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Legal, Ethical & Social Issues
Social Issues | Legal Implications | Ethical Issues
<<Social Issues>>
Software piracy has many impacts on the social and economical consequences. A main problem is the loss of revenues by major companies when they have to compete against markets that sell pirated software. This in turn results in the lost of jobs and thus, putting a strain on the country's economy.
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For instance, the U.S. economy is greatly affected by a piracy rate of 27%. In 1998, the economic effects were especially significant. There was a loss of over 25,000 jobs and over US $400 million in tax revenues as a result of piracy. However, many still fail to realize the harm that has been brought about by the rampant software piracy. Piracy is a major social problem, thus citizens need to be educated on the problem caused by piracy. They must realize that software piracy is equivalent to stealing and that the greater the loss of revenues by the company because of the stolen goods, the lesser can be spent by the companies on research and development for new products and innovations. Thus, everyone suffers from the acts of a few. According to IDC, a decrease in piracy by 10% over 4 years will add up to 2.4 million new jobs being created and $70 billion in tax revenues to local government world wide. Besides that, it will increase GDP by $400 billion to local economies. [5] |
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<<Legal Implications>>
There are numerous solutions and legal laws to protect companies from software piracy.
The world's most venerable multilateral copyright treaty is the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, which is administered by the WIPO, a specialized agency of the United Nations. Under the U.S. Code collection for Copyright Infringement, (Title 18, Part1, Chapter 113, section 2319), " Any person who infringes a copyright willfully either for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain, or by the reproduction or distribution, including by electronic means, during any 180-day period, of 1 or more copies or phonorecords of 1 or more copyrighted works, which have a total retail value of more than $1,000, shall be punished as provided under section 2319 of title 18 ," United States Code.[6] However , modern pirates now avoid criminal sanctions by circumventing the basic requirement that infringement is for the purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain. That is, these pirates will claim that they do not have any commercial advantage and financial gains when they distribute copyright software for free. Thus, it is almost impossible to get hold of these pirates and put them under law.
Singapore 's legal system is based on the UK law and it offers effective means for enforcing property rights. Common law protects and facilitates the acquisition and disposition of all properties. Secured interests in property are recognized and enforced.
In accordance with the U.S.-Singapore FTA, Singapore 's amended Copyright Act provides greater protection for digital works, and outlines requirements and procedures for removing infringing material from Internet sites. [1]
From the above 2 surveys questions, 34% of the respondents will immediately stop using pirated software when someone close to them was prosecuted for software piracy under the law, 36% of them choose to remain neutral. Also, 50% of the respondents remain neutral when they were asked to comment on the heavy fines and punishment for software piracy, 22% of them strongly agree and 14% agree with the heavy punishment.
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<< Ethical Issues>>
The unethical use of pirated software has been growing as fast as the growth of the software industry. As deemed by many, software piracy is unethical and is analogous to shoplifting. However, software pirates are rarely arrested compared to someone who shoplifts and they ended up with high paying jobs. Crytek, a famous 3D graphic developer for games, committed mass piracy but large companies are still making deals with them. Many companies are still using pirated copies of software for office use despite the mass crackdown on software piracy. Many do not know that mere sharing of software and music files are illegal, and they themselves have actually committed software piracy.
Besides that, some pirates may have the mentality that companies overpriced their software, thus by creating copies of the software and selling them at a cheaper price, it would "protect" the welfare of the consumers. However, they are not aware that this is actually unethical. In Stephen Poole's article entitled "PC Pirates" he quotes a pirate who goes by the name of Crisis. Crisis states, " Selling pirated software is illegal and immoral for sure, and I think pretty much anyone from the scene will agree with that. We're about giving people a chance to check out software without paying large amounts of money for it. Personally, I pay for very little software, but if there's something I use regularly, and it's priced right, I may buy it ."[8]
 
According to our survey, 63.8% of the total respondents are fully aware that software piracy is illegal, and 33.8% are somewhat aware that software piracy is illegal. However, more than 76% (61 out of 80 respondents) of them still download and possess pirated software.
In one of our survey questions where the respondents were given a choice of purchasing the original Windows OS at $300 and downloading the pirated copy for free, 56 of the 80 respondents choose to get the pirated copy because it is free for download. At the same time, they claim that $300 for an original copy is way too much for students and those low-income working adults.
As seen clearly, the public is, to a large extent, aware that the selling and buying of pirated software is unethical, but the desire for free and "cheap" products seems to be greater. If piracy is committed because the products are overpriced, it is logical to assume that the money made through the selling of pirated products is given back to the publisher. However, that was not the case. If so, then the developers will not be paid for their creativity and innovations. The fact is, pirates seek to profit from the piracy and it is deemed to be unlawful and unethical.
Among the 61 people who turn to piracy, 58 of the respondents claimed that they turn to software piracy because it is cheaper than genuine software, and 34 claimed that it is more convenient to download online. Many of them turn to software piracy because they feel that companies and firms overpriced the original copy of the software, thus they could not afford to buy it. Also, they stated that local stores do not sell all the different types of software because these software are not distributed worldwide, thus they turn to the Internet and P2P networks for more varieties of free and pirated software products.
Among those who do not support piracy, 29% of them reasoned that they support original works and 23% of them claimed that it is unethical to download and use pirated software. Besides that, 23% of them support original works because they could afford the expensive price. However, the figures of respondents who are supportive of original software are too small to be analyzed.
39% of the respondents strongly agree and 30% agree with buying one original copy of software for multiple installations on different computers while 29% of them are neutral.
62% of the respondents will agree to lend their original copy of software to their friends.
This is mainly due to the fact that they are unaware that they will be violating the end user agreement, by installing multiple copies of the program on different computers.
In conclusion, many people turn to software piracy because original software is overpriced. They still take their chances against the law although they are fully aware that it is unethical and illegal to download and use pirated software.
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