FREE ESSAY ON SOFTWARE PIRACY

SOFTWARE PIRACY

Software Piracy - Are We Doing Enough?
Introduction
Imagine that a person offered to break into a software store, turn off all the alarms,
and hold the doors open, and allow you to take whatever you wanted from the store. This
situation is faced by most computer owners everyday, not necessarily in this form, but in
the form of software piracy. Software piracy is the unauthorised duplication and or
distribution of copyrighted programs. There would only be select group who would not be
tempted by the prospect of basically free software, most of those who are offered these
kind of goods either accept them, or are unaware that they are not legitimate. No matter
how this crime is being conducted, it has been estimated that this sort of crime is
costing the world approximately 13 billion dollars annually.
Beginnings
Software piracy became popular through the use of Bulletin Boards, which allowed people
to dial into other an "underground" archive of pirated software. Around this time, 31/2
Inch discs were also a popular medium for pirated software.
Popularity
The reason behind the widespread popularity of software piracy lies in the cost. Why pay
$80 dollars for a piece of software, when you could get it for the price of a blank CD.
Software piracy has boomed over recent years, which can most likely be attributed to the
drop in price of CD Writers, which allow the user to copy from one CD to another in less
than an hour. During the beginnings of software piracy, the floppy disc was the only
feasible method of tangible transportation, and because of the size of most software,
many floppy discs were required for storage. This problem has also been eliminated by the
CD-writer and CD, which can copy and store approximately 700 megabytes of information, as
apposed to 1.44 megabytes.
What's the Problem?
This is a question asked by many people, who do not know the damage caused by software
piracy. The initial problem lies in the producers of the piece of software, and to make
up for the cost of production, they must sell thousands of copies. However, software
piracy has caused the widespread loss of sales, which in turn reduces the amount of money
received by the makers of the program. Ultimately, this result in the producers being
forced to increase the price of their product, which again, encourages the use of cheap
pirated software. This can be described as a piracy cycle.
What Are We Doing About It?
Considering the cost of software piracy to the entire world, the action taken against it
has been minimal. It has been estimated that the complete elimination of software piracy
would boost worldwide revenue, by more that 30 billion dollars. However, even this
incentive has not been enough to spark more than a few over-glorified "sting" operations
on isolated software pirates. More action must be taken, if the creation of software is
to continue, for if this enormous amount of money is being lost, most prospective
software producers will be turned away by the lack of profit. 
What can we do about ?
This is not an easy problem to fully eliminate, because of the diversity in its
participants, from large-scale companies, to people operating private CD-writers, however
steps can be taken to reduce the amount of pirated software being bought and used.
Software piracy has been likened to jaywalking, in that it is common, but not punished
often. This must change. Software piracy should incur immediate prosecution, and swift
punishment. This way, prospective software pirates will be discouraged from involving
themselves. Also, control of the medium, in which modern software pirates most commonly
buy and sell in, would reduce the amount piracy. This means controlling the sale of
CD-writers and blank CD's. 
Conclusion
To conclude all of the above statements, it can be said that software piracy is a growing
problem that is costing the world exorbitant amounts of money. The amount of action taken
to stem the spread of piracy around the world needs to be extended, in order to bring
about an end to this expensive problem. This action would include harsher and swifter
punishment, and control of CD-writers and CD's.
Bibliography
Protecting Against Software Piracy. http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/ 2000.
"Software Information Industry Association" http://www.siia.net/piracy/default 2000. 
"Combating Software Piracy." http://users.aol.com/ptroost/piracy.htm Peter Troost 2000.
"Software Piracy: What You Should Know" http://www.mmicorp.com/help/anti.piracy.html
1998