Focus Media (Kigali)
Eric Kayombayire
26 March 2008
opinion
Software piracy is a worldwide phenomenon. In Rwanda too, many people use illegally copied or downloaded software, music or videos. So why do we do it? Although lots of people, especially software developers, would be glad to see the Demonoid website closed, no one could be more satisfied than pastor Mutijima. IT-expert Abdul Byukusenge recalls how the pastor asked for his help to remove viruses from his PC.
Although this kind of piracy isn't so widespread in Rwanda, illegal downloading is.
"I told him that I had to download the software from one of the websites I know that offer for free a commercial antivirus to remove the threat in question. When I started typing http://demon... into the address bar of the web-browser, he abruptly took my hand off the keyboard and ordered me to stop immediately, because the site has the word 'demon' in it," Byukusenge chuckles.
Many anti-piracy crusaders agree with pastor Mutijima that the Demonoid website is evil, although for more secular reasons. It is one of the numerous "torrent sites", which allow people to download copyright-protected software (as well as movies, music and books) illegally and for free. Obviously, such websites receive a lot of visitors.
"Demonoid is divine, I can get everything there," says Eugène Rwagasore, an ICT student at KIST who uses the website to download electronic copies of computer magazines as well as major software packages. "I even went to Kampala to buy a special internet connection card, so that I am connected 24 hours and can have the software in few days, because some of these files are huge."
He cites the high price of the legal software as the reason why he downloads. "You see, Adobe Creative Suite 3 (a graphics design and layout package which includes the popular Photoshop, ed.) costs nearly $2,000. I can't afford to pay that much," Rwagasore argues.
Boncoeur Rudasingwa, a graphics and video designer at Secam, also is an avid user of Demonoid and the likes, where he finds everything he wants. Well, nearly everything. "If I could only also download physical items through torrent sites, then I would have my own Chevrolet by now," Rudasingwa says jokingly.
People have different reasons for illegally downloading software, but the main ones seem to be the hefty prices of genuine products and their availability on the local market.
Some point out that in Rwanda only government and international institutions and organizations can afford to buy legal software. "Minaloc indeed buys genuine software, and so do other ministries. We get licensed Windows and Office from Microsoft," confirms Is'haq Habimana, Minaloc's IT consultant.
Others say that it is a waste of time to go to local shops to look for certain software, only to be told that it is not available. Thus, they reason, you better use the global shops - the Internet - to get it for free.
Innocent
Although both reasons are to some extent valid, and illegal downloading is often done quite innocently and purely for personal use, it opens the door wide to piracy - copying the software and sharing, or selling, these copies.
It's not only computer software. Suppose that your girlfriend isn't the type who likes those R&B and Hip Hop songs which are popular here, and she's telling you that you'll have to play Rock at her party tomorrow. Chances are that you won't find those CD's on the shelves in Rwanda. What will you do if you're a computer geek?
Because you don't want to let your girl down, the first thing you'll think of might be the Internet, and the second LimeWire (a 'peer-to-peer program' through which users, via the Internet, give others access to a part of their computer where they put files they want to share - movies, music, software, books, or pictures). In no time, you will have enough songs to last the whole night.
That, indeed, sounds innocent. But it doesn't stop there. The party is a big success, and you notice that the majority of the people actually enjoy your Rock music. So you smell business, and the next morning you start putting these songs on CD, and making copies of them, with the idea of selling them to DJs. You are another step further on the path of piracy, and might have started a friend-to-friend-to-studio chain.
The above is not an imaginary scenario, as is testified by one Matt Karangwa. "One day, I heard that my favorite music player, iTunes (where you pay to download songs, ed.), was celebrating its billionth song downloaded, which was Speed of Sound from Coldplay.
I immediately downloaded the song and gave a copy to my brother. I asked him a few days later if he liked it, and he said that he did. In fact, he had already given copies to seven of his friends."
Only local artists protected
What makes illegal downloading and piracy all the more easy in Rwanda, is the fact that at this moment there is no fully-fledged copyright law (although a draft is being examined by parliament). Currently, government has only set rules banning copying of national artists' works.
That's why you probably won't find illegal copies of the movie 100 Days in video libraries, but you will rarely get an original of the popular American TV-series Prison Break.
"You can be fined by LIRAM (the league of Rwandan artists and musicians, ed.) if you do so for Rwandan artists," explains Bienvenu Gahigi, a Rwandan musician. It doesn't prevent, however, that you will find popular Rwandan songs on computers in offices and homes nationwide.
For video-rental shops, competitiveness also plays a major role. You might want to give your clients only original DVDs, but if other shops don't play the game by the same rules (and they don't), you will soon be out of business. Indeed, given that originals are more expensive, you will have to increase the price of rentals.
And since your customers don't care whether the DVD you give them is the genuine stuff, as long as it's the movie they want and it's affordable, they'll soon shy away from your ethically-correct higher prices and go to a competitor who offers the movie at a lower price.
What matters to them is watching movies, not copyright - in other words, if they can see the Titanic sink (and Leonardo Di Caprio die) for Frw 1,000, why should they pay 500 francs more?
Piracy can be fought, even though it's not an easy task. But it is possible when those responsible stand up and do something to prevent or sanction the practice - as has already been shown when fake products such as shoe polish have been destroyed. With the copyright law in place, the same could be done for pirated CDs and DVDs, whether they contain software, video or music.
It will also be a question of ensuring that the officials involved feel concerned and see the interest of fighting piracy. For example, try and pretend to be from the revenue authority and go out collecting taxes from shops; in no time, RRA will have you off the streets and into prison. The same should be true for piracy.
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