BSA | The Software Alliance is partnering with the Philippine government’s anti-piracy body and optical media regulator, Optical Media Board (OMB), as well as chief executive officers (CEOs) across the country in a campaign to reduce the use of illegal software in the workplace by the end of 2019.
The Clean Up to the Countdown campaign seeks to encourage CEOs to legalize their corporate software assets before the end of the year.
This campaign targets 10,000 companies in the Philippines that are thought to be at-risk of using illegal software. This includes corporations in a variety of business sectors, such as manufacturing, construction, banking and finance, engineering, architecture, media, design, information technology, and healthcare. Many of these companies are known users of software, but lack license agreements from software providers.
BSA Senior Director Tarun Sawney said, “BSA wants to help CEOs do the right thing, but this requires that CEOs take a hands-on and proactive approach to addressing the risk of using illegal software in business operations. Our advice is that CEOs treat the risk of illegal software with the utmost importance. CEOs can and should control this risk factor.”
According to Sawney, some CEOs may be aware of their company using illegal software and are wary of investing in genuine software. But there are other CEOs, some whose companies have hundreds or thousands of PCs, who simply may not be aware of the type of software running on their corporation’s PCs – and whether it is legal or not.
Meanwhile, OMB Chairman Atty. Anselmo Adriano called on Filipino corporations to continue to be vigilant and use only computer software that has a proper license.
“We urge every corporation to stop using illegal software. Corporations must follow the law and do their part to keep data safe and secure,” Adriano said.
To date, BSA has helped identify nearly 10,000 companies suspected of using illegal software. While OMB enforces the Philippine laws, BSA is contacting thousands of corporate leaders in the country to offer guidance and advice in addressing illegal software use in the workplace.
Adriano added, “The fight against software piracy is not just a responsibility of the government, OMB, and BSA. It’s also the CEOs’ responsibility. We laud BSA for this impactful campaign and its continued drive towards reducing the use of illegal software in the country.”
“The software industry strongly appreciates the work the OMB is doing,” said Mr. Sawney. “But we would like to see more activity by CEOs in the Philippines to ensure their corporations’ software use is 100 percent legal. That’s not to say we believe that CEOs are out to violate the law, but rather that many are not managing the copyrights of their software assets closely enough,” Mr. Sawney concluded.
The Clean Up to the Countdown campaign is part of BSA’s Legalize and Protect initiative launched earlier this year, which helped thousands of companies in the Philippines legalize their software assets and protect data from malware and hackers.
