AT LEAST 50 operators of Internet cafés in Cotabato City were forced to close shop on Friday in the face of a directive from the Optical Media Board (OMB) requiring the use of licensed software.

The same thing happened in the cities of Malaybalay, General Santos, Puerto Princesa and Baguio.

In Puerto Princesa City, panic struck some employees of government and private offices and businesses as the OMB, the police and the National Bureau of Investigation started raiding establishments suspected of using unlicensed software.

About two weeks ago, word spread that the OMB, led by its chair, actor Edu Manzano, would raid Internet cafés without licensed Microsoft software.

As a result, many closed for days to replace their unlicensed software with open systems like Linux.

Also starting Sept. 12, local government offices in Puerto Princesa stopped using some of their computers, except for those with licensed software.

Appeal

Joseph Coloso, president of the Cotabato City Internet Café Association, said the closure was temporary while they waited for the board's action on their resolution appealing for a moratorium.

Under the government's anti-piracy law, Internet café owners are required to have their operating system licensed at the price of almost P7,000 per unit, said Coloso, who felt that the amount is too big a burden for them.

Coloso said the OMB's focus on Internet cafés is discriminatory since many government and nongovernment offices and homes have computers that use the same operating system as theirs.

The group, Coloso said, planned to ask the mayor and city councilors to help alleviate their plight through legislation.

In Malaybalay City, Manny Cudal, president of the Bukidnon Internet Operators Society, told the Inquirer that almost all Internet cafés closed shop on Friday to avoid the risk of being raided.

Cudal said they would ask the authorities to give them enough time to comply with the requirements on the licensing of these software and to appeal for the reduction of the payments for the licensing into the academic rates since their clients are mostly students.

In General Santos City, Internet cafés closed shop for two days after the NBI conducted a raid early morning Tuesday and confiscated computer units which were illegally using unlicensed Microsoft software.

But some cafés resumed operations on Saturday, this time with the Microsoft software already deleted from their computer units.

Puerto Princesa

Provincial information officer Rolando Bonoan Jr. said in a radio interview that the provincial government was negotiating with the OMB and the software company to facilitate the licensing.

On Sept. 16, the day the authorities were supposed to start their raids, most Internet cafés were closed.

Some put signs like "temporarily closed," or "under renovation."

An Internet café owner said because of the crackdown, he has lost a lot of customers.

The government, he said, should help the small entrepreneurs like him because they are barely surviving these days.

He said they were willing to pay the license provided the cost is not too high.

Most software being used by Internet cafés is Microsoft, which is reportedly asking P8,000 per unit for license.

This, he said, is too much. They would rather close their business as they will not be able to recoup the cost even if they increased their Internet fees.

In an interview with the dyPR radio, Manzano said they didn't mean to strip the Internet owners of their business.

Manzano, who was in Palawan two weeks ago to brief local authorities, said they were doing this because the Business Software Alliance (BSA) has already lost millions of dollars to piracy.

He denied that there was pressure from the United States government and big software companies for the sudden crackdown.

"We are not favoring one country [because even] Filipino-registered software [are included]," he said.

There were also exemptions on the raid. Computer games were still allowed as well as those software used for educational purposes.

Those caught using unlicensed software will be fined, closed or criminally liable, depending on the situation, Manzano said.

Hypocrisy

In Baguio City, owners of computer shops have accused officials of the OMB and the government of hypocrisy following a national crackdown on commercial firms using unlicensed software.

In letters addressed to Manzano and NBI Director Reynaldo Wycoco, the businessmen said law enforcers refused to include government agencies using unlicensed software in their operations.

Manzano's nationwide crackdown complies with the demands of international anti-piracy groups, which have kept the Philippines in its world blacklist of countries violating intellectual property rights (IPR).

But Gerry Mayona, who initiated the petition among computer shop owners, said various government agencies should also be cited for violating provisions of the law governing IPR.

Mayona said Baguio businessmen, in letters sent out by facsimile on Sept. 15, were asking the government to stop the crackdown until it also complied with the IPR law.

He said all of the city's computer-service and retail enterprises stopped operations on Sept. 15, after news about an NBI crackdown requested by the BSA leaked out.

Mayona said Manzano's Pilipinas Anti-Piracy Team gave computer owners a 30-day reprieve on Aug. 16 to secure licenses before it penalizes IPR violators.

In their letters, the businessmen acknowledged that the raids would correct the country's reputation "as one of the piracy centers of Asia."

Complaints

But they complained that computer retailers who have sold millions of personal computers to residents and companies rarely install licensed software.

"In Baguio City alone, there are more than 100 computer shops and thousands of computer owners, but... most of these computers being used by private or government agencies do not have licensed software installed [in their hard disks]," the letters said.

Mayona said a certain software firm still retailed its most popular software from P8,500 to P10,800 for each computer unit, when the demand should have resulted in lower prices.

"We are being blackmailed into buying licensed software at this high cost, and we are now told that there isn't even enough supply to cover each computer that is being rented out by computer shops," he said.

He said NBI agents refused to heed the demands of businessmen who challenged the coverage of their operations.

"One agent said government agencies which use unlicensed software are covered by some kind of amnesty," Mayona said.

Instead of scaring commercial firms into abiding by IPR laws, the businessmen asked OMB to help them secure cheaper software supply.

Mayona said his computer shop has started replacing its computers' unlicensed software with those that can be downloaded from the Internet.

"Most clients are not familiar with the free software, but I have no recourse because I can't afford the licensed brand software. Unfortunately, even the free software cannot be used to interface with many Internet services such as online games, so I may lose clients," he said. Charlie C. Señase, Grace Cantal-Albasin and Aquiles Z. Zonio, PDI Mindanao Bureau; Jofelle P. Tesorio, PDI Southern Luzon Bureau; Vincent Cabreza, PDI Northern Luzon Bureau

Source: Inquirer News Service. "ILLEGAL SOFTWARE USE: Crackdown forces computer shops to close." Inq7.net. First posted 03:01am (Mla time) Sept 19, 2005. 9-19-2005. http://news.inq7.net/regions/index.php?index=1&story_id=50633