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‘Pirate nation’ set to hit new lows
The Philippines, already dubbed a pirate nation, is striving to live up its international notoriety in film, music and info-tech copyright theft say IT professionals.
The country’s election body, Comelec is about to embark on one of the biggest software piracies in the world by contracting Smartmatic, a Venezuelan company for the automated balloting in the upcoming May 2013 mid-term elections.
But the company not own the PCOS operating software.
The real software developer, Dominion Voting Systems of Canada, has dis-authorized Smartmatic from any further use. The two firms have sued each other in America for damages
Media reports in the Philippines said Smartmatic, a Venezuelan company with many other assumed nationalities, is to run the precinct count optical scanners for the automated voting.
The Comelec is acquiring 82,000 PCOS units from Smartmatic for P9 billion (C$XXX) under a lease-purchase deal. The machines will be used by 55 million voters in 250,000 polling precincts, mostly in the 7,107 islands but a good number also in Filipino embassies, consulates, and work camps overseas.
The Comelec first leased the machines from Smartmatic for P7.2 billion, for the 2010 presidential-congressional-local elections. Last March it decided to buy the machines, for an additional P1.8 billion, for the midterm polls in 2013.
The following month, however, Dominion rescinded its software licensing agreement with Smartmatic. This effectively deprived the latter of the authority, under international patent and copyright law, to use Dominion’s intellectual property.
In the 2010 election, Smartmatic depended on Dominion to develop, revise and adapt the PCOS software to the Philippine setting. The arrangement was in violation of the Automated Election Law of 2008, which mandates that the system provider must also own the operating software. The Comelec ignored the criticisms at the time, and continues to do so to this day, said a report Business Times.
The AES (Automated Election System) Watch, composed of IT experts, academics and NGOs, is urging Congress to look for a new technology provider.
This could save the country from international sanctions, as well as ensure an accurate, acceptable ballot count. The AES Watch also is questioning the reliability of Smartmatic’s machines, because of imprecise vote tallying in a recent product demo in Congress.
IT professional Nelson J. Celis, AES Watch spokesman, said that with the Comelec purchase of Smartmatic’s 82,000 machines, the poll body will be promoting pirated technology in May 2013.
University of PHilippines professor Bobby Tuazon, head of the Center for People Empowerment in Governance, asked the Comelec to listen to the IT experts’ cautionary words.
“Why is the Comelec, dominated by lawyers who are not knowledgeable in the complexities of the PCOS technology, not taking heed?” he remarked.
The Comelec has been keeping mum about Dominion’s rescission of Smartmatic’s license to use its software.
According to the 2011 International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) report, “Internet piracy has worsened in the country and should be dealt with as a high priority by the Philippine government.”
The Philippines has made it to the United States Trade Representative (USTR) piracy Watch List
since the first release in 1989.
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