singapore & vietnam
Content
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SINGAPORE AND VIETNAM WITH REGARDS TO THEIR GENERAL ATTITUDES TOWARDS USING UNLICENSED SOFTWARE, THE PROHIBITIVE MEASURES TAKEN AND THE LEGAL IMPLICATIONS OF ENGAGING IN SUCH ACTIVITIES
Group members: Nguyen Ngoc Hoan, Ngo Thanh Son and Su Xinghua Stephen.
With advances of technology and time, the modern society is getting more and more digitized and people are getting more and more inter-connected through the use of ICT applications. Companies, government agencies educational bodies and financial institutions are all using computers and engaged in electronic activities.
The pervasiveness of such electronic activities worldwide is increasing at a phenomenon rate. The number of households in the modern society that own a personal computer is much larger than say, a few years back. As the world gets more interconnected through computers and more people own a computer, the need for computer hardware and software is ever present. As technology gets better with each passing day, software companies come up with newer and better products for society.
The problems arise as such software products are expensive and newer versions are being churned out by software companies faster than anyone would have expected. In order not to be obsolete in terms of technology and to be up to date with the rest of the world, one would have to buy the newer software products.
To combat the needs of the masses for the new software products that are affordable to all, alternatives present itself as software pirates illegally duplicate the original products and then sell the duplicated ones on the market. Other than piracy, there are some people with such level of technical competence that they developed tiny programs known as ‘cracks’ that allows other to use unlicensed software with authentication. To curb such activities that the authorities have come up with various measures and enforcements.
Thus, the purpose of this project is to find out about the attitudes of the different people of different nationalities towards the uses of unlicensed/pirated software products, their respective government measures towards combating such illegal acts, to what degree is the law being enforced in their countries and their awareness of the legal implications of such activities.
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To find out about the attitudes of the common people, in this case, Singaporeans and Vietnamese, towards the use of unlicensed and/or pirated software.
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To find out about what the authorities (Singapore and Vietnam) are doing about the prevalence of unlicensed software on the market, the measures in place to deter such activities.
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The effectiveness of the measures in place and the degree of enforcement the authorities are taking (whether they are really serious about enforcing the law or not)
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The existence of the country’s laws (Singapore and Vietnam) with regards towards such activities (usage of unlicensed/pirated software etc.
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The awareness of the public of such laws with regards towards activities like the usage of unlicensed/pirated software and the legal implications behind it.
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To understand the public attitudes towards the usage of unlicensed/pirated software and how informed are the common people about the laws regarding such activities, so as to understand the underlying causes of the prevalence of such activities, for instance, software piracy.
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To understand the measures taken by the local authorities to stop such activities and their effectiveness in deter other people from trying to do the same, so as to understand which measures are effective and which are not and to come up with better solutions to the current problems.
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To understand the degree of enforcement the local authorities have taken, so as to find out what improvements are to be made to the measures and enforcement already in place so as to achieve an optimal result.
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To find out about the general attitudes of the people of Singapore and Vietnam towards using unlicensed/pirated software and the differences in them (if any).
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To find out about the awareness of the laws in place in their respective countries (Singapore and Vietnam) and the general feelings Singaporeans and Vietnamese have with regards to the laws the differences between them (if any).
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To find out about the laws and the measures in place in Singapore and Vietnam and the differences in them (if any).
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To find out about the legal implications of such activities in the Singaporean context and in the Vietnamese context and differences between them (if any).
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To find out about what the Singaporean government and the Vietnamese government are doing about the problems and their measures taken and the differences in them (if any).
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To find out about the effectiveness of the actions taken by the Singaporean government and the Vietnamese government in combating the rampant spread of unlicensed/ pirated software and the differences in them (if any).
To answer research question 1 and 2, we intend to conduct a survey to understand the general attitudes of the people of Singapore and Vietnam with regards to the usage of unlicensed/ pirated software. The scope of the survey is limited to the Singaporean undergraduates and Vietnamese undergraduates in the National University of Singapore.
We intend to find out from the people surveyed:
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Whether they approve of the use of such software (is it right or wrong?)
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Why they themselves uses such software.
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Approve of the vendors of such software products.
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Will they get involved in such activities.
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Whether they think that such activities are rampant.
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Whether they think such activities should be totally outlawed or should the local authorities relax their attitudes towards such activities.
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How aware are they of the prevailing laws with regards to the usage and sale of unlicensed/pirated software products.
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And how aware are they of the legal implications behind such activities.
To answer research question 3, we intend to find out about the prevailing laws with regards to sale and usage of unlicensed/pirated software in Singapore and Vietnam from the legislative acts of each respective government statute board from online sources and/or from libraries. Then, we will compare and contrast the differences in the legal implications in both countries.
To answer research question 4, we intend to do some research into the relevant laws and legislative acts of respective countries (Singapore and Vietnam) and find out about the legal issues involved in the usage and/or sale of unlicensed/pirated software products. We will also look into news articles relevant from archives and/or online news portals with regards to news and announcements about sale and /or usage of unlicensed/pirated software.
To answer research question 5 and 6, we will go through news articles with regards to the measures taken by the respective authorities from archives and/or online sources such as news portals and websites of government agencies that deal with such commercial crimes.
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