Microsoft comes knocking in China
By Wu Zhong, China editor
HONG KONG - United States software giant Microsoft flexed its muscles on Global
Anti-Piracy Day on October 21 by launching an unprecedented campaign in China
against the use of pirated Windows XP, Office 2003 and Office 2007. The move
panicked Chinese Internet surfers, the vast majority of whom use pirated
software, and sparked off controversy whether the US company's actions
contravene Chinese law.
Microsoft's latest weapons against Chinese users of pirated software are the
Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) and the Office Genuine Advantage (OGA)
programs. They will briefly black out the screen of a computer every 60 minutes
if the installed software fails a validation test, and a persistent message
will pop up at the righthand corner warning that the user may be a victim
of software counterfeiting.
Only a small proportion of users of pirated Microsoft software were said to be
affected by the campaign on its opening day.
The number of Internet users in China was 253 million at the end June, with the
country replacing the US at the top of the world rankings, according to
official statistics. The vast majority of Chinese Internet users are believed
to depend on fake software, wittingly or otherwise. A survey by Hong
Kong-listed Tencent.com found that 74% of 580,000 Internet questioned used fake
software. That would translate into 180 million Internet users of pirated
software nationwide - again earning the country top place for piracy.
Only about 7,000, or 14%, out of 50,000 users surveyed said they were assaulted
by the Microsoft campaign in the first day, according to Nasdaq-listed
Netease.com, a popular Chinese Internet portal. Experts said only those
pirated-software users who have manually or automatically downloaded updates
from Microsoft may be affected.
Even so, Chinese Internet users have expressed anger at Microsoft's campaign.
"How can Microsoft be so rude to enter my computer without my consent?" said
some online chatroom messages. "Microsoft has no right to control my hardware
without my consent," said others.
According to Tencent.com, 77% of the 580,000 surfers polled were against
Microsoft's anti-piracy campaign, and 83% said they would continue to use
pirated Microsoft software.
Many Chinese bloggers are now discussing how to find a way around the WGA and
OGA programs.
Microsoft said on its website the move was part of its "commitment to help
protect its intellectual property and to help you avoid problems before they
happen."
At issue is the price of a piece of genuine Microsoft software. In China, a
genuine Windows costs over 1,000 yuan (US$146), close to the monthly per capita
gross domestic product. The pirated equivalent sells for 5 yuan.
"It is the rampant use of fake software that has made Microsoft famous and
popular in the huge yet still fast-growing Chinese market," said Xiao Dong, an
IT businessman and Internet user in Shenzhen. "To take over this market with
its genuine software, Microsoft should consider reducing the prices of its
products, making them affordable to the majority of Chinese computer users,
rather than launching such a rude campaign. Few would want to use fake software
if the genuine ones were affordable.”
Microsoft's campaign may be helping sales without price cutting. Sales of
genuine Windows XP rose 50% in Shenyang, capital of northeastern Liaoning
province, last week after the US software giant announced its campaign,
according to Shenyang Evening News. In Beijing and some other cities, small
businesses also rushed to replace pirated software with the genuine article, on
concern that their businesses might be affected.
Others are concerned over the legality of the campaign. Dong Zhengwei, a
Beijing-based lawyer, has reported the case to the Public Security Bureau,
slamming Microsoft for "conducting the largest ever campaign of hacking [into
others' computers] in China" to infringe on the privacy of Chinese Internet
users, Chinese media reported. He demanded the police launch an investigation
into possible criminal offences in this case.
Dong's action was supported by some other legal experts who said Microsoft was
not authorized to enforce the law in China. If it felt its copyright was
violated, it should report the matter to the authorities, rather than take
action by itself.
Microsoft (China) declined to comment on the legal controversy, but a retired
law professor in Tianjin said the company had violated no Chinese law if its
WGA and OGA program functions had been announced.
"If you use pirated software and still want to download updates from Microsoft,
you must take responsibility for that," the professor said. "For, by doing so,
you in fact already agree to let Microsoft access your computer." The WGA and
OGA programs will also "black out your computer without causing any damage to
the hardware or software of your computer. So I don't see how it could violate
any existing law."
That still left other concerns regarding information security, Shenzhen
businessman Xiao said.
"In fact Microsoft is flexing its muscle with the campaign to tell users of its
software, genuine or fake, that it can access to their computer at any time.
Thus there is reason for one to be concerned about information security."
The Shenzhen-based Securities Times newspaper said the Microsoft campaign
"exposes the problems of Internet and information security. We should be
worried not only with infringing on information security by the 'black-out'
campaign, but also with possible infringements of information security by all
kinds of software. Therefore we must step up legislating for protection
information security on the Internet."
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