Intellectual Property Issues - Software Piracy - why is it widespread, Essay

Intellectual Property Issues - Software Piracy - why is it widespread, what are the ethically flawed justifications people use f - Essay Example (Besen and Raskind, 1991) Software piracy may involve the distribution of unlicensed copies of proprietary software on floppy disk, CDs, hard drives, or file sharing programs and websites on the internet. Many of the instances of software piracy involve computer hacking activities where these programs are altered so that users can install and operate them on private computers without registered serial numbers, licenses, or keys. The advantage for the software pirates and their community of users is that they can enjoy all of the powerful functionality of advanced proprietary software applications without having to purchase them. For students learning these programs, the poor, unemployed, or citizens of other countries who may enjoy a minimal standard of living, software piracy may be the only way to afford or have access to these programs. Due to these issues and others revolving around software patents, there is an increasing movement to develop open source software platforms with a ll of the functionality of proprietary applications but freely distributed to download. The question of software piracy relates fundamentally to digital culture and hacking, making the issue a vital part of understanding this subculture internationally. Software Piracy & Intellectual Property File sharing and software piracy actually predated the internet and has been around nearly as long as people have been programming computers. Software is licensed under standard intellectual property, copyright, and business law, usually including a user agreement with the terms and conditions of use stipulated in advance that the customer must accept. Intellectual property law turns source code into licensed property that can be protected from theft under a common law basis. (Besen and Raskind, 1991) Therefore, the legal argument established under the current combination of copyright and intellectual property laws creates the crime of software piracy for anyone attempting to circumvent license d use by distributing cracked versions of the software that can be installed on a computer without paying. The legal argument includes the fact that the software pirate is denying the payment due for the licensed software to the company that developed it, thus weakening its business plan and sustainability. The loss of ROI therefore constitutes a criminal act, similar to copying a videotape and selling it or airing a movie without paying royalties, etc. (Besen and Raskind, 1991) The software pirates themselves refute this by pointing out that they are not necessarily costing the developing companies any income, because people who can afford it or who need licensed copies in enterprise or academia will purchase it anyway. They state rather that software piracy empowers the poor people who would otherwise be without tools and at a competitive disadvantage due to their socio-economic status. This â€Å"Robin Hood† argument can be persuasive as well, because the cost to make a di gital copy of a software title is essentially zero. (Boyle, 2004) File Sharing & Digital Culture Digital culture views hackers as heroes and the â€Å"