Crime That Pays

 

Crime That Pays (and Pretty Well, Too) Question 1 What is the relationship among governments, institutions, organizations, and companies in developing legal codes to fight software piracy?

Answer: Software technology was facing problem of digital piracy. Software piracy is the illegal distribution and copying of software for personal and business use. In USA software is automatically protected by federal copyright law from the moment of its creation. US copyright copyri ght act grants grants the copyright owner “the exclusive exclusive right to protect protect the copyrighted copyrighted work” and to distribute the copies cop ies of it. Accordi Acco rding ng to US federa federall law copyrig copyright ht infrin infringem gement ent is ill illegal egal and punish punishabl able. e. But worldwide software piracy is very high and the penalty is very less for it. Software maker, organization, companies have to bare billions of dollars losses every year. Governments, institutions, organization, and companies are interest in persuing solution to the piracy problem and for this they develop legal codes to fight software industry association BSA (Business Software Alliance). The Software and Information Industry Associati Assoc iation on (SIIA) (SIIA) and the Internatio International nal Anti-Counte Anti-Counterfei rfeiting ting Coalition Coalition (IACC) (IACC) made efforts to spur government to toughen laws. BSA maintains ______ more than 80 countries and each nation unit works to promote legal online world by negotiating with governments and consumers in the international soft softwa ware re an and d inte intern rnet et ma mark rket ets. s. Its Its work workin ing g to ed educ ucat atee co cons nsum umer erss on soft softwa ware re management and copyright protection, cyber security, e-commerce and other internet related issues. BSA members include companies like Microsoft, Adobe, Dell, IBM, Intel and Apple computer. Softwa Sof tware re makers makers,, governm government ent and associ associati ations ons,, acting acting both both singly singly and jointl jointly, y, hav havee successfull succes sfully y lobbied lobbied transnation transnational al industries industries to help police piracy. In the early 2000 for   __________ the 184 members nation of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) pledged to protect intellectual property worldwide by developing IPR treaties.

 

WIPO the lobbied members to ratify an array of anti-piracy treaties – namely the World Copyright Treaty) and the WIPO Performance and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT). The World Trade Organization (WTO) enacted an agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which is designed to regulate enforcement of  copyright copyri ght and counterfeit counterfeiting ing violations violations.. Hoping collective political arrangements arrangements and legal actions by companies, associations, governments and institutions would lead to a decline in global software piracy.

Question 3 Can th thee so soft ftwar waree indus industr try y ex expec pectt to co cont ntro roll so soft ftwa ware re pi pira racy cy wi with thout out re rely lyin ing g on government? Why would the software industry dislike greater government regulation?

Answer: Yes, the software industries do have the ability to control software piracy without relying on government. As we can see from the case that, companies like Adobe and Symentec took initiative to create awareness to public about the illegal copying of softwares. The other companies such as Microsoft also took initiative to control software piracy. They hired former federal and police investigator, stages software strings, relayed information to prosecutors and took legal action against thousands of technologically illicit websites. Use of hologr holograms ams and regist registrat ration ion codes codes assist assisted ed the compani companies es to authen authentic ticate ate the so soft ftwa ware res. s. Ot Other her compan companie iess us used ed inte intern rnet et se sear arch ch en engi gine ness to sn snea eak k websi website tess th that at distributed and sold pirated software. The softwa software re indust industri ries es might might not like like the governm government ent regula regulatio tions ns in the softwa software re   busine business. ss. As for exampl example, e, in the United United St State ates, s, gov govern ernmen mentt introd introduce uced d number number of  initiatives. FBI and Custom services, conducted raid worldwide against so-called warez groups who reproduces, modified and distributed pirated software over the internet. It is neverth neve rthele eless ss a good initiat initiative. ive. On the other hand hand the Senate Senate approv approved ed the Tradde Promot Pro motion ion Author Authorit ity y which which gave presid president ent more more power power to techno technolog logy y relate related d trade trade agreement. Now the software companies will have less power with them as government wi will ll be in charg chargee for for negot negotia iati tion. on. This This su sure rely ly ca can n sl slow ow down down th thee te tech chnol nolog ogica icall development.

 

Question 4 How do you think consumers in high-theft countries justify software piracy? Similarly, what ideas or conditions lead consumers co nsumers in low-theft countries to respect IPRs?

Answer: Consumers in high-theft countries do not understand the differences between the pirated and the original software. Moreover, they are in support of software piracy. They think  that any property as being common to all and existing for the benefit of all. They do not understand the consequences that might occur due to the usage of the pirated software. They do not understand the concept of intellectual property rights. All the high-theft countri coun tries es are mainly mainly the develop developing ing countri countries. es. The income income of any individu individual al in a developing country is not even close to that of a developed country. They will always go for the products which are cheaper than any other. Normally the genuine copies of the softwares are far more expensive than the pirated copy of the same software. Therefore they will go for acquiring the software that is cheap to them. They also believe that software makers should allow informational and technical wealth to be openly shared with customers. They also think that piracy is the most effective way of dealing with Western monopolists who charge exorbitant prices for the necessary tools of economic development. On the other hand, people in the low-theft countries well understand the concept of the intellectual property rights. They understand that there is a reason behind the copyright act. Another thing is that, the political and the legal system of the low-theft countries are far stronger than that of in a high-theft country.