Street artist Rukkit designs icon to help promote use of genuine software
Rukkit Kuanhawate, the renowned Thai street artist, has joined forces with Microsoft Thailand to inspire digital citizens towards a preference for genuine software through his newly designed icon, accompanied by the Facebook hashtag #RealSoftwareRealMe.
With this new symbol, genuine software users can express their proud ethical stand in the hope of raising awareness and eventually enhancing security in the entire digital space.
The icon represents his real self and determination to encourage digital natives to join this online conversation and recognise the negative consequences of using counterfeit software, Microsoft said.
Rukkit, a rising-star street artist well-known for his animal graffiti, has created an icon with intricate and colourful geometrical patterns in his trademark style.
He chose the bear as the symbolic animal for the initiative and a representation of courage, strength and integrity. The animal also has a close connection to his own characteristics, the company said.
According to the latest market survey, the software piracy rate in Thailand is still much higher than the global average, despite a gradual decline in recent years.
In 2016, the piracy rate in the Kingdom stood at 67 per cent, down 2 percentage points from the previous year but still higher than the Asia-Pacific average of 61 per cent and the global average of 39 per cent, Microsoft’s Thai unit said.
The sluggish reduction of intellectual-property-rights infringement is primarily due to people’s lack of awareness of the negative consequences in security and privacy from the use of non-genuine products.
Some still hold false beliefs that real software costs more and does not offer any advantage, resulting in these users continuing to rely on counterfeit products at the expense of their own devices, privacy – and even their online security, the company said.
If everyone used genuine software that usually protected computer and personal data, it would result in an overall increase in the level of cyber-security, Microsoft stressed, adding that one of the indirect benefits would be that users could help shape the direction of software development by their opinions, reflected in their actual purchase behavior.
