Police probe corporate software violators

Moreover, the division has proposed that the Information and Communications Technology Ministry undertake a review of Thailand's cyber laws.

Economic and Cyber Crime Division commander Kowit Vongrungrot said the ECD proposed the review of cyber laws earlier this year so that new laws could be written enabling the monitoring of illegal activities over the Internet, including online transactions. New laws should also enable the protection of intellectual property over the Internet, on behalf of individuals and businesses, he said.

The division has commenced investigations into about 1,000 companies for possible software copyright infringement in a nationwide campaign. It aims to create awareness of illegal activities among companies, thereby reducing software-licence violations.

The ECD has also sent 30,000 letters to companies around the country to encourage their use of legal and properly licensed software.

The ECD's deputy commander Sarayuth Pooltanya said the division aimed to slash the corporate and business use of illegal software in order to reduce software privacy in Thailand.

The country's software-privacy rate last year was 76 per cent, and the ECD's campaign is expected to cut that rate by about 2 per cent per year. This compares with a software-piracy rate of about 61 per cent in the Asia-Pacific region generally, he said. The reduction of software piracy will create an automatic boost for the local software industry.

"The ECD will begin to investigate and arrest [officials in] companies that are using pirate software. They are violating the Thai Copyright Act as it relates to software. We have to step up our enforcement of intellectual-property rights in software" Sarayuth said.

Last year the division arrested individuals and businesses who were later charged in 85 illegal software cases involving Bt300 million. It expects the number of arrests this year to reach about 120, in cases involving about Bt433 million.