WIRED provides some context to recent reports that Argentina is
considering a law mandating the use of open source software in its
government. Software copying, until 1998, was legal in Argentina.
Now that a crackdown is in progress, the government’s realizing
just how much money it will have to spend to license what it
depends on:
“Until the country’s intellectual property law was modified in
November 1998, it was perfectly legal to copy software in
Argentina. Today, anyone caught with pirated goods faces fines and
up to six years in the slammer.”
“After a 45-day “truce” in the wake of the law’s passage, the
association targeted 15,000 firms it believed use crooked copies,
based on an analysis of public data, such as tax and social
security documents. Of the original targets, about 6,000 have
rectified their situation, said association president Martín
Carranza Torres.”