The P1-million reward awaits anyone who calls the BSA anti-piracy hotline and provides information leading to a successful action against a corporate end-user.
Ong said the overwhelming response to the BSA’s anti-software piracy drive, as evidenced by the number of calls the BSA hotline has received, motivated them to increase the reward. The hotline calls went up by 250 percent during the BSA 90-day grace campaign.
"The large number of calls from concerned individuals who gave leads about organizations that are either using or distributing pirated software is an indication that many people are now aware that using illegal software is a crime forbidden by Philippine laws," Ong said.
"With the P1-million reward, the public will be further encouraged to call the hotline and report software piracy cases. At the same time, end-users will see the value and benefits of legalizing their software," Ong added.
The tenfold increase in reward money marks a further intensification in BSA’s educational and enforcement campaign which has helped curb software piracy in the Philippines.
In a global piracy study commissioned by the BSA and the Software and Information Industry Association, the software piracy rate in the Philippines went down from 77 percent in 1998 to 70 percent in 1999, the second lowest in Southeast Asia after Singapore (51 percent). In only four years from 1994, the rate has gone down by 22 percent in the Philippines.
"While the decrease in software piracy rate has been significant, the cost of such piracy for the Philippine software industry remains very high at $33.1 million. Progress has been made, but more work has to be done by both the government and the private sector," Ong said.
Call the BSA hotline at 811-5897 in Metro Manila and 1-800-1888-8787 for outside Metro Manila.