copies of Microsoft and Adobe software, the industry officials say. That same day in Venezuela, police raided the offices of a firm called Red Maniaco, another alleged purveyor of unlicensed software. In Brazil on Feb. 13, a police wing in the state of Minas Gerais that specializes in computer crime found a cache of 2,165 copies of Microsoft programs and four compact-disk duplicating machines. Argentina also has been the site of two software busts in recent months.
During the past six months, Microsoft says, the company has taken legal action against 47,000 dubious or illegal postings on the Internet offering MS products..... And the battle continues....
Source: ZDNet
