Dear all; For those of you that are interested. A meeting yesterday took place on software copyright protection in Vietnam. An agreement was signed by Tarun Sawney, Business Software Alliance (BSA)?s Director for Anti-Piracy in Asia; Pham Tan Cong, General Secretary of the Vietnam Software Association; Vu Manh Chu, Director of the Copyright Office of Vietnam; and Vu Xuan Thanh, Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. to help in the fight against software copyright protection.(source http://english.vietnamnet.vn/tech/2008/08/800784/)
A campaign will be launched to increase the awareness of illegal software, more frequent inspections and stricter violations will be performed. Chief Inspector Thans said the task force are proposing increasing the maximum fine on copyright infringement to 500 Million VND. Business Software Alliance will assist government agencies by training personnel, enforcing policies and setting up a hotline for members of the public to pass information on copyright violations for 'favourable conditions'. As you're all aware most private organisations can not afford to pay such heavy fines. Also the hotline center set up for the public to inform for 'benefit's has been used with success across Europe. Perhaps the Freedom of Software day can reflect this issue and provide a more basic and direct guide on FOSS for members of the communities who may be affected by such changes. -- Paul Griffiths IT Advisor ICT4DEV Coordinator Blog: www.ngocentre.org.vn/ict4dev Mailing List: http://mailman.ngocentre.org.vn/mailman/listinfo/ict4devwg VUFO-NGO Resource Centre La Thanh hotel, 218 Doi Can, Hanoi, VIETNAM Tel. +844 832 8570 Fax. +844 832 8611 Mob. +84 (0)904 40 54292 Email: sysadmin at ngocentre.org.vn Website: www.ngocentre.org.vn
