Software Piracy Essay -- essays research papers fc

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 â€Å"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 ...