In an effort to cleanse the Web of pirated products, Microsoft Corp. announced
Monday that it has launched "a second global Internet sweep."

Since the start of the first operation last August, nearly five million units
of counterfeit Microsoft hardware and software with an estimated retail value
of over $1.7 billion were seized worldwide, according to a company statement.

"We are concentrating all our resources and coordinating with national
enforcement agencies to fight Internet software piracy," said Debbie Walsh,
anti-piracy manager for Microsoft EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), in
an interview.

Microsoft has about 350 staff in the U.S. and EMEA on the case, according to
Walsh. The software giant continuously scans the Web for illegal offerings of
its products. In the last eight months this has led to 38,065 "Web takedowns",
according to Microsoft.

Criminal action was taken in 22 countries. Microsoft said it won $17.7 million
in settlements and judgements since January 2000

Pirates are increasingly using the Internet to distribute their wares. Using
the anonymity of the Web, career criminals and organized gangs use piracy to
fund drug running and terrorism, working out of sight of law enforcement officials,
according to Microsoft.

"In the past months we saw a massive increase in pirated products being
offered online," said Walsh, noting that the company is also working with
Internet service providers to set up guidelines.

Most pirated products are operating system software and applications. Hardware
cases mostly involve mice.

"But the cloned mice are small fry compared to the amount of counterfeit
software," said Walsh.

ITworld.com

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