Software Piracy
Key Terms and Concepts: software, shareware, freeware,
piracy, bootleg, MP3, SPA
There are many different types of software:
Some software is free. You never have to pay for it. It's got a really tricky name that helps you identify if it's free...it's called freeware. There's another type of software that will allow you to "share" their software for a small price.
With 'Shareware,' the software author expects you pay a reasonable fee if you
use the program regularly, but there is nothing to stop you from using it anyway.
It is the honor system. Your personal cyber-ethics are at work here.
Then there is the big business of software when you are expected to pay for
it no matter what: $10 to $10,000 per copy.
Software companies are in business to make money for their company and their
stockholders. But still, software companies lose billions of dollars every
year because people make illegal copies of software. In places like China and
India, very few people pay for software: they just copy it and use it anyway.
In Hong Kong you can buy every program Microsoft ever wrote for $ 100.
Copying software without paying for it is called piracy,
the same term used for people who use descramblers for cable TV and don't pay
for it.
With software, many of us like to try out the software
first, before paying for it. That makes sense. But where do you get
the 'bootleg' software? Most big software companies won't give it
to you to try. They want to be paid for it. Other companies, though,
will let you try out their software for 30 days to see if you like
it. At the end of thirty days, either you pay for it, or a 'time-bomb'
goes off and the program won't run any more.
Of course there are ways around all of these obstacles, and that is what the
many people do. Many people think that the software companies are too rich,
and so it is OK to take software and not pay for it.
We each have to come up with our own set of cyberethics on how we handle
software.
Now, for a moment, think about Music. Music on the Internet. MP3 files are
all over the Internet, and they are free. Free digital copies of popular music
from today and from the 60s, too. The question is, should you be able to download
and have copies of music for free? What about the songwriters and performers:
should they be paid for their work or not?
When you rent or buy a videotape of a movie, in the beginning there is an FBI
warning about copyright infringement. Only the owner of the video, (album
or software) has the right to make copies of it. You can copy a CID you own
so that you have a tape to play in the car, but copying music or software for
profit is illegal. Even non-commercial copying of more than $1000 worth of
software without permission is a crime. Note that the I . urisdictional limit
is $1000. See 17 USC 506 for more details. Only the owner of the video (album
or software) has the right to make copies of it.
You can make a few copies of something you own, for example a tape of a CD
to play in the car, but generally copying software without permission is illegal
and copying more than $500 worth of software without permission is a crime.
Internationally, many countries have entered into treaties with each other
to enforce and respect copyright laws.
Many large companies have paid huge fines for letting
their employees use software without paying for it. The Software
Publishers Association (SPA) leads the battle against software
piracy.
Just like with stealing information, the value of
stolen software can quickly add up. The LosAngeles school district
had to pay a $5M fine for all the illegal copies of software its
teachers and administrators installed on school computers; it would
have been cheaper to buy the licenses honestly. And what kind of
message did they give the kids?
Five
Years: $59.2 Billion Lost
http://www.spa.org/piracy/
What
is Software Piracy?
http://www.ealaddin.com/hasp/software_piracy.asp?cf=tl
Five
Myths About Software Protection
http://www.ealaddin.com/hasp/fivemyths.asp?cf=tl
