Information Technology in Colombia

In Colombia copyright covers an work that is considered literary, artistic, or scientific in nature. A computer software program, be it an operating systems or an application is legally afforded the same protection as a literary work. Therefore, software is considered to be intellectual property at the same level as a literary, artistic, or scientific work.

Penalties for infringing upon a copyright can include between two to five years in prison and a fine that equates to between five and twenty months' payment of the legal minimum wage.

In the Business Software Alliance's (BSA) 1994 Software Piracy Estimates by Country and Region Report, it is estimated that Colombia suffered losses of $ 90,765,000 (US) that year, or an 81% piracy rate. (34)

While that piracy rate and numerical loss representation has diminished, Colombia is on BSA's "Priority Watch List" for 1997. Below the losses for Business and Entertainment Software are detailed separately. Note the gradual decrease in the piracy rate and monetary loss and that a greater percentage of software that is pirated for business applications than for entertainment purposes.

Year	1997*	1996	1995
Business Applications
Loss (in millions)	52.1	74.3	82.4
Piracy Rate	60	67	78
Entertainment Software
Loss (in millions)	7.2	6.8	6.8
Piracy Rate	73	62	62

Latin America

Countries with the largest revenue losses include Brazil ($395 million), Mexico ($133 million) and Argentina ($105 million). These three countries represent 69% of the region's dollar losses, corresponding to the 65% of the business software market these countries represent. While the
piracy rate in Latin America declined by six percentage points, more than six out of every ten applications were pirated in the region during 1997 with an overall regional piracy rate of 62%. The countries with the highest piracy rates were El Salvador (89% -- still the highest in the region), Bolivia (88%) and Paraguay (87%). (36)

Currently Colombia and other Latin American countries do not suffer from the same debates on trans-border data flows that have plagued Europe and the United States for years. As there is no personal information moving across borders, the idea of privacy and moving a citizen's data across borders is not an issue in Colombia.

Privacy is not a subject that evokes strong reactions in Colombia. They do not have a side in the US/European debate over privacy, partially because the technology does not exist in Colombia to force these issues. Overall, there are not strong questions of privacy as the government does not attempt to place much control over the personal lives of citizens as is the practice in Europe. At the same time, there is not a focus on individual rights such as is exhibited in the US, leaving Colombia to exist in the middle of the privacy continuum without much fanfare or attention. With increasing technology usage, however, we might see controversy arise over privacy issues, but that point will not be for many years.