Tiraspol says "Black Hole" is in Moldova, not in PMR

Usage of professionally pirated Windows Vista copies led by Moldova and only two other countries, says new worldwide study

TIRASPOL (Tiraspol Times) - Moldova made it into the Top 3 of countries pirating software, a lucrative billion dollar business with covert involvement of key government officials.

Although global software piracy is falling, it is on the increase in Moldova where it is a booming business supplying most of the rest of Eastern Europe.

Worldwide, for a third consecutive year, software piracy rates have remained at 35 per cent, according to research done for the Business Software Alliance (BSA) and its Fourth Annual Global Software Piracy Study.

While the piracy rate has dropped in sixty-two countries, out of the 102 studied, it increased in thirteen countries with Moldova scoring the fastest increase of all.

The report identified Armenia, Moldova, and Azerbaijan as among the world's worst three offenders for software theft, saying only one in twenty programs used there was procured legally. The U.S., New Zealand, and Japan are among the most law abiding — but nearly one in four programs there were pirated, it said.

Black hole for software piracy

Industry watchers identify software piracy is a larger danger since illicit proceeds from piracy are often plowed back into more deadly crime such as drugs and arms smuggling.

In 2002, the U.S. Government sanctioned two Moldovan companies for selling selling small arms and other military equipment to Iran. Shortly thereafter, another investigation put the spotlight on the transfer of huge amounts of Kalashnikov rifles and ammo to other Islamic troublespots, including Muslim Jihadists in the Balkans. And just last year, 200,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles which were transported by a Moldovan company went missing in Iraq, with credible evidence showing that they are now being used to kill American and coalition forces.

" - Software piracy is part of a larger network that feeds into other criminal activity," says Moises Naim, editor of Foreign Policy magazine and author of the bestseller Illicit.

No one has ever been arrested for software piracy in Moldova. Despite the country's leading position worldwide as one of the top 3 piracy havens, smugglers are free to engage in their illicit trade under the virtual protection of Moldova's authorities.

Vying for pole position as world's most criminal state

While Moldova is failing, and failing fast, other countries are making progress. China, for long considered the knock-off center of the world, saw its piracy rate dropped four percentage points in one year, to a rate of 82 percent.

When it comes to countries with the highest rates of piracy, Armenia, Moldova and Azerbaijan lead the way worldwide, with rates measured at 95% and 94% each.

Part of the reason is a lack of official enforcement of copyright laws. Whereas Transnistria (officially Pridnestrovie, per its constitution) has aligned its copyright laws with those of Russia, the families of key politicians in Moldova have important interests in computer imports. If software copyrights were enforced in Moldova, sales of PCs would go down. Instead, Chisinau turns a blind eye to the boom in illicit software.

" - Please keep that in mind the next time someone from Chisinau claims that Transdniester is a black hole," says Petru Gladchi, a civil society activist from Tiraspol. "The black hole is there, not here, and this is becoming clearer and clearer with every new international report that is issued."

Moldova is currently Europe's number one source for human trafficking and for illegal trade in organs. It is now vying for first place worldwide as the top country for illegal software as well. (With information from The International Herald Tribune).

See also:
» Moldova plane crash in Iraq tied to insurgency arms smuggling
» Government officials behind record rise in Moldova organ trade

On the web:
» BSA Global Piracy Study