Seth Noyes
Computing Issue
A major
issue in computing today is software piracy.
The use of copyrighted material without the consent of the Author is a
federal offense. Today software piracy
has become increasingly common. Software
companies are constantly trying to produce software that only gives the rights
to one person, without destroying the fair use policy. “The law provides four tests to
determine if the use of a work is fair use: the purpose and character of the
use, the nature of the work, the amount and substantialness
of the portion of the work used, and the effect of the use on the value of the
work.” (Rosenburg) Microsoft has recently
released its new Operating System Windows XP.
One feature that is becoming a very hot topics
on forums is the Windows Product Activation.
This feature allows Microsoft to control how many computers you install
their software on. This is an attempt by
Microsoft to limit the number of illegal copies of the OS exist.
There are
really two stakeholders in this problem, the people who are releasing software,
and the people who are pirating it. The
people releasing the software are be affected in a
major way by their software being pirated.
Even though it may cost $0.35 to produce a single CD of software, the added
price on the price tag involves other expenses.
These expenses include advertising and paying for the software to be
written. The people who are braking the protection on the software are doing so because
they would like to have the software without paying for it. While this can be abused in a malicious way,
there are reasons and times when installing a piece of
software on multiple machines becomes useful and warranted. If I buy a copy of Windows XP and I should be
able to install the same copy on multiple machines, if I am the only person who
will be using those machines.
If I took
the position of “what’s best for me” I would be inclined to think that software
piracy is good for me. As it stands now,
that is that I am not making and selling software. It is easier for me to steal the software
that I want to use. This means that I
would download from the internet, most likely, a copy of a piece of software
that I do not currently own, and use it. I would get what I wanted out of it,
since there had to be a reason why I went and downloaded it. This would leave the producer of the software
SOL but I would still have the software I need to do what I want to do.
Another
stance I could take is “what the law says.”
That is that I would believe in the structure and integrity of the
law. In every sense of the law software
piracy is illegal. Meaning,
that those who do pirate software should be fined or put in jail. “It is impossible to tell what the
courts will do when first confronted with these issues. It sometimes takes
years before courts really understand the issues involved with new technology.
“ (Rosenburg) If the courts and police took a firmer hand as to the exact
letter of copyright law and made an example for a few hundred software pirates,
the amount of software piracy would decline very rapidly.
Bibliography:
Rosenburg, Matt. Copyright Law on the Web. ACS
Crossroads.