THE Government crackdown on counterfeit computer software has finally hit Hong Kong secondary schools where teachers are found to be using pirated software in school computers.
A wave of panic swept secondary schools recently following a rumour that a computer software company was considering suing both a government and a subsidised secondary school for illegal use of their software for school administrative work.
Sources said that certain schools had hurriedly deleted pirated programmes from their systems.
'The problem was that some teachers had loaded their own computer software into school computers to facilitate their work, such as marking and printing out name lists, but had forgotten to delete the programmes after use,' said John Fan Kam-ping, chairman of the Hong Kong Subsidised Secondary Schools' Council.
'The suing was only a rumour . No schools are being taken to court.' However, in response to the recent show of concern, the council summoned a meeting at which three suggestions were tabled to tackle the problem: That teachers in both subsidised and government schools be advised not to load school computers with unauthorised software; That schools regularly monitor computers being used for administrative purposes; That a logbook be kept for a record of the teachers who use the computers.
At present, most secondary schools still use administrative software they have bought or designed themselves, and not obtained from government sources.