There is no ?skull and cross bones? flag to announce their presence. Today?s pirates use a more stealthy approach. In fact the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), a non-profit-making Swiss organisation dedicated to the protection of intellectual property in the music industry, lists Mauritius as a ?priority? country. Along with Nigeria and Kenya, we are at the top of the piracy league for the African region. According to the IFPI, Mauritian pirates show shrewd adaptability. In 2000, most pirate music CDs came from Malaysia. But, following a crackdown in that country and in Mauritius, the illegal market reorganised itself and switched production locally. The IFPI estimates that piracy can be upwards of 80% in the island. No wonder Microsoft Indian Ocean Islands and MASA are twitching in their seats over such widescale copying.

Globally, the music industry has seen its sales shrink by one-fifth between 1999 and 2003. This is certainly alarming for record labels, which spend millions of dollars to promote an artist. The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) estimates that music piracy yields more than £56 million annually, with a growth six times faster than the sales of legitimate CDs. The international trade in counterfeit music is a whopping $4.5 billion, the record companies standing to lose the most from this activity. While an artist will make around $2 dollars on every CD sold, an equivalent amount goes to the distributors. The rest fills the pockets of the labels, most of them big players in the economy, since the demise of independent production. While global music sales amounted to around $40 billion five years ago, the current gross of $32 billion is a sign that the illegal market is eating away at profits.

But it is not only music that is subject to piracy. Film is another favourite of the underworld, costing the industry nearly £3 billion a year in lost profits, according to the Motion Picture Association (MPA). Internet broadband now delivers quicker connection and, with it, counterfeiting has acquired a new vitality. Downloads from the Web are so common that most movies find their way to the living room before they are released on the big screen. An example was Star Wars: Episode 1 ? The Phantom menace. While it was still being shown in US cinemas, pirate copies had found their way to the Asian market. Subsequently, when the film was premiered in Asia, audience figures were far below expectations.

On top of that, new technology invariably brings new forms of piracy and the DVD has suffered equally from illegal copying. Almost 2 million fake DVDs were seized in the UK in 2003, representing a rise in excess of 400% and depriving the industry of nearly £440 million in lost revenue. If the downfall of videocassettes caused a few romantics to mourn, on the contrary, pirates were rubbing their hands at the prospect of massive revenues. 100 VCRs would be required to produce 400 videos in a ten hour period, while thousands of perfect DVDs can be copied daily. The pirates quickly switched to mass production.

Software too

But what is the business of Microsoft in movies and films? Why is its Indian Ocean subsidiary so concerned about, to warrant a conference in the Labourdonnais? Well, software piracy was at the rate of 36% in 2003 according to Business Software Alliance (BSA). While $50 billion worth of packaged software was spent last year, BSA found that programs worth $80 billion were running on desktops throughout the world. Such levels of lost revenue are obviously worrying Microsoft, considering the corporation runs a virtual monopoly with its Windows and Office software. The highest rates of copying occur, not in developed economies, but rather in these countries, which are at the gates of the technological revolution. While North America and Western Europe display meek rates of illegal copying, at 23% and 36% respectively, the Asia/Pacific and Middle East/Africa regions use just above 50% of forged material. Eastern Europe, on the other hand, accounts for 71% of counterfeit software. The Asia/Pacific region presently counts three of the top four pirating countries, namely China, Vietnam and Indonesia, among the surveyed region. But the average is brought down by Japan and Australia, which tend to stay on the right side of the law.

Ambivalent attitude

Despite pressure to toughen piracy laws around the world and ?education? programs against illegal copying, the trend shows an upward curve. With the economy at a standstill in some regions, people are more inclined to turn towards the cheaper copies for their software. Also, the increasing number of new users has complicated the case for those fighting piracy. The Internet itself has contributed to the problem, as illegal software is readily available. A quick search on dedicated websites can yield any software at minimal costs. Microsoft is also weary of the impact it will have on its X-Box, as video games get their fair share of copying.

The problem with piracy is the ambivalent attitude that the public displays towards the phenomenon. After all, it is difficult to ask people to feel sympathy for companies that charge exorbitant amounts for their products. As faster computers and Internet connection come on the market, it will be even more difficult to prevent copying. Already, many record labels are releasing albums on the Internet. In the future, the authorities will harden their attitude towards piracy, under pressure from the corporations. There have been high profile arrests in the UK and John Ashcroft, the departed US attorney general, had vowed to use the FBI to clamp down on film pirates. Equally, the music industry has taken the unprecedented step of suing those responsible for illegal downloads from the Internet. Our love affair with piracy, in Mauritius, could become a dangerous adventure.

Diren VALAYDEN

Outlook Correspondent in Dublin