The Ethics Of Software Piracy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Ethics Of Software Piracy - Research Paper Example Introduction Software piracy is a process of the illegal replication of applications and software. Additionally, the software piracy is known as pessimistically influencing the users by raising prices as well as minimizing finances for exploration and advancements of upcoming inventions of software. At the present, software piracy has become a well known term and is getting augmented attention of software development firms. In view of the fact that majority of software is utilized with exclusive rights as well as created by other corporations can be used with some limitations (such as duration of software use, license period). In this scenario, software development businesses are implementing severe restrictions along with copyright rules and regulations against such types of the prohibited actions. However, all these measures are not enough. There is a dire need for more enhanced actions and methods for restricting such types of activities (Online Ethics Center for Engineering; BizO ffice). This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of software piracy as an unethical issue in IT field. This paper also outlines the typical reasons that people use to justify their piracy activities. Software Piracy The illegal duplication of computer software is known is software piracy. Though majority of computer users at present know that unauthorized utilization and replication of software is unlawful and unethical, but many of them demonstrate a general disrespect for the significance of considering software as precious intellectual possessions. In this regard, national copyright rules as well as regulations are used to secure the computer software. These rules define that users are not authorized to create a copy of particular software for some other cause than as an archival support without authorization of the copyright owner (archive support means data or information developed through those software such as docs files are developed by MS Word but we can make as many co pies of docs files and store them). On the other hand, the illegal replica of computer software can also be recognized as theft. In this regard, in 1990, the PC software business faced a loss of $2.4 billion in the US only as well as more than $10 billion globally, from some comprehensive approximations by the Software Publishers Association. In fact, computer software piracy is not same as copying other media that is recorded, like that compact disks as well as videotapes, for the reason that there is no deprivation in the value of the copy produced. Additionally, the computer business is the only business that allows the customer to become a developer’s assistant. In this scenario, customer plays an important role in the development of that software. A software application copied again and again will work accurately similar to the genuine. However, the actual software which took years to be built can be duplicated or copied in a fraction of seconds. Though software is costl y to build up, however some low cost Personal Computer can be employed to produce an inexpensive copy of the software (BizOffice; Kayne; Safe-Net). Therefore software piracy is considered as a most serious unethical issue and requires extensive attentions along with public awareness for protection of the intellectual property. Types of Software Piracy There are different types of