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ISSUE NO 54 NEWS ROUND-UP & SNIPPETS

SOFTWARE PIRACY SOARS IN ALGERIA

Software piracy in Algeria is a national pastime. It has soared to record levels of 90% and was the prime reason behind Microsoft’s decision eight months ago to open an office in the country as part of the Business Software Alliance.

There are around a million computers in use in organisations and homes and the software business is estimated to be worth well over US$130 million. Black marketeering affects everything from games to TV channels.

Abdelkader Bouattou, a systems engineer who switched from the public to the private sector, runs Microsoft’s Algerian office. He believes that the first step in the fight against piracy is to raise public awareness.

"We send out emails and hold seminars to try to explain that everybody loses out," he says. "The state loses tax revenue and people lose out because fewer jobs are created."Microsoft also plans to tackle retailers and major accounts, like Sonatrach, that use unlicensed software. It believes that since they can afford to buy it legally, they should not be using illicit copies.

The Algerian Justice Ministry is also in breach of its own comprehensive copyright legislation. "The legal provisions are in place," says Bouattou. "The problem is enforcing them."

Algeria’s copyright watchdog, ONDA, is empowered to make spot checks in companies and retail outlets. But Amin, a software vendor whose shop is crammed with counterfeit goods at unbeatable prices, is not worried: "The ONDA don’t even glance at the software, they’re much more interested in imported music."

The core of the piracy problem is cost. After all, how many Algerians can afford $2,000 software? Says Abdelkader Bouattou: "Microsoft is willing to cut its retail prices in countries where purchasing power is low."

It is unlikely to be able to compete with pirate vendors, though. Says Amin: "I do the licensed Microsoft Office pack at $1,000." He then motions to a pile of cardboard boxes. "The ones over there, though, I sell at six". (source: Algeria Interface via DigAfrica )

KPMG SURVEY REVEALS EXTENT OF E-FRAUD

South African company executives, like their global counterparts, are ill-equipped to counter threats to their network systems, and underestimate the internal threat they could face, according to a survey carried out by KPMG.

(source: http://www.digitalplanet.co.za/dp/news/red.asp?ID=11198 )

EGYPTIAN MUSEUM USES WEB FOR FUNDRAISING

The Egyptian Museum in Cairo is going online to find people to adopt mummified pets. People who adopt cats, snakes, crocodiles of even the extinct sacred ibis bird, get an information pack on their adopted animal. Under the scheme, people can co-parent a mummified snake for 35, or be the sole adopter of a crocodile for 560.

Money raised will help to pay for a climate controlled room, special conservation cases for the mummies and fund research. Experts say the mummified pets offer important information about ordinary life in ancient Egypt as well as the environment, flora and fauna, reports the Independent. The animals can be adopted on the Animal Mummies website. "Animal mummies have been neglected for a long time and they’re deteriorating particularly quickly now because of climate change and pollution," said Salima Ikram, co-director of the Animal Mummy Project.

(source: Annanova via DigAFrica)

B2B E-COMMERCE MARKET GOES LIVE

Standard Bank’s business-to-business e-commerce marketplace, thetradestandard, has gone live, with 21 buyers and seven suppliers now trading online. This comes after a two-month pilot with external customers to ensure system stability, fine-tune processes and make functional improvements based on customer feedback.

(source: http://www.boot.co.za/news/apr01/stdbank2.htm )

WOMEN DOMINATE SA WEB USE

Fifty-one percent of South African internet users are women, up from 38 percent in March 1999, according to new survey data from Webchek. Two thirds of net users in South Africa have English as their home language and 56 percent have a third-level education. Most users tend to have high incomes, but the number of users with lower monthly household incomes is increasing. (source: Saartjie http://www.saartjie.co.za/april01/internet6.asp )

ICANN REVISES VERISIGN ACCORD ON .ORG, .NET, .COM

The revised agreements, which are subject to ratification by the U.S. Department of Justice, would separate each of the three top-level domains under VeriSign’s control into individual terms.

(Source: IDG.net http://www.idg.net/go.cgi?id=452106 )

MIT TAKES ITS COURSE MATERIALS OPEN SOURCE

MIT will put almost all its courses online for free. Professors won’t be forced to participate, and surfers can’t earn credits this way, but MIT’s "OpenCourseWare" is still a big project. The school wants to put all the materials - lecture notes, assignments, sample problems, reading lists - for 500 courses online in the next two years, adding 1,500 more courses over the next decade.

(source: http://www.wbz.com/now/story/0,1597,283966-364,00.shtml )

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