FREE ESSAY ON PIRCAY IS STILL A CRIM

PIRCAY IS STILL A CRIM

Ryan Dunton
English 1117
Dec. 11, 2000
Piracy is still a crime
Software Piracy is the most common computer crime, it is the illegal 
coping of software. People wouldn't think of shoplifting software from a retail store,
but don't think twice about going home and making several illegal copies of the same
software and this is true because I myself am guilty of this. The major problem is not
people going out and buying the software then making copies for everyone, it's the
websites that cater to pirating software, that really cause the problem. On anyone one of
these sites you could find hundreds of pirated software open for anyone to take. This is
a problem and nothing can really be done about it. Few arrests are made in this area of
computer crime.
In 1993 worldwide illegal copying of domestic and international software cost $12.5
billion to the software industry, with a loss of $2.2 billion in the United States alone.
Estimates show that over 40 percent of U.S. software company revenues are generated
overseas, yet nearly 85 percent of the software industry's piracy losses occurred outside
of the United States borders. The Software Publishers Association said that approximately
35 percent of the business software in the United States was obtained illegally, and 30
percent of the piracy occurs in the business world. In a business, every computer must
have its own set of original software. It is illegal for a business to purchase a single
set of original software and then load that software onto more than one computer, or
lend, copy or distribute software for any reason without the prior written 
consent of the software manufacturer.
In 1980 The Copyright Act was amended to explicitly include computer programs. Title 17
to the United States Code states that it is illegal to make or to distribute copies of
copyrighted material without authorization, except for the user's right to make a single
backup copy for archival purposes. Any written material (including computer programs)
fixed in a tangible form (written somewhere i.e. printout) is considered copyrighted
without any additional action on the part of the author.
One of the main concerns of the software industry is how to deal with the issues of
software licensing. More and more customers want customized software suited for their
business or personal need, and expect the software development firms to accommodate to
their wishes. The other side of this issue is that software development firms are
concerned with unrealized revenue and excess costs of software piracy. Software licensing
policies were originally a result of software developers' need to protect their income
from piracy.
While software piracy is very big there is also a very large part of it in the music and
movie industry. Many people are under fire because of the use of mp3's and the sharing of
industry secrets like DVD. One of the most familiar law suits is the one against Napster,
a program that helps people share mp3's.
Bibliography
Works Cited
Brandel, William, Licensing stymies users, 
URL:http://www.viman.com/license/license.html#policy, Viman 
Software, Inc., 1994. 
Business Software Alliance, Software Piracy and the Law, 
URL:http://www.bsa.org/bsa/docs/soft_pl.html, Business Software 
Alliance, 1995. 
Software Publishers Association, SPA Anti-Piracy Backgrounder, 
URL:http://www.spa.org/piracy/pi_back.htm, Software Publishers 
Association, 1995.