Source: Bem Público Magazine - Curitiba / PR - EDUCATION - 04/12/2009

Microsoft, in partnership with Amcham (American Chamber of Commerce), is launching the Legal School Portal, a result of the Legal School Project that, since 2007, seeks to raise awareness among young students about piracy in Brazil and worldwide. The launch in Brazil is part of Microsoft's global agenda of actions for education and consumer protection against the damage of piracy. The initiative is part of the company's corporate responsibility activities.

"The sale of pirated products violates the rights of the consumer, who is harmed when purchasing a product without the guarantees and characteristics of the original product," observes Eduardo Paranhos, Legal Consultant at Microsoft Brazil.

The executive says that the portal www.projetoescolalegal.org.br will offer on the web educational content on intellectual property with a language that reaches children and young people from 07 to 14 years old, produced as a tool for educators. In this space, teachers will be able to access ready didactic material prepared in the format of six awareness classes, including handouts with instructive texts, exercise suggestions and group dynamics. “We believe that it is also the role of the private sector, to support government agencies in making consumers aware of how they can protect themselves from the losses of piracy. In Brazil, we invested in systematic and consistent work through the partnership in the Escola Legal Project and managed to reach an important multiplying public: young people and educators ”.

Recently, a global study released by the Business Software Alliance - BSA - in October this year, proved a direct relationship between piracy rates and virus and malware attacks in the markets. In countries like Brazil, Russia, Turkey and Spain, where piracy rates are above the world average, the rate of virus infection is even higher. In places like the United States and Japan, where software piracy is less significant, the rate of computer infection by viruses is proportionally lower. It is also noted that there is no country where the virus infection rate is higher than the piracy rate.

PROVIDENCES - Today Microsoft records that more than 150 thousand voluntary reports of piracy are made by consumers who, without knowledge, have acquired pirated software and suffered losses due to virus and malware infections. This index is already three times higher than the numbers obtained in previous years.

In response to the need of these consumers for defense and information, the company carries out simultaneous awareness actions in 70 countries. A complete map of these initiatives around the world can be consulted on the website www.howtotell.com

“Brazilian society excels in not recognizing piracy as a criminal conduct and refuses to see its role in improving frauds, which result in articles that hurt even the physical integrity of the consumer. The lower collection of taxes, job offers and the credibility of the national product are factors that can be avoided by denouncing the offenders and refusing to purchase such products. The Public Prosecutor's Office can act even with anonymous complaints and awaits the collaboration of everyone ”, comments Attorney General Lilian Pinho.

Continuing an assessment of the fight against piracy in Brazil, the president of the Business Software Alliance, Frank Caramuru, highlights “Currently, the police station to combat piracy in the Department of Investigations on Organized Crime (Deic) uses consumer protection laws by initiating investigations, which can aggravate the penalty of institutions that sell pirated software. This shows the authorities' commitment to punish organizations that harm consumers. ”

SECURITY - The effects of malware can range from massive advertising to severe damage to information security. A study by the Harrison Group showed that companies using unlicensed software are 73% more vulnerable to loss of important data and 73% more vulnerable to critical computer failures lasting 24 hours or more.

“The fight against piracy and the consequent protection of consumers who are victims of the illegal market is fundamental to guarantee a healthy business environment. In the case of the software segment, for example, counterfeit products dominate 58% of sales in the country, limiting the performance of the formal economy, as well as consumer options, to only 42% of the products offered ”, comments André Franco Montoro, president of ETCO, Brazilian Institute of Competitive Ethics.

In addition, most people simply discover that they don't have the software they purchased and are forced to make a new purchase for regularization. Worsening this scenario, piracy is practiced by large criminal organizations that go beyond illegal trade and distribute “Botnets”, which are armies of computers controlled by cyber criminals used to host illegal Internet use practices.

RESEARCH - The software industry has long observed and evaluated the damage that is caused to the consumer due to piracy. An IDC study published in 2006 already indicated that one out of four websites that provided pirated software recorded attempts to install viruses and malware at the time of download. That same study also offered a reading on pirated software from Microsoft that was marketed in 17 countries: one third of the media could not be installed due to the existence of malware or other vulnerabilities. These indicators continue to grow.

Microsoft's response

To respond to the sophistication of piracy practices, Microsoft invests in consumer education and engineering. Detailed information on genuine Microsoft products, licensing and brands can be found at http://www.howtotell.com.

In engineering, Microsoft has improved the Windows 7 activation and authentication process. The product offers the latest generation of Windows activation technology, including changes made so that users can view more notification messages and can complete the walkthrough simpler.

About the Legal School Portal - Considered the crime of the 600st century, piracy generates US $ 360 billion a year in the world, almost double the amount handled by drug trafficking, which is estimated at US $ 2009 billion (CNCP / 38). Only Brazil sells US $ 30 billion in pirated products per year, which prevents the collection of US $ 2009 billion in taxes (CNCP / 2007). In view of the data that reflect the context of piracy in Brazil and in the world, Amcham and its associates elected to work in the educational field to help build a paradigm shift. Thus, in XNUMX, the Legal School project was launched! The Escola Legal project aims to raise awareness among young students about piracy in Brazil and worldwide. He works on the theme, directing his efforts mainly to the training of teachers on the importance of the concept of intellectual property, highlighting the problems caused by piracy, addressing issues of ethics, values, collective thinking and the formation of more aware citizens.