Phillipines: Beware of unscrupulous groups raiding Internet cafes--OMB - INQ7.net

Beware of unscrupulous groups raiding Internet cafes--OMBFirst posted 04:06am (Mla time) Sept 23, 2005 By Erwin Lemuel OlivaINQ7.net THE OPTICAL Media Board (OMB) on Thursday warned local businesses, Internet café shop owners in particular, to beware of unscrupulous groups raiding cafes without proper identification or search warrants.The OMB said local establishments should look out for groups using the name of the Philippine National Police (PNP), OMB, and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to seize computers and extort money.OMB chairman Edu Manzano stressed that the PNP, OMB, and the NBI do not conduct raids without proper documentation and coordination with local enforcement units. Manzano has advised local establishments to ask the supposed "raiding" groups to produce proper identification, search warrant, mission order, or inspection order."The raiding team should [be] leaving a signed receipt or inventory of items taken into custody as well as copy of the order or warrant. The law enforcement officer serving the order or warrant should be clearly identified," Manzano said.OMB made this statement in behalf of the Pilipinas Anti-Piracy Team composed of three government agencies in partnership with Business Software Alliance, a global industry association representing software companies.The law enforcement agencies denied on Wednesday that they have started conducting raids on Internet cafes and computer shops after September 15 anti-piracy campaign deadline expired.There have been unconfirmed reports of raids conducted by in some provinces and cities outside Metro Manila.The Business Software Alliance entered into a partnership last month with the NBI, OMB, and PNP to help in the enforcement campaign against violators of the intellectual property rights of BSA's members, among them large software firms like Microsoft.The group had given local businesses a 30-day grace period, starting August 15, to stop using unlicensed software.The OMB told INQ7.net earlier in a telephone interview that it has not conducted any raids of Internet shops, stressing that anyone claiming do so in the agency's name is "unauthorized.""Those reports are not true," OMB lawyer Marivic Benedicto told INQ7.net. She said the OMB does not raid Internet shops since this does not fall under its mandate. "We only raid retail shops using optical discs like DVDs to violate intellectual property rights of private stakeholders," she said.Benedicto said the OMB has received reports of alleged raids of Internet shops in Marikina City and Olongapo City. "But we don't know who are conducting these raids," she said.Meanwhile the NBI said that most of the reported raids in the provinces are hearsay. The NBI has not conducted any raids yet since the deadline expired only recently. Raids would likely start next week.Ronald Chua, chairman of the BSA Philippines committee, said the association’s members have not initiated raids with the Pilipinas Anti-Piracy Team either."Since the start of the Pilipinas Anti-Piracy Team countdown on August 17 until today, September 20, neither the Business Software Alliance nor its members have initiated any enforcement action with the Pilipinas Anti-Piracy Team," Chua said in statement. "BSA does not conduct enforcement actions on its own. The law enforcement agencies do. All enforcement actions by these agencies are done with proper documentation," Chua said. He warned the public from unscrupulous persons pretending to be from the BSA or its member companies."Please call our hotline, 819-5897 (Metro Manila) or 1-800-1-888-8787 (outside Metro Manila), if you have any doubts on the authenticity of the raid or on any communication sent to your office pretending/claiming to be from the BSA or its members," Chua said.©2005 www.inq7.net all rights reserved